Keynote Lecture: The Mixed Methods Movement and Multidisciplinary Research
H. Russell Bernard, PhD
One characteristic of a normal science is the easy, unpretentious collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. Forcing social scientists to choose between qualitative or quantitative weakens their ability to study important problems. The mixed methods movement in the social sciences is this generation’s attempt to deal with the qual-quant wars. No one controls all research methods, but everyone can learn enough to work in multidisciplinary teams that can study and contribute to solving important problems. Multidisciplinary, however, must never mean undisciplined.
H. Russell Bernard is Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus at the University of Florida. He served as editor of the American Anthropologist and Human Organization. He is co-founder of the Cultural Anthropology Methods journal, which became Field Methods in 1999. The five editions of his textbooks, Research Methods in Anthropology and Social Research Methods, have been used by tens of thousands of students. Bernard co-founded and co-directed the National Science Foundation’s Institute on Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology and has done fieldwork in Greece, Mexico, and the U.S.A. His research has focused on indigenous-language literacy and on social network analysis, including the network scale-up method for estimating the size of uncountable populations. In 2010, Bernard was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Session 1: Designing a Transdisciplinary Research Project: Issues and Considerations
Patricia Leavy, PhD
Participants in this workshop will be introduced to transdisciplinary research practice as an issue or problem-centered approach to research design. The workshop will include a presentation on: the need for transdisciplinarity to address the pending problems of our time; how transdisciplinarity differs from other approaches to research (disciplinary, multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to research); the major methodological principles to consider when designing a transdisciplinary study; challenges doing this kind of work; and how to present and distribute research findings. The workshop will also include an interactive component. Participants are welcome to bring questions regarding their own research projects.
Patricia Leavy, Ph.D. is an independent author, researcher and commentator. Among her 11 books she is the author of Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice, Essentials of Transdisciplinary Research: Using Problem-Centered Methodologies and the research-informed novel Low-Fat Love. She is the editor for 3 book series and routinely publishes op-eds. For more info visit www.patricialeavy.com
Session 2: Dedoose: Software for the Management, Analysis, and Presentation of Qualitative and Mixed Method Research Data
Eli Lieber, PhD
The workshop will provide an overview of qualitative and mixed methods research and then move on to a hands-on introduction to Dedoose. Dedoose is an innovative, web-based cross-platform application for analyzing text, video, and spreadsheet data. Designed by academic social science researchers, Dedoose enables users or teams from anywhere in the world to effectively code text, audio, and video from both traditionally qualitative perspectives as well as mixed methods approaches—integrating spreadsheet data to capitalize on a variety of analysis features, including interactive and informative visualizations. For over a decade, the application (previously called EthnoNotes) has been used by researchers in a range of fields including psychology, anthropology, market, and health research.
Speaker Bio:
Eli Lieber, PhD is President and Co-Founder of Dedoose and Associate Research Psychologist and Co-Director of the Fieldwork and Qualitative Data Research Laboratory, Semel Institute, Center for Culture and Health, UCLA. Dr. Lieber’s professional research interests center on socio-cultural impacts on disease transmission and prevention, Asian and Asian immigrant family experiences, and children with Type 1 diabetes and their families along with his work developing strategy and tools for qualitative and mixed methods research.
Session 3: The Network Paradigm in Transdisciplinary Research
Pacey Foster, PhD
Over the last two decades, the network paradigm has become one of the dominant theoretical and methodological approaches in the social sciences. Emerging through the integration of multiple disciplines, the network paradigm flexibly treats units and levels of analysis and social mechanisms and is particularly well suited to transdiciplinary research. Dr. Foster will begin by providing a brief overview of network theory and methods focusing on its core assumptions and views about social mechanisms and causation. He will then offer examples from his own and other’s research to illustrate how this approach can be applied to transdiciplinary questions across a wide range of empirical phenomena. Dr. Foster will conclude by discussing some research areas in social network scholarship that could benefit from transdiciplinary theorizing.
Pacey Foster, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His research explores how social and organizational networks help individuals and businesses manage complex decision-making and selection processes in creative industries. His early research explored how nightclub talent buyers use their social networks to manage the uncertainties and risks associated with selecting bands. Dr. Foster has received Creative Economy Initiatives Grants from the University of Massachusetts to study on the local film and television industry and to establish an archive of local Hip-Hop history.
Session 4: Working in Interdisciplinary Teams Panel
In this forum five researchers discuss their experiences with working in interdisciplinary teams, providing insights into the challenges and opportunities faced in such teams. The discussion will cover strategies for integrating knowledge and methods and communicating and translating disciplinary concepts and perspectives. Panel speakers will reflect on the state of interdisciplinarity in the respective fields, including considerations related to funding and publishing of interdisciplinary work.
Panel speakers
Jennifer Allen, DSc, MPH, RN – Dana Farber / Harvard Cancer Institute, Assistant Professor Harvard School of Public Health &Harvard Medical School
Dr. Allen has a Master’s and Doctoral Degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She began her nursing career in community health in international and domestic settings. For the past 15 years, she has been an investigator in the Center for Community-Based Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her research has focused on the development and evaluation of community-based approaches to cancer prevention and control among medically underserved populations. Her work has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Hosffman Ospino, PhD – Boston College, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education
Dr. Ospino holds a PhD in Theology and Education from Boston College. Dr. Ospino’s research concentrates on the dialogue between theology and culture and the impact of this interchange upon Catholic theological education, catechesis, and ministry. Dr. Ospino is the director of graduate programs in Hispanic Ministry at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. He was the Primary Investigator for the two-year (2011-2013) National Study of Catholic Parishes in the United States and is currently co-PI on a study to promote early cancer detection among Latino Catholics.
Cat Mazza, MFA – University of Massachusetts Boston, Assistant Professor of Art
Ms. Mazza received her MFA from the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and a BFA from Carnegie Mellon. She is an artist whose work combines craft with digital media to explore the overlaps between textiles, technology and labor. Her latest artwork Knit for Defense appears in the Craft Futures exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC. She is the founder of microRevolt, a web-based project that hosts the freeware knitPro. Mazza has received support from Creative Capital, Rockefeller Media Arts, MacDowell Colony, and the Craft Research Fund.
Joel Dawson, PhD – Eta Devices, Cambridge, MA & Stockholm, Sweden, Co-Founder and CTO
Dr. Dawson received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He then spent one year at Aspendos Communications, a startup company that he co-founded. In 2004 he joined the EECS faculty at MIT, where he focused his research group’s effort on microchips for wireless technology. He was awarded the NSF CAREER Award in 2008, and was selected for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2009. His new company, Eta Devices, Inc., is a direct outgrowth of his research program at MIT.
John (Mac) Martson, PhD – Boston University, Assistant Professor of Archaeology
Dr. Marston received his PhD in Archaeology from UCLA. An environmental archaeologist, Dr. Marston studies the long-term sustainability of agriculture and land use, especially in the Mediterranean and western Asia. A specialist in paleoethnobotany, the study of archaeological plant remains, his recent interdisciplinary collaborations focus on comparative study of cultural adaptation to environmental and climate change in the past and present. Dr. Marston’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation.