Congratulations Professor Mignon Moore. Her superb book Invisible Families won the ASA Sex and Gender section’s 2012 Distinguished Book Award.

ASA Sex and Gender Section’s 2012 Distinguished Book Award recipient:

Moore, Mignon R. (2011). Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships and Motherhood Among Black Women. Berkeley: University of California Press.

While Moore’s title reflects the near invisibility [...]]]>  

Congratulations Professor Mignon Moore. Her superb book Invisible Families won the ASA Sex and Gender section’s 2012 Distinguished Book Award.

We are recruiting up to ten Research Fellowships to enhance our research expertise.  The Fellowships are offered for two years [...]]]> John Adams Career Development Research Fellows

Multi-Faculty

Salary:   £30,124 to £35,940 plus £2,323 London Allowance
Job Share considered
Closing Date:   Friday 18 May 2012
Interview Date:   To be confirmed
Reference:  7AC-RESMULTI-EXT

We are recruiting up to ten Research Fellowships to enhance our research expertise.  The Fellowships are offered for two years and are designed to support early career researchers to quickly develop their skills and expertise to become leading thinkers in their field.

You will be an ambitious post-doctoral researcher keen to develop your own research agenda, contribute to externally funded projects, publish in leading journals and develop networks and collaborations on a national and international basis.

In return you will have the opportunity to join one of the most research intensive institutions in the UK.  You will receive a comprehensive programme of support to enable you to build your own research agenda and help you to secure funding for this.

The appointments will be available from September 2012 or as soon as possible thereafter and will be available for two years.

Further details:

• Job Document and Personal Specification

We positively encourage applicants from all sections of under-represented communities.

For additional information on this position (including how to apply), visit the ASA Job Bank at http://jobbank.asanet.org.

We are recruiting up to ten Research Fellowships to enhance our research expertise.  The Fellowships are offered for two years [...]]]> John Adams Career Development Research Fellows

Multi-Faculty

Salary:   £30,124 to £35,940 plus £2,323 London Allowance
Job Share considered
Closing Date:   Friday 18 May 2012
Interview Date:   To be confirmed
Reference:  7AC-RESMULTI-EXT

We are recruiting up to ten Research Fellowships to enhance our research expertise.  The Fellowships are offered for two years and are designed to support early career researchers to quickly develop their skills and expertise to become leading thinkers in their field.

You will be an ambitious post-doctoral researcher keen to develop your own research agenda, contribute to externally funded projects, publish in leading journals and develop networks and collaborations on a national and international basis.

In return you will have the opportunity to join one of the most research intensive institutions in the UK.  You will receive a comprehensive programme of support to enable you to build your own research agenda and help you to secure funding for this.

The appointments will be available from September 2012 or as soon as possible thereafter and will be available for two years.

Further details:

• Job Document and Personal Specification

We positively encourage applicants from all sections of under-represented communities.

The 2012 Quetelet Seminar will focus on adult age morbidity and mortality
analysis from the data collection and measurement perspective. It will be
organised by the Centre for Research in Demography and Societies in
[...]]]> Call for papers
Quetelet seminar 2012 – Adult Mortality and Morbidity
December 5-7, 2012, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

The 2012 Quetelet Seminar will focus on adult age morbidity and mortality
analysis from the data collection and measurement perspective. It will be
organised by the Centre for Research in Demography and Societies in
collaboration with the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
(UcL/WHO) and the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of
Populations and Their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH).
Communications will cover existing or in-the-making tools for data
collection and measurement that serve to estimate adult-age morbidity levels
in countries with good-level statistical data and adult-age morbidity and
mortality levels in countries with incomplete data. Particular attention
will be devoted to papers that deal with estimating mortality and morbidity
in crisis or post-crisis time. Studies analysing interactions between
mortality and morbidity as well as the role of health monitoring systems in
situations conducive to potentially high public health risk are encouraged.

The 2012 Quetelet Seminar will be organised along the following three axes:
1. Morbidity Analysis
2. Adult mortality in countries where data are incomplete
3. Demographic impacts of armed conflicts and natural disasters

Description of the sessions, deadlines, organisation:
http://www.uclouvain.be/en-407091.html
The deadline for submitting proposals (abstracts) is June 8th, 2012
Organisation : Centre de recherche en démographie et société, Université
catholique de Louvain, Belgium (www.uclouvain.be/demo<http://www.uclouvain.be/demo>).
Information : isabelle.theys@uclouvain.be
*************
Chaire Quetelet 2012 – Mortalité et  morbidité aux âges adultes
5 au 7 décembre 2012, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique

La Chaire Quetelet 2012 sera consacrée à l’étude de la morbidité et la
mortalité aux âges adultes sous l’angle de la collecte et de la mesure. Elle
est organisée par le Centre de Recherche en Démographie et Sociétés en
collaboration avec le Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
(UcL/WHO) et l’International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of
Populations and Their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH). Les
communications porteront sur les outils de collecte de données et de mesures
existant ou à mettre en place pour estimer, aux âges adultes,  les niveaux
de morbidité  dans les pays disposant de bonnes données statistiques et les
niveaux de morbidité et  mortalité dans les pays à statistiques imparfaites.
Une attention particulière sera apportée aux communications traitant de
l’estimation de la mortalité et de la morbidité en période de crises ou
post-crises.  Les études relatives aux interactions entre mortalité et
morbidité ainsi qu’aux rôles des systèmes de veille sanitaire dans des
situations potentiellement à risques pour la santé publique  sont
encouragées.

La Chaire Quetelet 2012 sera organisée autour des trois axes suivants :
1. Etude de la morbidité
2. La mortalité adulte dans les pays à statistiques imparfaites
3. Impact démographique des conflits et catastrophes naturelles

Descriptif des axes, calendrier, organisation :
http://www.uclouvain.be/407091.html
La date limite de réception des propositions (résumés) est fixée au 8 juin
2012.
Organisation : Centre de recherche en démographie et sociétés, Université
catholique de Louvain, Belgique (www.uclouvain.be/demo<http://www.uclouvain.be/demo>).
Plus d’informations : isabelle.theys@uclouvain.be

Description

The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) seeks a Policy Analyst to serve as a staff member of International Programs. The International Programs (IP) mission is to improve the well-being of current and future generations and contribute to positive social change, with an emphasis on the developing world. IP staff serve [...]]]> Policy Analyst – International Programs

Description

The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) seeks a Policy Analyst to serve as a staff member of International Programs. The International Programs (IP) mission is to improve the well-being of current and future generations and contribute to positive social change, with an emphasis on the developing world. IP staff serve as a bridge between the research and policy communities by helping to ensure that research results and best practices are understood and used. We believe that information empowers individuals and institutions to make better policy decisions about population and health. The Policy Analyst will work in a team-oriented environment with both technical and management (team leader) responsibilities for content and materials development and country-level technical assistance and capacity-building activities.   This position will focus primarily on the management of a research initiative on better understanding population growth, reproductive health, and economic development.

Primary Responsibilities

·         Conduct research and analysis in support of case studies: compile data from a variety of authoritative sources (international and country-specific), document population and socio-economic trends, and collect information on policy regimes.

·         Communicate with researchers at U.S. and foreign institutions to obtain information for program events, identify research outputs, and solicit peer reviews in support of annual research conference and research dissemination efforts, as well as calls for proposals.

·         Draft policy briefs that summarize findings from one or more research studies and factsheets that summarize study methodologies.

·         Provide logistical support for annual research conference by liaising with local partners and logistics contractor in host country; by coordinating paper submission, tracking, review, and notification process.

·         Assist in preparing project proposals, grant applications, and project assessments.

·         Contribute to development of the agenda, logistical arrangements, and training presentations for annual conferences

Qualifications

·         Master’s or doctoral degree in economics, public policy, demography, public health, or related field.  Strong background in quantitative research methods preferred.

·         Three to five years of research experience, with experience in quantitative research methods.

·         Excellent written and oral communications skills with the ability to communicate to nontechnical audiences and work effectively with a broad range of individuals.

·         Interpersonal and professional skills necessary to work effectively with PRB partners and project stakeholders.

·         Ability to work independently and with minimal supervision and direction.

·         Working knowledge of French desirable.

Salary and Benefits: Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. PRB has an excellent benefits package, including generous health, leave, and retirement plans.

Applications: Please send resume and cover letter with salary requirements to jobs@prb.org.

The Institute welcomes applicants with disciplinary backgrounds in Criminology, Demography, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Social Policy, Sociology and Statistics. Researchers with experience [...]]]> The Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) is inviting applications for postdoctoral fellowships, commencing early calendar year 2013, under The University of Queensland Postdoctoral Fellowships Scheme. Up to two fellowships will be awarded.

The Institute welcomes applicants with disciplinary backgrounds in Criminology, Demography, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Social Policy, Sociology and Statistics. Researchers with experience and expertise in survey methods, social statistics, analysis of longitudinal and/or multilevel data, or randomised field experiments are particularly encouraged. For initial enquiries about postdoctoral work in the Institute, please contact Professor Mark Western (m.western@uq.edu.au), with an indication of your area of interest and a CV.

Closing Date Schools/Centres/Institutes: 28 May 2012

In particular, the scheme aims to attract outstanding recent doctoral graduates to the University in areas of institutional research priority.

To be eligible, an applicant must not have had more than five years full-time professional research experience or equivalent part-time experience since the award of a PhD, as at 30 June 2012. The selection process will also consider the alignment of the proposed research with areas of existing research strength, or research areas that UQ Faculties/Institutes wish to develop as strategic priorities.

The period of appointment will be for three years and appointees are expected to commence in early 2013. The current salary range for the award is A$79,655.88 – $88,765.21 p.a. comprising a base salary of A$68,081.95 – A$75,867.70, plus 17% superannuation. Each appointee will be entitled to maintenance funds of A$20,000 over the term of the Fellowship to support research costs. Appointees relocating from interstate or overseas will be entitled to reimbursement of travel and relocation costs.

The Guidelines, Conditions of Award and Application Form are available online at: www.uq.edu.au/research/rid/fellowships.

For further information about the Fellowships, contact UQFellowships@research.uq.edu.au.

More information about the Institute is available from www.issr.uq.edu.au

————————————–

Pending the availability of sufficient funds, the General Social Survey (GSS) project expects [...]]]> Summary. The General Social Survey invites proposals to add questions to its anticipated 2014 survey.  Proposals will accepted on the basis of scientific quality and scholarly interest.  Outside funding is not necessary.  The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2012.

————————————–

Pending the availability of sufficient funds, the General Social Survey (GSS) project expects to include some items or topical modules designed by users in its 2014 survey, and invites users to submit proposals recommending such items or modules.  Proposals submitted in response to this call need not be accompanied by funding that would support costs of data collection and data processing.  They will be judged with their scientific merit as a primary consideration.

The GSS is a nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized adults in the United States, conducted primarily via face-to-face interviews.  A National Science Foundation (NSF) award provides foundational support for the GSS, and if renewed would support inclusion of items submitted in response to this call; other sources provide supplementary support, typically to field topical modules.  GSS data are collected every two years, and made available to the research community and the public as soon as possible after data collection is complete.  Until 2004, the GSS was designed as a repeated cross-sectional survey.  Beginning in 2006, the GSS design added a panel component.  Through the use of appropriate sampling weights, each biennial GSS provides nationally representative estimates of distributions of survey items measuring a wide variety of social and political attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of U.S. adults.  For additional information about the GSS and its study design, please consult the official NORC/GSS website at http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/.

Beginning in 2010, the NSF award that funds the core GSS survey supported data collection costs for some user-contributed survey items.  (This departs from GSS practice for the 1998-2006 period, during which proposed topical modules could be considered only if accompanied by funding from other sources.  Such outside-funded proposals remain welcome, and investigators interested in initiating proposals for outside-funded items should contact Tom W. Smith, the Principal Investigator and Director of the GSS at NORC (smitht@norc.uchicago.edu; phone 773-256-6288).)  This call describes the criteria for user-contributed proposals and the process through which decisions will be reached concerning them.

Proposals for New Content

Proposals submitted in response to this call may advocate inclusion of supplementary GSS content that varies in length, from as little as a single survey question to as much as a topical module of interrelated questions that might require 5 minutes or more of interview time.  Proposals should articulate the specific research issues that the proposer would address and the scientific objectives that would be met if the proposed items were added to the GSS.  Ideally, proposals will include the specific wording of survey items, document their past use and performance in other surveys, and present evidence bearing on the quality of data (validity, reliability, item nonresponse, etc.) they elicit.  Demonstrating that items have proved fruitful in past published work, or that their inclusion would contribute to better understanding in key social science fields or interdisciplinary domains, can strengthen proposals.  In some cases, however, users may be able only to suggest a general topic area and give examples of topics and types of items.  Items that have synergies with existing GSS content, or that promise to interest a large number of GSS users, will be of interest.

Users are encouraged to think broadly and flexibly when considering what kinds of items to propose.  They may, for example, propose to collect data from some subset of GSS respondents (e.g. employed persons, currently married persons, or persons who have attended religious services in the past year).  Proposals for survey experiments that administer alternative question wordings to randomly designated subsets of respondents are also welcome; such experiments may address substantive social science questions, issues of survey methodology, or both.  Statistical power considerations are relevant, since items can be measured for all GSS respondents or for some randomly drawn subsample of them.  Proposals therefore should consider how large a sample is required to draw conclusions.

            Proposals may suggest that items be added to the 2014 GSS as a one-time topical module administered to a nationally representative cross-section of US adults; most GSS topical modules have taken this form.  Note, however, that it is expected that the 2014 GSS will collect baseline data for a three-wave panel study (with anticipated follow-up interviews in the 2016 and 2018 GSSs), so proposals for adding repeated content will also be entertained.  Investigators who propose panel content should address the value of having data on within-individual change on items they propose.  Because such proposals would involve interview time on three successive GSSs, it is anticipated that successful proposals for repeated/panel content will be shorter (i.e., will involve fewer survey items) than those for one-time inclusion of items. 

Proposers should be aware that NSF funding for the GSS project currently extends only through the 2012 survey.   Successful proposals for items or modules submitted in response to this call will appear in the GSS only if sufficient funds to conduct its 2014 round are awarded.  Any proposal involving repeated content would be accepted pending renewal funding of the project into 2016 and beyond.

            The rotating panel design of the GSS initiated in 2006 means that each GSS round now collects data for a freshly-sampled cross-sectional sample, while simultaneously reinterviewing respondents from the two previous cross-sections.  The reinterviews contain much of the interview time available to accommodate new content.  For this logistical reason, much new content in 2014 would be administered to GSS respondents who were first interviewed in the previous two rounds (2010 and 2012), rather than to respondents newly sampled in 2014.  Items in successful proposals received in response to this call therefore may appear as part of a 2014 reinterview with respondents to the 2010 or 2012 GSSs.  Investigators may need to make use of weights that adjust for between-wave attrition in order to obtain appropriate estimates based on their items.

Generally, questions on the GSS are fixed choice survey items that are asked in a face-to-face context. Other formats are also possible (e.g., self-administered items, open-ended items, card sort tasks, or stimulus materials provided via audio or video) but such variations often increase interview and development time, complexity and cost (coding costs are substantial for open-ended items, for example).  Hence, items with such formats must serve an important scientific purpose in order to justify the additional effort required; proposals to add items using such formats should address this consideration.

Criteria for Choosing Content

The GSS attempts to provide high quality data in a timely manner to a large, interdisciplinary social science user community.  Proposals to add content will be evaluated with this objective in mind by the GSS Board of Overseers and the GSS principal investigators.

The Board and PIs will use the following criteria in selecting and developing new content for the GSS:

1.   Above all, new content must be of high scientific quality, appropriate to the GSS, and justified on substantive, theoretical or methodological grounds. 

2.  New content must be useful to a wide range of users (e.g., researchers, teachers, policymakers, etc.) that extends beyond the investigator(s) setting forth a proposal.  New content ideally will enhance the understanding and/or usefulness of GSS items in the replicating core  (http://publicdata.norc.org:41000/gss/Documents/Codebook/Replicating%20Core_0707.pdf), GSS data previously collected as part of a topical module, or data from other sources (e.g., to be used for comparisons).

3.  A primary mission of the GSS is to study social change in the United States over time through replication of survey items.  Items that contribute to this mission because they have previously been administered in nationally representative studies of US adults (including past GSSs) will be of interest for this reason.

4.  Similarly, the GSS seeks to understand the US by comparison with other world societies.  Proposals to compare and contrast the US with other societies by including items that have been administered in recent nationally representative studies conducted in other societies will be of interest for this reason.

5.  New content must meet human subjects protections, in compliance with the GSS project’s IRB approval, NSF and NORC policies.  Investigators should determine whether they must also obtain IRB approval at their own institutions.

6.  New content must fit within the overall time framework of the survey and must not interfere with respondent cooperation and/or the integrity of responses to questions later in the survey.

Time Line for Proposals and Development of Items

Significant lead time is required before new material can be included on a GSS survey.  To be considered for inclusion in the 2014 GSS, investigators should submit proposals to Tom W. Smith, the Principal Investigator and Director of the GSS at NORC (smitht@norc.uchicago.edu; phone 773-256-6288) no later than August 15, 2012.

Proposals submitted in response to this call will be reviewed by the GSS Board at its fall, 2012 meeting.  At that meeting, some proposals will be selected for subsequent development, which will entail the exchange of advice and ideas between the Board, the GSS PIs, and the proposer(s), informed by both cognitive and conventional pretesting of items by NORC; such development may extend into 2013.  The Board will review the status of the selected proposals at its spring, 2013 meeting; by then it will be essential that proposals specify the provisional question wording for all prospective items (if the wording was not available in the first instance).  The Board and PIs will select some sets of items for inclusion in a conventional pretest that will be conducted in the summer of 2013, which will establish (among many other things) the actual interview time requirements of the proposed items.  At its fall, 2013 meeting, the Board will make a final determination of the items to be included in the 2014 GSS.

It is important that investigators understand that inclusion of items in the GSS is not assured until they have undergone the full cycle of development described above, and until the GSS Board has decided to include them in the GSS at its fall, 2013 meeting.  Space on GSS interview schedules is always limited.  The Board and PIs may require changes in the wording of proposed survey items based on pretest evidence or other considerations, though such changes will be made in consultation with proposers.  Likewise, due to the scarcity of interview time, the Board and PIs may elect to include only a subset of the items suggested in any given proposal.  After data are collected, they will be made publicly available to all GSS users along with the rest of the 2014 GSS, roughly six months after 2014 data collection is complete:  proposers will not have exclusive access to data collected using their items for any period of time.

At this point the GSS is unable to specify precisely how much 2014 interview time will be available to accommodate items proposed in response to this call.  It can say that numerous proposals for items and modules of the kind described here were successful in adding content to the 2010 and 2012 GSSs.

            [Investigators who have obtained, or might wish to seek, outside funding for their items should consult the document “Guidelines for Prospective GSS Module Proposals” available on the GSS website:  see http://publicdata.norc.org:41000/gss/Documents/Codebook/gssguidelines.pdf).  Such proposals will be considered as part of a separate, but parallel, process.]

Proposal Length and Format

Proposals submitted in response to this call should be roughly 2-5 pages in length, and should address the following points:

1.  The background and the scientific, theoretical, or methodological motivation for inclusion of the topic in the GSS.  Proposals for repeated/panel content should address the gains to be realized by obtaining data on within-individual change on the subject;

2.  The specific topics, and ideally the specific survey items or questions, that would be included in the GSS, together with any evidence of the quality of the data they elicit;

3.  Previous knowledge about the appearance of the items, or items on similar topics, in the GSS or other surveys, and their use in published research;

4.  The appropriateness of the GSS for the proposed items, to include any synergies they may involve with GSS project objectives or existing GSS items; and

5.  Proposals for questions about multiple topics should indicate the priority assigned to measuring the different topics in the GSS.  Likewise, proposals to measure a given topic using multiple items should indicate which items have higher and lower priority for inclusion.

Proposals from groups of investigators as well as individual investigators are welcome.

When similar calls for proposals were issued in 2010 and 2012, the GSS received many more proposals for new content than it could accommodate.  The Board and PIs will review and discuss proposals submitted in response to this call, and then notify investigators as to whether or not their proposals were selected for further development.   At that point, the Board and PIs may request that investigators provide additional information, and may suggest that separate groups of proposers with interest in similar topics collaborate as part of working groups to develop a topical module.  The Board will provide investigators who submit unsuccessful proposals with brief summaries of reasons that their proposals were not selected, but cannot offer detailed critiques.

            To reiterate, proposals responding to this call should be submitted to Tom W. Smith at NORC (smitht@norc.uchicago.edu) no later than August 15, 2012.