The Joint Program in Survey Methodology offers a variety of short courses. Short courses are open to the public and admission to the University of Maryland is not required.

Introduction to Survey Sampling | Online Short Course

Course Details:
    Dates: Monday, February 10 - Wednesday, February 12, 2025
    Location: Zoom Live Sessions
    Time: 9:45 am - 3:00 pm (each day) Eastern Time

Instructors:
    Colm O’Muircheartaigh, Professor in the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies and Senior Fellow in the National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.
    Jim M. Lepkowski, Professor and Research Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan.

"This foundational course introduces participants to key principles and methods in sample survey design. In a non-technical format, instructors will cover essential sampling techniques, including simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratification, and cluster sampling. Each topic will be accompanied by hands-on exercises, allowing participants to actively apply these techniques."

The course fee is $700. Registration closes Monday, February 03, 2025. See complete details online (PDF) or on the JPSM website.

The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Virtual Series Issue (VSI) is a virtual journal based around thematic or significant anniversaries or events (e.g., MLK Remembrance, SPSSI's Annual Conferences), calendar events (e.g., LGBT Pride Month, Earth Day), and major policy initiatives (e.g., immigration reform, major Supreme Court cases). The VSI Editor identifies and selects appropriate articles from previously published issues of SPSSI's journals to be bundled for inclusion in each virtual issue.

VSI papers can be read in full by any member of the public (although they are not available for downloading or printing). Two recent items of interest to the DCSS community:

"She Came, She Saw, He Conquered: Gender, Polarization, and the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election" (December 2024) by Benjamin Blankenship, PhD, James Madison University and Roxanne Moadel-Attie, PhD, U.S. Census Bureau.

"Psychological Research, Social Activism and the 2024 OMB Federal Standards for Race and Ethnicity" (September 2024) by Roxanne Moadel-Attie, PhD, and Mehrgol Tiv, PhD, U.S. Census Bureau.

The Virtual Series Issue papers can be accessed via the SPSSI journals website.

"Join the Boston University Newbury Center, Duke University First-Generation Graduate Student Network, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carolina Grad Student F1RSTS, along with our Cooperating Sponsor, FirstGen Forward, for our 8th annual symposium for graduate and professional students on February 7, 2025 via Zoom. This national symposium is open to any student who identifies as a current first-generation graduate or professional student and is studying any discipline. We define a first-generation graduate/professional student as someone whose parents, guardians, or caregivers have not completed an advanced degree, e.g. master’s, doctoral, or professional degree (like a JD or MD)."

Registration for this symposium is free for all graduate and professional students. See complete details on the event website.

 The 19th Junior Theorists Symposium (JTS) is now open to new submissions. The JTS is a conference featuring the work of emerging sociologists engaged in theoretical work, broadly defined. Sponsored in part by the Theory Section of the ASA, the conference has provided a platform for the work of early-career sociologists since 2005. They especially welcome submissions that broaden the practice of theory beyond its traditional themes, topics, and disciplinary function. The symposium will be held as an in-person event on Friday, August 8 prior to the 2025 ASA Annual Meeting in Chicago.

They invite all ABD graduate students, recent PhDs, postdocs, and assistant professors who received their PhDs from 2021 onwards to submit up to a three-page précis (800-1000 words). The précis should include the key theoretical contribution of the paper and a general outline of the argument.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: March 21, 2025, 11:59pm Eastern Time

See more details and submission instructions on the section's Google Form.

The IPUMS SDA (Survey Documentation and Analysis) online data analysis tool empowers users to analyze IPUMS data directly from their web browsers without the need for additional software or advanced programming skills. SDA is available for IPUMS CPS and MEPS datasets. See the recent blog post for complete information.

The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the proposed extension of the American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey, prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.

To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed information collection must be received on or before January 6, 2025.

See the Federal Register notice online.

The Center for Integrated Latent Variable Research (CILVR)
at The University of Maryland is pleased to present two very popular COMPLETELY ONLINE offerings:

STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING: FROM BEGINNER TO INTERMEDIATE
January 8-10, 2025 (Wednesday-Friday) (Link for more information)

LONGITUDINAL STRUCTURAL EQUATION AND LATENT GROWTH MODELING
January 15-17, 2025 (Wednesday-Friday) (Link for more information)

Instructors:
Dr. Gregory R. Hancock, University of Maryland (ghancock@umd.edu)
Dr. Yi Feng, UCLA (yi.feng@ucla.edu)

Participants may join ONLINE, from anywhere in the world with a good wi-fi connection -- synchronously (real-time) or asynchronously (delayed/recorded).

The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Summer Conference will be June 26-29, 2025 in Portland, OR. The submission deadline is February 9, 2025. There will be no extension of this deadline. 

This year's theme is "Research as Seed, Teaching as Root, Action as Bloom: Foundations for a Just Future." See complete information about the conference on the SPSSI website.

As reported initially by The Intercept, George Mason University suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter in early November. The suspension followed a raid at the family home of two Palestinian American GMU students, sisters who had both served as SJP presidents. GMU Police Chief Carl Rowan Jr. subsequently served the sisters with criminal trespass notices barring them from campus for four years, effectively expelling them without due process. The November raid was carried out by GMU and Fairfax County police, who reportedly refused to show the family a search warrant. The FBI may also have been involved in the raid. Authorities told the family the raid was related to a spray-paint vandalism incident on the GMU campus in August. A recent Washington Post article on the incident adds more information about the raid on the family's home and the response by the family’s lawyer.

A large coalition of advocacy groups has released a statement protesting GMU's actions.

DCSS previously provided two news items (here and here) regarding an ASA member “Resolution for Justice in Palestine” that was approved in May.

The Spencer Foundation is committed to equitable education systems where all students, educators, families, and communities can thrive.

Spencer is launching a new initiative on AI and education. The initiative will support novel research on key, forward-leaning topics on AI, equity, and education. Ultimately, the initiative aims to offer evidence-based guidance that centers the needs of young people so that the technology solutions, systems, and policy directions we are utilizing and building contribute to the learning and thriving of all students.

In addition, Spencer has released a new set of white papers focused on what we know about culturally responsive and relevant approaches to teaching and learning. A growing body of research shows students learn best when they feel a sense of belonging and when teachers recognize and draw on cultural and community-aligned ways of thinking, doing, and learning. This research calls for new approaches to teaching and learning, centering the social and emotional needs of learners, and teaching in ways that incorporate communities and families.