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Current Update.PPOL Update July 24, 2007Hello PPOL Students: I hope this latest PPOL Update finds you all enjoying the summer and getting lots of work done on your research (or enjoying your last “free” summer for you incoming students). Things in the PPOL office are fairly quiet, so there are not many items I need to bring to your attention in this Update. However, there are a couple of items: 5—Qualitative Data Analysis in Spring As mentioned in the previous Update, we will be having a social for all the PhD students in the PPOL and the Organizational Sciences Ph.D. programs on Friday evening, August 17th, from 5-8pm at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. This tavern is located at 9605 N Tryon St, which is just across Tryon Street from the university. I will provide specific directions closer to the date. However, I hope most of you will be able to join us for this social event to help kick off the semester in a fun and informal setting before things get too serious. I know that several of you will be working on your final qualifying exam, but you might find an hour at the social a welcome break before getting back to the writing. I look forward to seeing everyone there that can make it! For all the new, incoming students to the program, please note there is an orientation hosted by the Graduate School on Saturday, August 18th from 10:30am-1:00pm. For those of you on Graduate Assistantships, this is mandatory. For everyone else, it is strongly encouraged. In addition to information on all the services the university has to offer graduate students, there will also be a cook out as part of this event where you can meet faculty and fellow grad students. Additional information and RSVP information are available at http://www.uncc.edu/gradmiss/gs_orientation2007.html. Several of you are (finally?) nearing the light at the end of the tunnel. Graduating from a Ph.D. program is a little confusing sometimes due to the public notifications, public dissertation defense, edits, and final binding of the Big Book. For those of you targeting a December graduation, please note the following. Application for Admission to Candidacy forms are due to the Grad School by August 29. I need to sign off on these before they go to the Grad School so don't wait until the last minute to submit this form. Application for Degree forms are also due August 29. Both forms are available on the Grad School web site. Final versions of Doctoral Dissertations are due in to the Grad School by Friday, October 19th for December Graduation. [Note that the deadline for final dissertations for spring graduation is March 20, 2008]. Several of you use qualitative data analysis methods, so I thought I would share with you this announcement from a colleague on one of the methodology listservs I am on: “A new version of TextQuest - text analysis software - version 3.0 is released. It differs from previous versions; there are two new modules: 1. a word comparison module that allows you the comparison of more than two wordlists
I did a comparison of 3 speeches in the US 2000 campaign on foreign policy (Bush, Gore, McCain), and the results were very interesting. As far as I know no other software can do this. The test version contains all three texts, and you can replicate the analysis. Or have a look at the results at http://www.textquest.de/us2002compare.pdf. The number of word lists is not limited, so analyses over time are possible. 2. a category manager which eases the construction and maintaining of dictionaries. You can select search patterns from a word list, but also from a list of uncoded text units, that is useful if you code answers of open ended questions. An Australian customer said: I never did content analysis before, but now it became very easy. A free test version is available from http://www.textquest.de/eindex.html and is only limited in file size and printing disabled, but it is not time restricted. The manual is included in the test version and is stored in the installation folder; it is a PDF-file.” 5—Qualitative Data Analysis in Spring Due to a fortunate turn of events in scheduling, it appears that Dr. Suzanne Leland will be offering her PPOL 8622 Qualitative Analysis course in the full spring semester. Because of the changes to the PPOL core curriculum this past year, this course now fulfills three of the six required advanced analysis courses for students in the program. I will provide additional details as the full spring semester plan comes together, but I wanted to let you know this in advance since this is a class many of you have expressed interest in having offered again. We have a few tidbits of summer successes I wanted to share with you. First, on July 12th, PPOL student Stephen Stemkowski successfully defended his dissertation proposal and now advances to the candidacy stage of the program. Second, we received word that PPOL student Huiping Li had her paper submission accepted for poster presentation at this year’s Association of Public Policy and Management (APPAM) conference coming up in November in Washington, DC. Third, PPOL student Connie Wessner received word that her paper submitted for the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) conference has been accepted for presentation. ARNOVA will be in Atlanta in November this year. Finally, I was happy to learn that my two submissions to APPAM have been accepted for presentation too. If you have news of paper acceptances, presentation, awards, or other news (whether solo or co-authored), please let me know so I can be sure and share it with your peers, your professors, as well as with the administration.
Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts: Postdoctoral Fellowships The three-year postdoctoral fellowships carry with them an appointment as lecturer in the fellow's host department. The stipend for 2008-9 will be approximately $66,500. Fellows are provided with a shared office, a personal computer, a research account of $2,500 a year, and access to university resources and benefits. Fellows are expected to reside in or near Princeton during the academic year in order that they may participate fully in the intellectual life of the society. The candidate is expected to have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. by June 15, 2008. The dates for completion of the Ph.D. degree--between Jan.1, 2005 and Oct. 8, 2007 (for ABDs: June 15, 2008)--are strictly observed, with no exceptions.
The
Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts seeks to
promote innovative interdisciplinary approaches to scholarship
and teaching. Fellowships are awarded to candidates who have
demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement, excellence in
teaching, and whose work shows evidence of unusual promise.
Postdoctoral (Cotsen) Fellows are appointed each year for
three-year terms to pursue research and teach half-time in their
academic host department, in the Program in Humanistic Studies,
or in other university programs. http://www.princeton.edu/~sf/guidelines.shtml Visiting Scholars
Princeton University Princeton University's Center for the Study of Democratic Politics seeks up to five visitors for the academic year. The center supports empirical research on democratic political processes and institutions, primarily, but not exclusively in the contemporary American setting, with a particular focus on the relationship between democratic theory and democratic practice. Applications are welcome from political scientists and scholars in related social science disciplines at any career stage from graduate students to senior faculty. Each visitor will pursue his or her own research and contribute to the intellectual life of the center, the department of politics, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. http://web.princeton.edu/sites/wws/csdp/application.html In addition to the post-doc opportunities, I also provide occasional job postings. There are several online sites that have FAR more comprehensive listings, and my goal here is not to replicate those efforts. Rather, I use these specific listings to highlight to diverse kinds of jobs for which you are being training in this program. This particular position would be extremely apropos for a PPOL-trained individual. North Carolina General Assembly Career Opportunity for Experienced Evaluators In New Evaluation Division Positions to be filled include: • Principal Program Evaluator • Program Evaluation Statistician • Senior Program Evaluator
Professionals who are interested in improving North Carolina government and have strong communications and quantitative research backgrounds are encouraged to consider a career with the newly-established Program Evaluation Division of the Legislative Services Office of the General Assembly. Evaluators will be full-time legislative employees.
Expectations for the new Division are high. To fulfill those expectations, evaluators must be willing to challenge assertions diplomatically and to look beyond readily-available sources of information. The Division will apply the greatest amount of intellectual power that can be reasonably expected within available resources. Because of the anticipated difficulty and complexity of program evaluation projects, evaluators will be expected to be excellent writers and presenters and proficient with statistical methods and data analysis. Evaluators must work collegially with fellow staff and with outside stakeholders and state agencies as well as with consulting firms engaged for certain projects. Evaluators must be willing to compile and analyze data with minimal assistance from state agencies and in many instances will originate data through direct observation or through less obtrusive research methods. Overnight travel will be required on some projects. Work must be accomplished with a sense of urgency and a willingness to work with state legislators in a confidential and sensitive environment.
Applications are due August 22nd. If you would like the full details on any of these three positions, let me know and I will forward the whole packet to you (daswinde@uncc.edu).
Dr. David Swindell, Assoc. Professor & Director
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