PsyPAG Introduction to Secondary Data Workshop
Successful PsyPAG workshop on using secondary data in psychology research.
On the 2nd of December 2015, PsyPAG funded an introductory workshop for postgraduate psychology students on using secondary data in research. The workshop was hosted by Birkbeck's Department of Organizational Psychology and supported by the Centre for Sustainable Working Life. The workshop was organised by Kevin Teoh after he successfully made an application for funding from PsyPAG.
In total 25 postgraduates from across London and beyond came together for the day. The morning began with a brief introduction into PsyPAG as an organisation representing the interests of all psychology postgraduates in the UK. This is done through representation at the British Psychological Society, funding workshops, bursaries, and an annual conference amongst others.
The day was structured into three sessions. In the first, Dr Juliet Hassard (Centre for Sustainable Working Life & Dept. of Organizational Psychology) delivered an introductory lecture on what secondary data research is. Next, Simone Croft from the University of Sheffield introduced participants to cohort sets and ran a practical exercise on this topic. The final session of the day was a panel discussion comprising of three PhD students using secondary data along with the first speaker of the day - Dr Juliet Hassard.
Overall, the feedback from the day was positive. The key underlying message throughout was that using secondary data is becoming more popular and important. At the same time, while some may view secondary data as an easy approach, the reality is that the need to establish rigour while processing (often) large amounts of data means this is no easy task.
More information on the workshop, including videos and slides are available on this link.