Spark Newsletter: June 10, 2021

Who do you want to speak at Spark’s Fall 2021 speaker series?

Spark's weekly research talks (Fridays at 10:30-11:20 am) are back in the fall with a new name - Spark Talks. Planning is already in the works for an academic year full of informative sessions by some of your favourite researchers. As always, we want to provide you with engaging content from people whose work or skills spark an interest!

Do you want to share your work?
      Great! This is a supportive starting place for sharing your work across disciplines.  

Maybe share your experience with a method, technology or research area?
      Yes, let's build our collective research toolkits and find others with the same interests.

Expose others to someone whose work or career you admire?
      This is an easy initial engagement with Mac (and we pay stipends to external speakers)

Speakers can be anywhere in the world.  As our options for in-person meetings increase, we will make these hybrid online/offline events. 

Nominate a Speaker

Imagining Canada’s Future Ideas Lab: Canada and the Circular Economy

ICYMI: SSHRC is hosting a virtual, interactive and interdisciplinary research design workshop taking place over two weeks at the end of October 2021 for 30 researchers with work relevant to the circular economy.

This happens to be a research interest of our director, Allison Van.  If this "sparks" your interest too, please reach out.  We're happy to provide you with an update on what was discussed at the webinar, consider what a social science approach to building a circular economy might look like, and explore how we might collectively support that at Mac.

Connect with Spark at talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca

Have you heard? Spark is taking a (virtual) walk down memory lane to reflect on some of the great Productivity During Pandemic Presentations from this year. Connect with Spark on Twitter (@Spark_McMaster) and tune in every Friday for something we like to call #SparkResearchReplay. 

Connect with Spark on Twitter

In case you missed #SparkResearchReplay:

Virtually Anonymous: Conducting Online Interviews with Anonymous Participants
Andrey Kasimov

Check it out here:

In case you missed #SparkResearchReplay:

Gaming when things get tough? How Emotional Regulation and Coping Self-efficacy Influence Gaming During Difficult Life Situations 
Camila Caro

Check it out here:

Research guide - Qualitative Research at a Distance

This guide is a starting point for academic and non-academics to explore approaches to socially distanced but deeply engaged qualitative research methods. It aims to provide a practical foundation (in a concise and sharable format) for imaging what is possible during the current pandemic and beyond while offering suggestions for resources to learn more. 

Read the Guide

Looking to pool software licences with another researcher?

Now you can! Fill out this form and we will reach out if we can match you with others looking to pool licences.

Research Conversations

We provide up to 4 hours of free support each year to all McMaster researchers (students, staff and faculty) on every social research topic imaginable.  If we can't help you, we'll help you find someone who can.   

Request a research consultation at https://forms.gle/7FciqxCtK5fN6AD97
 

Qualtrics Licences

If you are an FSS researcher who would like to request access to Qualtrics survey software, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Gn2KvYgdebjo8d2W8.

 

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.

For a full list of Brighter Spark Applied Research's services, visit: https://spark.mcmaster.ca/brighter-spark

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 next newsletter.
 

Big Data and Tech in Our Backyard Series

June 11, 2021, at 12:00 pm

Big Tech, Monopolies and Imaging Alternatives with Matt Stroller and Ali Haberstroh Organized by: TPL and McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society Program
Learn more and save your spot for the session here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/tplstollerhaberstroh/register
 

Launch Week at Canadian Housing Evidence Collective

June 14, 2021 - June 18, 2021

The Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative is Knocking at the door!
Organized by: Collaborative Housing Research Network and Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC)
Learn more and save your spot for the session here: Launch Registration
 

Child Care Use for Canadian Children Under Age 6: Results from the Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements

Jun 22, 2021, at 01:00 PM

Organized by: Statistics Canada
Learn more and save your spot for the session here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-vojuCBCRuOIWd7AjBmqWw
 

SHARCNET Summer School for Advanced Research Computing (ARC)

May 25, 2021 - June 29th, 2021 

This annual education event is free for graduate/undergraduate students, postdocs and researchers engaged in compute-intensive research. They provide beginner- to- intermediate-level courses on a wide range of subjects, from traditional high-performance computing to data science, machine learning, popular language such as Python and Julia, as well as domain-specific courses.

Learn more and register here:
https://training.sharcnet.ca/course/index.php?categoryid=28
 

Research Data Management - Online Summer Series

July 8th, 2021 at 2-3 pm

Essentials of Open Data Sharing
Organized by: The Sherman Centre
Learn more and register here: https://libcal.mcmaster.ca/event/3604377

 

General Social Survey (GSS) Data Available

New GSS data collected in 2020 is now available to the public. The GSS was conducted as two studies in 2020; namely, a panel study (re-interviewing GSS participants from 2016 and 2018) and a cross-sectional study (with a newly selected representative sample of 2020). The information we are release now is from the 2016-2020 GSS panel.  The second survey (cross-sectional study) will be available later this year.

Prepared Documents available here: gss.norc.org

 

Spark: a centre for social research innovation

Website: https://spark.mcmaster.ca/
Linked-in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spark-a-centre-for-social-research-innovation/about/  
Email: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca
Subscribe to Spark Connections: https://spark.mcmaster.ca/contact