09/26/24
As I mentioned in my “welcome” blog post, a key goal of my independent study is to gain real world skill in social research. Thus the week was a busy one for me as I worked on fulfilling my first official obligations to this program, while also pursuing several other interests.
CITI HSR Certification
This week I completed my CITI Program course “HSR for Social & Behavioral Faculty, Graduate Students & Postdoctoral Scholars,” and received my official certification. The CITI HSR program provides core training in human subjects research, ethical issues, and regulatory guidance. To complete the training I had to prograss through a significant amount of reading and multiple choice tests (reminiscent of my SOC201 course.) The prize was a nifty digital certificate that makes a wonderful addition to my LinkedIn page… Actually, the MORE IMPORTANT aspect of this certification is that it’s a stepping stone towards the completion of my independent study for this semester, where I will be conducting a focus group with the support of my advisor, Professor Melanie Lorek, as well as Professor Sara Martucci.
R Programming
This week I also began my study of the “R” programming language within the RStudio integrated development environment. R is a coding languague primarily used for statistical analysis – the kind social researchers find themselves frequently engaged in. My goal is to become proficient with R before my graduation next semester. So I’ve started watching YouTube videos, with the following two channels being my favorites. I’ve spent about 8 hours learning and practicing so far and intend to keep up with about 4 hours per week until I start a more structured certificate program (see below).
Google Data Analytics Professional
I’ve also signed up with the Queensborough Community College CEWD Grants Program in order to obtain free access to the Google Data Analytics Professional program. The skills provided through this certification are directly related to some fairly technical aspects of quantitative social research. While I feel comfortable learning these skills on my own, in today’s credential-addicted society it is probably better to have this certification on my LinkedIn profile than to not have it… (Note that “R” is a component of the Google Data Analytics Professional program.)
