Thursday August 31, 2023
Bi-weekly news from Spark: a centre for social research innovation at McMaster University
|
|
Spark Talks are back starting Sept 15th - Save the Date
Mark your calendars; the first Spark Talk of the 2023-2024 school year will be on Fri September 15th at 10:30 - 11:20am. In their talk, Anders Vassenden and Marte Mangset present their answer to a recent interactionist/situationist critique of qualitative interviews. This critique holds that because interviews are social encounters with realities in themselves, interviews cannot really produce knowledge beyond these encounters. Turning the mirror, Mangset and Vassenden demonstrate the undetected value that situationalism/interactionism holds for interviewing. Importantly, a promise of situational interviewing is that it helps us make sense of contradictions, ambiguities, and disagreements within and between interviews. This promise is shown through examination of contradictions in and between sociological studies of (i) middle-class identities, and (ii) the professional ideals of elite bureaucrats.
Registrations will be open shortly - watch this space for future announcements!
Spark's Annual Open House
Don't Forget! Spark: a centre for social research innovation is hosting it's annual open house event on September 22rd 2022 at 12:00pm - 2:00 pm ET in the Spark space/Co-Lab on the 5th floor of L.R. Wilson Hall at McMaster University.
Stop in to learn about Spark, research methods, network with other researchers and for games/fun activities.
|
|
Last Chance to sign up for our Impact Evaluation Course
In this workshop, we will dig in to when and how to conduct an impact evaluation. By the end, you will be better able to define and answer questions about lasting changes emerging from an initiative (overall, diverging across elements of an initiative, in different contexts and with different groups of people). We will review the fundamental concepts of evaluation and then delve more deeply into impact evaluation questions, discussing various ways to accurately measure impact and considerations specific to this type of evaluation.
Dates: Tuesdays, September 19th, 26th, October 3rd, 17th and 24th
Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Online
$550 (HST included)
|
|
To hear more about what will be covered, check out this Spark Talk by Paul:
|
|
#SparkResearchReplay
During the summer months (May-Aug), we've been featuring some of our favourite talks from this year in a weekly social media campaign on Twitter @Spark_McMaster. With our first Spark Talk coming up on Sep 15th, this week is our final #SparkResearchReplay!
This relevant FINAL #SparkResearchReplay video showcases the talk by @AllisonVan5 titled “Back to school” Tips and Tricks as students return to class. Check it out here.
|
|
Resources for Researchers
|
|
|
Research Conversations
We provide up to 4 hours of free support each year to any researcher (students, staff, faculty or community) on every social research topic imaginable. If we can't help you, we'll help you find someone who can.
Request a research conversation here
Qualtrics Licenses
If you are an Faculty of Social Sciences researcher who would like to request access to Qualtrics survey software, please fill out this form
Looking to pool software licences?
Now you can! Fill out this form and we will reach out if we can match you with others looking to pool licences.
Methods Demonstrations
Faculty in Social Sciences may request demonstrations, short trainings, or code-along sessions from Spark staff for Research Methods or Professional Skills courses. We're happy to discuss any needs and have already developed trainings for Literature Review, Interviewing, Survey Development, Focus Groups, Data Visualization. Email us at talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca to discuss if there's a fit for your course.
CoLab
Research on research innovation (yes, it's very meta) points to a simple truth. Being in the same physical space and able to informally interact significantly increases cross-disciplinary collaboration and discovery. The Spark CoLab aims to be such a space. It is a free, open co-working space for graduate students, research staff and faculty. You can learn more on our website or stop by from 9 am - Noon or 1 pm - 4pm on Tuesday or Thursday for a tour and orientation.
SEAL
Some data is critical to addressing major research questions, but is also profoundly sensitive and must be secured. SEAL is a high security data repository that allows approved researchers worldwide to access highly sensitive data securely. Data owners can use it to engage researchers in using their datasets and researchers can access data that otherwise would not be available to them.
Learn more about SEAL at: https://seal.mcmaster.ca/
Brighter Spark Applied Research
Spark offers custom research and evaluation, as well as highly skilled assistance in implementing virtually any social research method. Our cost-recovery services include methods and software training, custom research, state-of-the-art facilities, and taking on elements of your project to support its completion.
|
|
Help us profile your research, publications, job ads, opportunities, and upcoming events by sending them to: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca to be showcased in our following newsletter.
Best Practices for Managing Data in your Research
In this introductory workshop, learn about research data management best practices and how investing a small amount of time in organizing your data now can save you a lot of time and prevent future headaches. We will go over best practices for data planning, storage, organization, preservation, and sharing.
Details: This virtual workshop will be recorded. The recording will be posted to the Sherman Centre's Online Learning Catalogue.
You can see more info and you can register here.
Upcoming Training from MethodsNET
Free registration is now open for attending online a PhD-level training session on "Mapping social science methods: how to handpick the methodological toolbox(es) that meet(s) your needs?" (by Prof. Benoît Rihoux, University of Louvain & MethodsNET)
Date & Time: September 12, 9:15-10:45 CEST.
You can see more info here, and you can register here.
Professionalism, Rights, and Responsibilities Workshop
New CUPE Local 3906, Unit 1 employee are required to complete 5-hours of mandatory training. This is an in-person offering of one of two required workshops for mandatory TA training that can be completed in lieu of the online offering (You must still register for the training through the regulatory training tile in Mosaic to access the remaining online training modules and to complete a short online quiz at the end of the in-person workshop).
This workshop reviews what it means to be a CUPE Local 3906 Unit 1 member and covers different aspects of professionalism to set TAs up for success at McMaster.
Register via Eventbrite
Workshop offered:
September 6th (9:30am-10:30am)
September 11th (10:00am - 11:00am)
Looking Ahead: Request a Class Visit from SCDS
McMaster educators: did you know that Sherman Centre staff can visit your classroom, give guest lectures, deliver tech demos, and provide access to software?
If you're interested in bringing digital tools into your next class, SCDS is here to help. Learn more about the many collaborative possibilities available with this short video.
Now Open: Call for Teaching Refinement & Teaching Observation Requests
Are you curious about how your students are experiencing your course this term? Consider utilizing one of MacPherson Institute's formative Feedback Services!
A Teaching Refinement is open to course instructors and is an opportunity to have a member of the MacPherson Institute help you collect and respond to students' feedback during your course. To apply for a Teaching Refinement, please complete the MacPherson Institute Request Form.
A Teaching Observation is open to course instructors and teaching assistants and is an opportunity to receive feedback from a member of the MacPherson Institute on your teaching. To request a Teaching Observation, please complete the MacPherson Institute Request Form.
Prefer to Do It Yourself? Check out the MacPherson Insitute's Collecting Midterm Student Feedback guides and pre-created, anonymous survey templates (available in Avenue to Learn and Microsoft Forms), with options appropriate for both large and small courses.
If you have any questions about the feedback services and resources available, please contact Amanda Kelly Ferguson.
New Faculty Workshop Series
These workshops expose faculty to McMaster's various management and support structures and involve guest speakers from across campus to present critical topics for career success. Each peer-to-peer workshop format provides an excellent opportunity to hear from reputable faculty and/or senior leaders on aspects of the academy to help junior faculty develop their intellectual pursuits and campus community connections.
All workshops will be held from 3:00pm - 5:00pm in the West Room at the Faculty/University Club (Alumni Memorial Hall). You also have the option of registering to attend the event remotely.
New Faculty Workshop: Welcome & Reception
Date: Thursday, September 28
Register here
New Faculty Workshop: Teaching & Learning
Date: Thursday, October 26
Register here
New Faculty Workshop: Grants & Funding Landscape
Date: Thursday, November 23
Register here
New Faculty Workshop: Graduate Supervision
Date: Thursday, December 14
Register here
For more information, visit the Faculty Leadership and Development Resource Hub.
Data Visualization in R using ggplot2
This virtual workshop will provide an introduction to ggplot2, an open-source data visualization package for the statistical programming language R. This workshop will go overbasic tips for creating visualizations and customizing the design of those graphs. A basic familiarity with R will be helpful for this workshop.
Details: This virtual workshop will be recorded. The recording will be posted to the Sherman Centre's Online Learning Catalogue. You can learn more and register here.
|
|
Let's celebrate the achievements of colleagues, friends, and those doing important social research with the potential to spark a brighter world. We welcome recommendations for kudos features (including for yourself)! Please send any features you would like us to mention by emailing us at: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca.
A resounding kudos to the volunteers in the Airport Welcome Program. Created as a way to offer incoming international students a warm welcome, support and help as they navigate their way to a new school in a new country, we'd like to thank you for helping our incoming students from overseas.
Read the article here.
Let's give a round of applause to Dr. Stephanie Ross, for her Analysis article "For Ontario teachers, arbitration is no substitute for the right to strike" being featured by The Conversation.
Read it here.
Let's hear it for Hiliary Monteith for becoming one of just three McMaster students to have received the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. Hiliary will join the department of Anthropology, conducting research under the supervision of Dawn Martin-Hill. Monteith’s work examines impacts of water security and changes to traditional food systems, on the health and well-being of the Six Nations of the Grand River community. .
Read more here.
Let's also hear it for Nicole Diakite and Alexandra Nychuk for receiving the 2023 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship – they were just two of seven McMaster doctoral students to receive the award this year.
Read more here.
And lastly, kudos to McMaster University itself for ranking among the top 100 universities in the world in the Shanghai Rankings, for the 20th year in a row. McMaster’s strong performance is driven by the outstanding accomplishments of its faculty, including Nobel Prize winners, Clarivate highly cited researchers and the wide array of publications and citations in the fields of science and social sciences.
Read the story here.
|
|
|
|
|
