So you’ve got some of your graduate classes under your belt, and it's time to begin an original research project. But how exactly are you going to go about surveying voters in Tanzania, interviewing public health officials in France, or running focus groups with seasonal farm workers in the Central Valley? How will you decide whom to speak to, efficiently collect your data, and handle the challenges of working far from home (or even close to home)?
The Research in Practice Working Group will cover the logistics and ethics of collecting both quantitative and qualitative data in a diverse range of settings. We aim to provide support to graduate students across many disciplines, including the social sciences, public policy, and public health. We will provide a mixture of workshops on specific research tools (such as software for computer-assisted interviewing) and panel discussions on various aspects of the research process (such as hiring research assistants, doing archival research, and thinking through the ethics of doing research in low income countries). We’ll also hold more informal meetings where students can come together and discuss their work.
Our kickoff meeting will take place at 4 pm on Thursday, December 3, in the D-Lab Convening Room. Come find out more about our plans for the spring, share additional challenges you’d like to see discussed, and enjoy wine and cheese with other researchers. Feel free to contact Justine Davis (justine.davis@berkeley.edu) and Rachel Strohm (rstrohm@berkeley.edu) with any questions. See you soon!
