Workshops
The Practice of Social Science Research Workshop provides students with supplemental professional skills development for students to use in and outside of the academy. Workshops include talks from UChicago faculty about their early-stage research projects, hands-on projects in academic writing, research, and research programs, and field visits to view research in practice within the Chicago area.
Workshops are open to all participants of the Summer Institute. Workshops are mandatory for students who are participating in the SISRM RA program.
June 13 – July 15, 12-1:30PM CDT
Workshops will be offered with in-person and virtual options in Summer 2022.
The following schedule is subject to change.
An Introduction to the Practice of Social Scientific Research
June 13 – 17, 2022
Join SISRM and faculty from the Division of Social Sciences to learn about what it means to study the social sciences at the University of Chicago.
| Mon., June 13 |
Panel: What do we mean when we say ‘Social Science Research?’ with James T. Sparrow, Associate Professor of History, the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, and the College, and Leslie Kay, Professor of Psychology Professors discuss their journeys to the social sciences, how they view their respective fields within the context of the social sciences, and the advantages and disadvantages of interdisciplinary work. Professors also provide students with important points to think about when it comes to understanding research questions. |
| Tues., June 14 |
Social Science for Humanity: We Can’t ‘Tech’ Our Way Out of It with Paul Poast, Department of Political Science What is the value of social science research? Why bother majoring in social science? This workshop explores the importance of the concept economy in solving Big Problems. |
| Wed., June 15 |
Faculty Chalk Talk: Devin Pope, Booth School of Business |
| Thurs., June 16 |
Starting Your Research: Best Practices for Finding and Using Library Resources with Rebecca Starkey, Head of Research and Instruction Services During this session, students learn about the multitude of resources offered by the library and elsewhere to help with their research. |
| Fri., June 17 |
Excursion: Art Institute of Chicago |
Engaging With Research
June 21 – 24, 2022
This week we’ll look at different approaches and discuss various processes for beginning a research project.
| Mon., June 20 | No Workshop: Juneteenth holiday |
| Tues., June 21 | Faculty Chalk Talk: Rene Flores, Department of Sociology |
| Wed., June 22 | Excursion: Chicago History Museum |
| Thurs., June 23 |
Digital Scholarship with Cecilia Smith, Director of Digital Scholarship This workshop discusses digital scholarship initiatives in the Library and introduces ways to start and execute research. It also touches on important considerations to make when collecting data. |
| Fri., June 24 |
Virtual Excursion: The Newberry Library with Will Hansen, Director of Reader Services and Curator of Americana |
Sourcing Data for Research
June 27 – July 1, 2022
| Mon., June 27 | Faculty Chalk Talk: Alessandra Gonzalez, Department of Economics |
| Tues., June 28 |
Civic Engagement Session with Nick Currie, Assistant Director of Student Civic Engagement Initiatives This workshop helps students become aware of the opportunities available to interact with and help the community in Chicago. |
| Wed., June 29 |
An Introduction to the IRB and the Ethics of Research with Cheryl Danton, IRB Managing Director This workshop provides students with an overview of IRB – what it is, how it came to be, how it functions, and how to think about ethics and procedures as it relates to your own research. |
| Thurs., June 30 |
Writing Effective Abstracts and Presentation Design with Nichole Fazio, Executive Director, College Center for Research and Fellowships This workshop gives students overview of best practices and expectations for writing research abstracts and creating research presentations/posters, including how to maximize time and space and think about sequential narrative organization. |
| Fri., July 1 |
Excursion: Argonne National Laboratory |
Data Visualization and Methods
July 5 – 8, 2022
This week we’ll discuss data visualization and its many applications in the social sciences.
| Mon., July 4 | No Workshop: Independence Day holiday |
| Tues., July 5 |
Faculty Chalk Talk: Ada Palmer, Department of History |
| Wed., July 6 |
In Partnership with the Center for Spatial Data Science with Dylan Halpern, Senior Software Engineer for the US Covid Atlas Tools for Visualizing Geospatial Data Big and Small Finding (and Making Use Of) Open Data Sources (Part 1/2) In this workshop, students learn about open data and how to use it to explore questions and answer them. The goal of this workshop is for students to better understand different types of open source licenses and their implications, and to be able to find open source datasets. |
| Thurs., July 7 |
Formats to Publish Data Findings and User Exploration (Part 2/2) Continuation of the series in partnership with the Center for Spatial Data Science. |
| Fri., July 8 |
Excursion: Mindworks: The Science of Thinking |
Scholarly Communications and Professionialization
July 11 – 15, 2022
Now that you have all of these skills, what do you do with them? This week we’ll talk about how to put your talents to pragmatic use, including thinking about them as they apply to future job applications.
| Mon., July 11 | Faculty Chalk Talk: Scott Gehlbach, Department of Political Science |
| Tues., July 12 |
Graduate School 101 with Lindsey Weglarz, Assistant Dean of Students for Admission This workshop introduces students to the topic of graduate school: what it is, why students should consider going or not going, and how to prepare. |
| Wed., July 13 |
Career Advancement: Transferring Your Skills with Daniel Clark, Program Director of Careers in Behavioral Sciences This workshop addresses the process of translating professional and extra-curricular experiences into cross-functional skills applicable to a variety of roles. |
| Thurs., July 14 |
Data Sources and Text Mining with Greg Fleming, Business and Economics Librarian This workshop covers an overview of the best practices and expectations for writing research abstracts and creating research presentations and posters. |
| Frid., July 15 |
Professional Writing Workshop with Kathryn Cochran, Deputy Director of the Writing Program This workshop centers around discussions of perception, bias, and interviewing. It covers the four types of interviewing (structured, semi-structured, unstructured, involved) and the three phases of involved interviewing (Before, During, After). |
Download the SISRM 2021 Workshop Series schedule to view last year’s schedule.
The SISRM research assistantship offered me new skills to work with—it was really a fun experience for me. I learned a bunch of new things I can use later in my career.
Questions? For more information please contact:
Jamie Gentry (jagentry@uchicago.edu)