Extra conference activities encourage lively debates
The second day of the Understanding Society Scientific Conference gave researchers the chance to attend drop-in sessions, workshops and a user consultation session.
The day was kick-started with individual sessions on employment & wellbeing, social mobility, health (methods) and genetic data.
One of the presenters, Dusanee Kesavayuth travelled from the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce to discuss her findings on how well people cope when leaving work.
After presenting at the Scientific Conference for the first time, Dusanne commented on why she wanted to attend.
“The way the sessions have been arranged has been very good because peers with similar interests are all able to discuss their ideas together. This event has the perfect blend of friendliness, but also professionalism. It is much better than other academic conferences I have been to because the environment encourages more discussion.”
Key discussions were ongoing in the mental health and sleep parallel session, particularly when Amal Alghamdi from the University of Leeds offered insights on the complexity of sleep and how it’s connected to socio-demographic and health characteristics.
Here, she comments on the benefits of the Understanding Society Scientific Conference,
“I have been impressed by the different nationalities that I have found here. I thought it was just be people from the UK who are interested in Understanding Society, but people from many countries are present. There are also attendees from lots of fields of research like sociology and medicine – all sharing their expertise.”
After sharing his findings on sleep and social inequality, Dr Robert Meadows from the University of Surrey commented on why he wanted to present at this conference;
“It has been very interesting and simulating because you can hear what other researchers are doing in similar areas. The conference allows you to get substantive findings, but also get an awareness of what the data can do.”
Offered opportunities to talk to the survey team
So researchers can maximise their use of the data, the team also hosted specialist drop-in sessions which allowed delegates to speak directly to the survey experts. Dr Gundi Knies from the Institute for Social and Economic Research was helping with enquires.
She commented on its success, “It was useful; I got a wide range of questions about which variables we use and why we decided to use certain questions in Understanding Society that we didn’t use in the British Household Panel Survey. I clarified queries about how the fieldwork agency works with us and more particular questions about weighting; it was useful talking about these more complex issues face-to-face. ”
A final component of the day was the user consultation which allowed the audience to discuss the youth questions that feature in the Understanding Society youth questionnaire.
The lively session was chaired by Professor Michaela Benzeval, Director of Understanding Society and Karon Gush who is a Senior Research Officer for the study.
During the presentation Maria Iacovou from the University of Cambridge highlighted the potential of the youth data by sharing her study, Does your mother know: staying out late and risky behaviours among 10-15 years old and the media coverage she garnered from it.
New topic areas that the youth questionnaire could include were also featured and suggestions from the audience included:
- More questions on mental health and physical health
- More questions on sleeping habits
- Updating the technology questions so they include the latest social media accounts
The session also looked at better incentives for young participants so they stay with the study once they reach adulthood and the possibility of using Smartphones to answer the questions.
Karon commented at the end, “I hope I have stimulated you to think more about youth research and the survey questions we ask. As we move forward with the study, we are keen to get as many views as possible on this subject.”
If you did not get the chance to attend this consultation, more information on this consultation will be available shortly. In the meantime, all views about the youth questionnaire should be submitted to consult@understandingsociety.ac.uk.