Monday, March 18, 2024
The RP Group

 Upcoming Workshops

Leadershifting: Virtual Professional Development Series

Every Tuesday | March 19–April 23, 2024 | 1:00–4:00 pm
Facilitator: Ireri Valenzuela, Director of Leading from the Middle, The RP Group

Learn more and register


Qualitative Research Techniques for the Equity-Minded Change Agent

Every Friday | January 26–March 1, 2024 | 10:00 am–12:00 pm
Facilitator:
Janine Riopel, Institutional Researcher and Psychology Professor, Cabrillo College

Who should attend

This six-workshop series is designed for researchers interested in bringing more dynamic, culturally responsive methodologies into their departments. It is particularly suited for institutional researchers who have a foundation in quantitative analysis but want to further develop their qualitative skill sets and for research and planning directors/managers interested in supporting the development of more equity-minded practices on their campuses.

What you will get

The workshops will dive deeply into intersectional qualitative methodologies that center culturally responsive practices, and participants will learn skills they can use to advocate for qualitative research and amplify student voices on their campuses.

During the sessions, participants will be taught practical and applicable techniques, given opportunities to practice their skills, and offered chances to discuss challenges they face and to build a stronger qualitative research community. Each workshop will include a corresponding Canvas module with materials, notes, resources, and copies of the activities from the session so that researchers can start using their new skills immediately.

The workshops have been designed to be active learning sessions and interactive experiences. Attendees are encouraged to come prepared to learn, apply their learning during the sessions, and share their experiences with others to foster community.

Full descriptions and learning outcomes for each workshop can be found below.

Details

The series includes six virtual workshops, offered weekly on Fridays, 10:00 am–12:00 pm, January 26–March 1, 2024. Sessions will be recorded and posted in Canvas. Participants will have access to the Canvas course and session recordings for 12 months following the conclusion of the workshop series in March.

Registration Fees:

Participant/Member* - $565

Participant/Non-member - $675

*The RP Group Member registration rates are available to participants attending from California Community College institutions (college or district office) that are current RP Group members. Click here to check the current list of 2023-24 RP Group Institutional Members.

Register here

Research offices in higher education institutions primarily favor quantitative methods for their speed and relative ease of use, but as institutional research works to introduce more equity-minded methods, there is an increasing call for more student voice data. Qualitative analysis, when done properly and with care, provides rich and actionable insights into student needs and experiences. Nonetheless, qualitative research is often met with hesitancy by both researchers and practitioners. This workshop will introduce participants to the basics of intersectional qualitative analysis and provide practical talking points that researchers can use to advocate for qualitative methods to their supervisors and practitioners who ultimately need to act on the information.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Recognize the value of qualitative methodologies to advance equity

  • Identify how your college can use qualitative methods to amplify student voices

  • Construct talking points that can be used to advocate for qualitative methods and deal with detractors

Qualitative research is a big umbrella term for research that centers qualitative methods. It can include open-comment question design on larger surveys, focus groups, interviews, or analyzing collected evidence for narrative inquiry. Qualitative research is time and labor intensive—therefore, designing protocols with care benefits both the researcher and institution. During this workshop, participants will be taught about effective ways to center intersectional methods in consultation with practitioners on their campuses for qualitative protocols for surveys, focus groups, or interviews. Participants will engage conversations around research questions, subjectivity statements, trust development, and reflexivity in their process. Participants will also learn how to collect data or manage qualitative data that they had no part in designing but are being asked to analyze.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Explore what it means to engage in intersectional qualitative analysis with emergent design

  • Skills to foster reflexivity and trust in your qualitative design and analysis

  • Data collection techniques for focus groups, interviews, and surveys

Strong, equity-centered design is useless without the skills and confidence to analyze qualitative data during the process. With no clear-cut rules about how to go about qualitative analysis, the process of starting on the qualitative research journey can be an intimidating one for researchers who may have only learned quantitative methods in school or haven’t been in the classroom for a while. This workshop session holds space for these feelings and works to break down reservations researchers may have about their own ability to interpret and analyze qualitative data by giving them skills to tackle the work. Participants will learn the basics of how to apply qualitative theory to their interpretations of the data and how to work through the coding cycle (including analytical memoing) using broad technical applications. Participants will be given resources that outline some of the most practical coding techniques for institutional research offices.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Discuss basics of qualitative theory and how it applies to analysis and interpretation

  • Apply the coding cycle of qualitative analysis to collected data

  • Differentiate between appropriate introductory coding techniques

Research offices often do not have the financial capacity to purchase new analytical software for qualitative analysis. While there are great options available, qualitative analysis can be done just as effectively and meaningfully using software that is readily available: Excel, Google Sheets, and pen and paper. This workshop will primarily focus on methods that will allow researchers to quickly and easily “quant-ify” their analysis process, which can help with consolidation, categorization, and theory development. Participants will learn how to use word clouds for visual inspections of their data, how to code in Excel/Google Sheets, how to use pivot tables to understand their code, and how to design co-occurrence tables. During the workshop, participants will be given the opportunity to test their skills, and the corresponding Canvas module will include examples for download and use.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Incorporate already available programs like Excel and Google Sheets to facilitate effective qualitative analysis and interpretation

  • Transform qualitative data in Excel or Google Sheets into useable code books

  • Interpret co-occurrence and pivot tables to help facilitate code consolidation, categorization, and theme development

There are a variety of qualitative analysis technologies available to researchers beyond Excel, Google Sheets, and pen and paper. Programs like ATLAS.ti, Nvivo, and MAXQDA go much further than spreadsheets, with built in tools designed to make qualitative analysis less time consuming and efficient. This session will focus on one of the more expensive options available to research offices, ATLAS.ti, which can help with coding, consolidation, categorization, and theory development. Participants will be given an overview of the program, taught how to use the basic features to develop codes, categories, and qualitative data visualizations that assist in theory development (e.g., co-occurrence tables, word clouds, network maps). Participants will also be introduced to ATLAS.ti’s artificial intelligence model, including a discussion of its risks and benefits.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Incorporate qualitative analysis programs like ATLAS.ti to facilitate effective qualitative analysis and interpretation

  • Transform qualitative data in ATLAS.ti into meaningful codebooks

  • Interpret and use other ATLAS.ti features to help facilitate code consolidation, categorization, and theme development

In qualitative analysis, the researcher learns from and with others; it is critical to this relationship that the researcher then gives space to the perspectives and ideas that they have observed in their analysis. In this workshop, there will be a discussion regarding the power relationships in qualitative research and how intersectional qualitative researchers are responsible for engaging in analysis that does not distort the shared experiences of the participants or contribute to deficit narratives at their institutions. Participants in the workshop will learn some best practices for reporting on qualitative data, risks and benefits of visualizing qualitative data, and how to develop an information sharing plan for their findings. The workshop will also feature a discussion on how to overcome common obstacles to reporting on qualitative findings.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Recognize the relationship of respect between researchers and the participants who share with their lived and learned experiences

  • Determine appropriate manners and methods for presenting qualitative data to a variety of audiences

  • Develop skills to overcome qualitative research detractors and other reporting obstacles

Questions?

Please email Brad Trimble, Director of Learning & Strategy, at professionaldevelopment@rpgroup.org.

 Recorded Webinars and Workshops

Workshop 1: Designing Metamajors to Address Equity Gaps

Thursday, May 6, 2021 | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm | Presented by WestEd
Presenter:
 Kathy Booth

  • Clarify how you can construct metamajors that help students imagine their futures, connect with others who share their dreams, and practice the essential skills within related disciplines.

  • Learn a new framework to help students imagine, connect, and practice throughout their college journey.

  • Leave with a set of tools that help to identify core skills at the metamajor level that connect academic pathways to jobs--particularly for non-CTE disciplines.


Workshop 2: Leveraging Student Support (Re)defined in Guided Pathways

Thursday, May 13, 2021 | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm | Presented by RP Group
Presenter:
 Darla Cooper

  • Examine the Imagine-Connect-Practice Framework through the lens of the Six Success Factors in order to support a more effective and holistic approach to providing students with a valuable experience in their metamajors.

  • Explore what metamajors would look like if students were experiencing the Six Success Factors as they Imagine, Connect, and Practice.


Workshop 3: Aligning Course Learning Outcomes to Occupations

Thursday, May 20, 2021 | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm | Presented by JobSpeaker
Presenter:
 Jarlath O’Carroll

  • View the end-to-end technical support structure that will help students see their pathway through education into jobs and a career. The technical support provides a front-facing view into the metamajors but also provides on-going engagement of a skills pathway that ensures students see the benefits of their work.

  • See how the technical support helps students stay on the path, collect essential skills, find work-based learning opportunities, and understand how their path leads into employment.