Social Science Data Center aims to advance Lehigh’s level of research
Posted on LU web site Tuesday, December 4, 2007
by Tricia Long
The new center features workstations with the latest software and hardware necessary to conduct a wide variety of research.
Research at Lehigh is getting an extra boost from the sociology and anthropology department, which has created the University’s first Social Science Data Center.
Designed to lend support to research needs from across the institution, the data center is already bustling with activity.
Located on the third floor of Price Hall, the data center boasts six
fully equipped workstations using the latest software and hardware
necessary to conduct a wide variety of research, including
telephone-based surveys, computer-assisted coding and analysis of
qualitative data, advanced statistical analysis, geographic information
systems analysis, and database management and input.
In addition to the state-of-the-art workstations, a graduate assistant
with call-center experience is on hand to help with the preparation of
funding proposals and coordinate research that utilizes the center’s
facilities. Training sessions are available to bring researchers up to
speed on the telephone and computer programs.
“This is a great thing for the university, faculty and students,” says Ziad Munson,
assistant professor of sociology, who developed the data center. “We
want to spark people’s imagination about how they can use the center.
There’s an opportunity for it to really grow as it assists people in
conducting their own research.”
“An excellent step”
The center, thus far funded through the College of Arts and Sciences,
the Vice Provost of Research, the Sociology and Anthropology department
and the W.M. Keck Foundation Grant for Applied Life Science Program.
“The Social Science Data Center is an excellent step in advancing the
data-driven research being carried out by faculty and students,” said Anne Meltzer,
the Herbert J. and Ann L. Siegel Dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences. “It will help fulfill the research needs of many constituents
across colleges, as well as in the local community and nationally.”
For faculty, the facilities provide an opportunity to increase their
research output and make them more competitive for grants; for
students, the center provides unparalleled experience with tools that
will be essential in their intended careers. “This provides students
with a skill-set that they wouldn’t otherwise have,” said Munson.
Academic projects from across colleges are already tapping the center’s
resources, including an NIH-funded study on family relationships, an
NSF-funded study of citizen trust and electronic voting, and a study of
online social networking and its impact on the creation of
relationships.
Students are also conducting a community-funded needs assessment for
North Penn Legal Services, an organization that provides free legal aid
services on civil cases to low-income families, individuals, and groups
in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Student workers have places thousands of
phone calls to generate the needed responses.
“This will raise Lehigh’s profile within the community by showing what
we do best—research and teaching—and how that can help in their lives,”
says Munson of the project.
Through a partnership with the Institute of Public Opinion at
Muhlenberg College, the center will also able to collaborate on
projects by connecting with Muhlenberg’s 12 workstations, which are
used to conduct scientific-based survey research projects of public
policy and political issues throughout the Lehigh Valley and
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “It’s a synergy where both schools will
benefit,” says Munson.
Looking ahead, Munson says that additional workstations will allow
researchers to bring larger projects inhouse, including full-scale
national surveys, interview projects, and studies of texts and media.
He also sees great potential in capturing and analyzing public opinion
on a myriad of topics in the community. “We can provide some scientific
rigor to claims about what people do or do not want,” says Munson.
“There are a lot of community issues on which there is a lot of heat
and not much light.”
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