 |
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CONSIRT Program |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The main research goals of the CONSIRT Program are: (a) to Publish research in first rate social science journals and high quality monographs, (b) to promote the use of high-quality cross-national data and harmonize existing data-sets for use in cross-national studies, (c) to encourage members, students, and affiliated professionals to write funding proposals to obtain grants, fellowships and other awards, (d) to establish conferences dedicated to presenting first-rate cross-national research and building professional networks, (e) to facilitate the international collaboration of scholars, and (f) to assist in networking of scholars interested in methodology of cross-national research.
The CONSIRT Program members are strongly encouraged to continue the tradition of publishing and disseminating high quality cross-national and collaborative research of methodological, theoretical, and substantive content to scholarly audiences. In addition to the leading journals in sociology, political science and related fields, specialized journals, such as Comparative Sociology and International Journal of Sociology, could also be of interest to prospective program authors.
Cross-National and/or Longitudinal Data
Through the collaboration of PAS and OSU, we are involved in harmonizing main cross-national datasets: the European Social Survey (ESS), the International Social Survey (ISSP) and World Value Survey (WVS). We also encourage use of the ex-post harmonized data of the Polish General Social Survey, the (US) General Social Survey and (German) ALLBUS.
The Polish Panel Survey, POLPAN, conducted on a national sample of Polish citizens in five year waves and spanning 1988-2008 represents a foundational data source for the program. Over the years, it has drawn the attention of both faculty and students, who have been actively involved in various stages of its planning and implementation. Recent conferences in Warsaw (in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009) focused on the use of POLPAN and included many former and current OSU graduate students. POLPAN 1988 - 2003 is archived with GESIS: ZACAT.
The CONSIRT Program contributes to scholarly research by providing access to unique datasets concerning parliamentarian candidates: POLCAN, and similar data for Czech Republic, Ukraine and Hungary.
Research Proposals
A key goal of the CONSIRT Program is to continue to obtain funding for cross-national research projects for students and other members. The CONSIRT Program sets into motion its experienced faculty and staff to encourage students to seek out funding opportunities and to facilitate the writing of proposals for prestigious grants, fellowships, and other awards.
Conferences
CONSIRT Program members have and will continue to conduct and participate in a number of conferences dedicated to cross-national research. The first such conference was “Sociological Surveys of Public Opinion in Southeastern Europe: Cross-National Comparative Studies” held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, August 31-September 2, 2007. The purpose of this conference was to bring together both established and up-and-coming scholars from the international academic community interested in the state of public opinion survey research in Southeast Europe (SEE). During the conference we (a) discussed methodology, theory and social problems related to survey research in SEE countries, (b) examined specific data sets and evaluated their usefulness for cross-national comparisons, and (c) established a working-community of scholars and allied professionals interested in this topic. The conference was funded by the American Council of Learned Societies.
The conference in Romania has been a model for further events devoted to cross-national surveys. A sequel conference, “Sociological Surveys of Public Opinion in Central and Eastern Europe: Cross-National Comparative Studies,” was held in Warsaw, Poland, July 3 – 5, 2008, as an effect of collaboration between IFiS PAN and DS OSU. The conference was funded in part by the OSU Office of International Affairs.
In December 2009, CONSIRT has organized Contributions of Area Studies to the Knowledge of Ethnic Tensions: Interdisciplinary Methodological Approaches, which combined a three-day international conference (December 14 – 16) on substantive and methodological issues in area studies of ethnic tensions with a three-day workshop (December 17 – 19) on multilevel analysis of survey data, including contextual data. The conference was supported by the Committee on Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, with the assistance of The Ohio State University, the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, and the Graduate School for Social Research. For details, see the conference website. In 2011, CONSIRT, in collaboration with the Center for Center for Slavic and East European Studies (CSEES) at the Ohio State University (OSU), organized the workshop Health Issues in Public Opinion Survey Research in Central and Eastern Europe. This event brought together international researchers specializing in CEE, health, and in survey methodology, along with a multidisciplinary mix of OSU students. The workshop focused on two surveys featuring data that span across time and across nations: the European Social Survey 2002 – 2008 (winner of the 2005 European Union’s Descartes Prize for Excellence in Science) and the Polish Panel Survey POLPAN 1988 – 2008 (the longest-running panel survey in CEE). Substantively, workshop students studied major social science theories that explain health attitudes and behaviors. Methodologically, the workshop introduced students to common measurement instruments used in the analysis of self-reported physical and mental health. Funding for the event, which was held on OSU main campus, came from CSEES and CONSIRT. For more information, see the health workshop website. International Collaboration
Building on past experience, CONSIRT Program will continue to seek to establish, promote and facilitate international networks of scholars with the aim of collaboration in high-quality international and interdisciplinary research projects. Collaboration will involve scholars from Western and Eastern European countries.
Networking
CONSIRT Program will use new communication technologies designed to keep knowledge streams quick, global and current. The internet aspect of the program will serve two main purposes. First, working papers will be posted so that members of the program can read, comment, and discuss them. Second, this will be a forum for discussing the details of data sets which have been created and maintained within the program.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
