Brian Kleiner is head of Data and Research Information Services at the Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences FORS, and is member of the FORS Executive Board. He oversees the national social science data archive and inventory of research projects in Switzerland, as well as a range of activities that encourage and facilitate secondary use of data. He has over 15 years of experience in survey research and is interested in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. As a sociolinguist by training (Ph.D., Michigan State University), he also conducts methodological research that examines the complex functions of language in surveys.
Alexandra Stam is a senior researcher at FORS since 2009, working principally in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office to facilitate research access to public micro-data. Prior to this, she worked several years at the University of Dundee in Scotland as a teaching fellow and research assistant. Trained as a geographer, her research interests are on new forms of migration, particularly student mobility, and marriage migration. She completed a PhD in 2011 on 'marriage migration and the geographies of love', combining both quantitative and qualitative methods.
With increasingly complex and sophisticated data at the heart of research in the 21st century, researchers are required to become data experts themselves and to navigate an ever more interconnected research and data landscape. Data management encompasses a range of skills, practices, and considerations that ultimately aim at releasing the full value of data produced for research purposes, from their conception to their long-term preservation and use, and it is becoming a crucial feature of the modern research environment. Such skills are advantageous for all researchers working in this new environment, where initial investments in aspects of data production and documentation are rewarded later with greater quality, enhanced collaboration, and savings in time and effort. This workshop provides researchers with a unique opportunity to obtain advanced training in key aspects of data management, such as: informed consent and ethical considerations in data collection; documenting and contextualizing data; anonymisation; data formats, copyright, and best practices in organizing and storing data. It is for researchers from all disciplines engaged in or interested in the production of quantitative and/or qualitative data. A thrilling "scenario" developed throughout the workshop will provide researchers with practical skills directly applicable to their own research, plus a bit of intrigue!
No particular prerequisites are needed for the course.