21 December 2020
Read a new article from Dr Daniele Fanelli

LSE Fellow in Quantitative Methodology Dr Daniele Fanelli has published a new LSE School of Public Policy article.

This article is titled 'Probing academic consensus on COVID-19 mitigation: are lockdown policies favoured mainly in high-income countries?' and asks the question of how to measure he scientific consensus behind lockdown policies.

This article explores national lockdown policies through use of a new site that enables academics to anonymously give their views on the ‘focused protection’ model endorsed by the ‘Great Barrington Declaration'.

16 December 2020
Read a new article from Dr Nimesh Dhungana

Dr Nimesh Dhungana has published a new article in the special issue open-access edition of Politics and Governance.

This article is titled 'Doing Civil Society-Driven Social Accountability in a Disaster Context: Evidence from Post-Earthquake Nepal' and focuses on the politics of disaster governance.

Nimesh uses the concept of social accountability and draws on an ethnographic case study of a civil society-led accountability campaign in post-earthquake Nepal to show how MCHD sought to amplify local voices regarding failures in aid delivery and expanded opportunities for dialogue between disaster-affected communities and local powerholders.

The article draws attention to the political potential of social accountability in a post-disaster context, while also raising caution that such activism is unlikely to succeed in holding powerholders to account in the absence of supportive national bureaucratic and international aid structures.

Keep up to date with Nimesh on Twitter.

15 December 2020
Read a new article coautohered by Dr Rishita Nandagiri and Joe Strong 

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Rishita Nandagiri and former MSc Social Research Methods Joe Strong have coauthored a new article with Ernestina Coast in the journal International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

This piece, titled 'COVID-19 and Abortion: Making Structural Violence Visible' analyses abortion through the lens of Johan Galtung's structural violence in the context of COVID-19.

The article finds that COVID-19, rather than creating new crisis conditions for abortion, reveals and amplifies existing fractures & fissures in care provision & access. These fault lines are “structural violence”.

Find more information on this article and its findings from Rishita's Twitter thread.

14 December 2020
Read a new article from Dr Ruxandra Serban

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Ruxandra Serban has published a new article in The Journal of Legislative Studies on the relationship between governments and legislatures.

This article is titled 'How are prime ministers held to account? Exploring procedures and practices in 31 parliamentary democracies' and focuses on prime ministers as, despite being crucial political actors in parliamentary systems, there is little understanding of how they are held accountable by legislatures.

This is the first comparative study of prime ministerial questioning mechanisms and procedures, presenting findings from 31 parliamentary democracies.

Keep up to date with Ruxandra on Twitter.

10 December 2020
Read a Q&A with Dr Aliya Rao for Culture Study

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Aliya Rao has been interviewed for an article in Culture Study.

In this Q&A Aliya explains how she got interested in studying unemployment, describes some of the findings from her book, and shares her thoughts on how COVID-19 may matter for gender and unemployment.

The article 'Who gets the office, who gets the kitchen table?' asks questions such as why men’s work so often occupies the more privileged space to explore Aliya's current research focuses of gender and unemployment. Aliya has recently published a new book in this field titled 'Crunch Time: How Married Couples Confront Unemployment'.

Keep up to date with Aliya on Twitter.

9 December 2020
Dr Audrey Alejandro invited to speak at a Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research workshop

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro has been invited to speak at the upcoming Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research workshop. 

This 'Self-Reflection Time for the Perhiphery: Reclaiming IR from the Core' workshop will take place on 12-13 December 2020 and contributors to the workshop will discuss what IR scholars in the Global South can do to overcome their relative exclusion from the IR mainstream.

Audrey's presentation is titled 'Diversity For and By Whom? Knowledge Production and the Management of Diversity in International Relations'. You can register for the event here and find the full programme of the workshop here.

8 December 2020
Read a new article from Dr Ellie Knott

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods Dr Ellie Knott has published a new article in Qualitative Research. This article is co-authored by Denisa Kost.

This aritcle is titled 'Harm, change and unpredictability: the ethics of interviews in conflict research' and focuses on how researchers can deal with harm and change ethically whilst using a method that is inherently unpredictable.

Ellie argues for a deliberative and iterative approach to understandings of harm and harm thresholds in interview research. This argument draws on recent debates on the precautionary principle in natural sciences, which address the unpredictabilities of research, allowing researchers to think about change in ways that is ethical.

Keep up to date with Ellie on Twitter.

7 December 2020
Dr Sonja Marzi awarded a new ESRC grant

LSE Fellow in the Department of Methodology and the Department of International Development Dr Sonja Marzi has received an ESRC grant to develop a remote participatory video methodology using smartphones.

The project that has been awarded this substantial grant is titled 'Co-producing knowledge about the impacts of emergencies/pandemics: Developing remote participatory visual methods using smartphones' and collaborates with with Rachel Pain, Jen Tarr, Spectacle Media, Mafe Carrillo, and Lina Zuluaga García.

The goal of this project is to respond to the challenges of methodological co-production and participatory action research that arise during emergencies by developing an innovative remote participatory visual method using smartphones.

This will remotely investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's new lived realities of urban life in Colombia. The whole research process, from development to dissemination, will be conducted online.

Keep up to date with Sonja on Twitter.

3 December 2020
Read a new article from Dr Joshua Townsley on political engagement among same-sex couples 

LSE Fellow Dr Joshua Townsley has coauthored an article with Dr Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte. This has been published in the Research & Politics journal.

This article is titled 'Political engagement and turnout among same-sex couples in Western Europe' and aims to address a simple, yet overlooked, research question: is there a sexuality gap in political engagement and participation between sexual minority individuals and the heterosexual majority in Western Europe?

The article finds empirical evidence of a significant and positive ‘sexuality gap’ in levels of political interest, turnout and other forms of political participation in Western Europe over and above what can be determined by socio-economic determinants of political participation.

Keep up to date with Joshua on Twitter and find more information on the article via this Twitter thread.

2 December 2020
Attend an event organised by Dr Rishita Nandagiri

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Rishita Nandagiri is an organiser of the LSE Abortion + SHR Seminar Series. 

This is a cross-discipline space, based at the LSE, for academics, activists, practitioners and more to speak about their work and their roles in the field of SRHR. It is co-organised by Professor Ernestina Coast and Joe Strong.

The next in this Seminar Series will be 'Interrogating the role of men as researchers in SRHR' at which Dr Malvern Chiweshe will speak about the role of men as researchers in SRHR. Dr Chiweshe is a Research Associate at the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction Research Programme at Rhodes University, South Africa and a Senior Research Associate for Clinigma.

This event will take place on Tuesday 15 December 2020 (12:00 – 13:00 GMT). For more information please contact Rishita.

1 December 2020
Read a new article from Professor Patrick Sturgis

Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis has published a new article in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.

This article is coauothered with Rebecca Luff and is titled 'The demise of the survey? A research note on trends in the use of survey data in the social sciences, 1939 to 2015'.

The article assesses the case for a decline in the use of survey data in the social sciences during a period in which conventional survey research has faced existential challenges to its ongoing feasibility and growing competition from new forms of ‘Big Data’. 

The article finds that, in spite of an emergence of a small proportion of articles using Big Data, the use of surveys has actually increased, being used in nearly half of all published articles in this set of journals in 2014/15.

Keep up to date with Patrick on Twitter.

30 November 2020
Dr Ellie Knott interviewed on Meduza English’s Naked Pravda podcast

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods Dr Ellie Knott was recently interviewed on “The Naked Pravda” podcast. This episode focused on the recent elections in Moldova.

To fill in the backstory on these elections and find out what can be expected from Maia Sandu during her presidency, “The Naked Pravda” talks to four experts on Moldova. Ellie is interviewed as one of these experts alongside Gina S. Lentine, Alina Radu and Ana Indoitu.

Ellie argues that geopolitics is often a veil for transnational corruption. Keep up with Ellie on Twitter.

26 November 2020
Read a new journal article from Dr Audrey Alejandro

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro has published a new article in the European Journal of International Relations.

This article is titled 'Reflexive discourse analysis: A methodology for the practice of reflexivity'. Audrey turns reflexivity into a critical methodology for social change and demonstrates how to integrate criticality methodologically into research and writing.

Audrey aims to answer the questions of how to implement reflexivity in practice and whether the knowledge produced can be emancipatory when discourses originate in the world that researchers aim to challenge.

Keep up to date with Audrey on Twitter.

24 November 2020
Read a new blog from Dr Audrey Alejandro

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro has posted a new blog on her site 'The Methodological Artist'.

This blog is titled 'Coding Qualitative Data - Am I doing it the right way?' and aims to help researchers to answer the common questions people learning how to code qualitative data ask:

- ‘Am I coding the right way?’

- ‘I start by doing X and then doing Y, is that the right order?’

- ‘How do I know if I am coding right?’

This includes an exercise of the subject of how university teachers experience funny cat videos on the Internet. Keep up to date with Audrey on Twitter.

23 November 2020
Dr Sian Brooke invited to present in OxDEG Seminar Series

LSE Fellow in Computational Social Science Dr Siân Brooke has been invited to take part in the Oxford Digital Ethnography Group Seminar Series on 30 November.

Siân will speak on 'Fedoras, Virgins, and Hardware: Hackathons and the social dynamics of competitive creation'. This will present findings on Siân's doctoral research into gender at hackathons across the UK.

Find out more about the OxDEG Seminar Series here and register to attend Siân's seminar here. You can keep up to date with Siân on Twitter.

18 November 2020
Dr Alasdair Jones to speak at the New Zealand Geographical Society conference

Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology and Associate at LSE Cities Dr Alasdair Jones will be delivering a presentation at the New Zealand Geographical Society conference.

Alasdair's presentation is entitled 'On the waterfront: Investigating movement, space and play in Wellington and London' and will be given as part of the visual methods session at the conference. Alasdair will present alongside Dr Mike Lloyd (Victoria University of Wellington).

The New Zealand Geographical Society conference takes place between 25-27 November 2020 and online registration for this conference is available here.

13 November 2020 
Read the AMSRO Polling Inquiry Report involving Professor Patrick Sturgis

Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis recently served on the international advisory board of the AMSRO Polling Inquiry Report, released this week.

This Report provides an independent & impartial review of Australian electoral polling to determine the reason for published polls incorrectly calling the outcome of the 2019 Federal Election. The Report continues to explore ways in which polling might be improved in future.

Among the 10 key recommendations are the introduction of an enforceable Code of Conduct for Election Polling as well as consistent, enforceable disclosure standards, and recommendations to better educate the media and public on polling.

Keep up to date with Patrick on Twitter.

12 November 2020
Join Dr Aliya Rao's upcoming book launch

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Aliya Rao will be launching her new book 'Crunch Time: How Married Couples Confront Unemployment' on 3 December 2020. 

Aliya's book draws on interviews with college-educated unemployed individuals to explore the difference in experiences of unemployment between men and women and you can register for the book launch here.

Aliya has also been interviewed by the LSE Review of Books on the subject of her new book and how its findings relate to COVID-19.

9 November 2020
Watch Professor Jonathan Jackson take part in the 'Policing the Pandemic' webinar

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson recently took part in the 'Policing the Pandemic' webinar hosted by the Institute for Global City Policing at UCL.

In this webinar, Jonathan's talk 'We are all in this together’ focused on public compliance with UK lockdown, which is the topic of his current research project. Jon explains the importance of legitimacy as a means to gain compliance.

Alongside this webinar, an article has been published on Policing Insight by Jonathan and others working on the project. This article is titled 'Policing the Pandemic: Six-wave panel study highlights the importance of legitimacy and public interactions' and reflects on how policing affects public compliance with COVID-19 restrictions having surveyed public opinion across 10 British cities at regular intervals during the pandemic.

5 November 2020
Dr Aliya Rao to speak at Male Allies of LSE Power event

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Aliya Rao will speak at the Gender equality in a time of Coronavirus event arranged by Male Allies of LSE Power.

COVID-19 has impacted on all areas of our lives, including on gender (in)equality in the home and in employment. On 5 November, this lunch time panel discussion will explore some of the latest research findings by LSE faculty, including Aliya as the author of Crunch Time: How Married Couples Confront Unemployment. You can read an interview with Aliya on this book here.

This panel discussion is open to all LSE staff and students and will include opportunities for questions, discussion and ideas for promoting a more gender-equal workplace and society.

3 November 2020
Read a new article from Dr Aliya Rao

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Aliya Rao has published a new article in Contemporary Sociology.

This review article is titled 'The Squandered Potential of Working Mothers' and discusses paid & unpaid work, motherhood and the experience of living in a risk society. 

In reviewing Pamela Stone and Meg Lovejoy's book, 'Opting Back In', Aliya considers how living in a risk society combines with inadequate childcare to push women out of the labour-force.

29 October 2020
Dr Edward Ademolu nominated as part of the LSE Black History Month Staff Showcase

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Edward Ademolu has been featured in this year's Black History Month Staff showcase.

Edward's showcase profile offers a chance to learn more about his reflections on Black History Month and the theme Young, Gifted and Black. Edward comments that "To be Young, Gifted and Black is neither foreign nor spectacular but rather unremarkable and ordinary".

Edward was nominated to become part of the Black History Month Showcase by Graduate Teaching Administrator Esther Heyhoe.

Keep up to date with Edward on Twitter.

27 October 2020
Professor Patrick Sturgis to give evidence to the House of Lords

Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis will give evidence to the House of Lords from 10:00 - 11:00 on October 28 2020.

Patrick will provide oral evidence to the Liaison Committee (Lords) in a session on Political Polling. You can watch this session live on Parliamentlive.tv.

22 October 2020
COVID-19: Read a new report from research involving Dr Kate Summers

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Dr Kate Summers co-authored the third 'Rapid Report' as part of 'Welfare at a Social Distance'.

This article is titled 'At the edge of the safety net: Unsuccessful benefits claims at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic' and exploresthe situation of unsuccessful benefit claimants.

This report finds that 290,000 people unsuccessfully tried to claim benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly because they were not eligible for benefits.

52.6% of unsuccessful claimants reported their income to have fallen by more than 25% whilst 48.4% reported severe financial strains. 15.2% said that they had recently been hungry and poor mental health was reported by 63.3% of unsuccessful claimants (compared to 37.5% reported by non-claimants).

An article to summarise this report can be found here. Keep up to date with the project by following Kate on Twitter.

14 October 2020
Read a new article from Dr Eleanor Power

Assistant Professor Dr Eleanor Power recently published a new article in Scientific Reports.

This article is titled 'Community detection with node attributes in multilayer networks' and develops a new technique for detecting community structure in multilayer networks using node attributes.

The article demonstrates this new method on both synthetic and real-world data and compares its performance with methods that do not use any attribute information. This results in the finding that including node information helps in predicting missing links or attributes. 

This article was co-authored by Martina Contisciani and Caterina De Bacco from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.

13 October 2020
Department of Methodology faculty involved in LSE Change Makers poject

 Change Makers is a collaborative programme between LSE and LSE Students’ Union which gives current students the chance to make meaningful change at LSE through independent research.

This year one of the defined projects is actively supported by a group of Methodology faculty and takes place with the aim of diversifying and decolonising curricula. Our faculty are excited to work with students to investigate reflect and create some thoughtful change.

Change Makers identify a particular aspect of LSE to investigate before planning and carrying out a small-scale research project (with funding and research support from LSE). At the end of the project, Change Makers communicate their findings and recommendations to senior leadership across LSE and LSESU to take forward.

LSE students can participate in a workshop on Wednesday 14 October to find out about LSE Change Makers, to become involved and to receive tips for submitting a strong research project proposal.

12 October 2020
PhD students to hold a Town Hall Diversity & Inclusion Meeting

Department of Methodology PhD students Akriti Mehta, Poorvi Iyer and Nancy Breton will be holding a Town Hall Diversity & Inclusion Meeting on 4 November 2020.

This will be a forum designed for students by students to bring up issues of exclusion/inclusion, related to anti-racism, anti-coloniality, ableism, and other marginalisations. All students are welcome, with this event particularly designed to to provide a platform for those who have direct experience with these issues.

Register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

9 October 2020
Read a new article from Dr Kate Summers

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Dr Kate Summers has published a new article in Social Policy and Administration.

This article is titled 'The long and short of it: The temporal significance of wealth and income' and compares qualitative interviews with those at opposite ends of the income and wealth distributions in the UK.

One of Kate's findings is that while “poor” participants experience money as flows of income which focus orientation to the present and constrain orientation to the future, “rich” participants experience money not only as flows of income, but also in the form of a stock of wealth which facilitates long‐term orientations.

This article was co-authored by Katharina Hecht and you can keep up to date with Kate on Twitter.

8 October 2020
Read an interview with Dr Aliya Hamid Rao on her new book

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Aliya Rao has been interviewed by the LSE Review of Books on the subject of her new book.

Aliya's book 'Crunch Time: How Married Couples Confront Unemployment' draws on interviews with college-educated unemployed individuals to explore the difference in experiences of unemployment between men and women

The interview Q&A discusses how gender is central to the ways married heterosexual couples react to and make sense of job loss. Aliya reflects on what the findings of Crunch Time suggest about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keep up to date with Aliya on Twitter.

7 October 2020
Read a new article from Dr Edward Ademolu

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Edward Ademolu has published a new article in The Conversation.

This article is titled 'How religion inspires the Nigerian diaspora to develop Africa' and is focused on Edward's most recent research ‘An outward sign of an inward grace’. 

Edward's reseach explores how African diaspora religious identities shape their understandings of and engagement in international development. The article explains the research method of interviewing first and second generation London-based Christian and Muslim Nigerians before reflecting on personal experience.

More information on Edward's research is available on Twitter.

6 October 2020
Dr Sonja Marzi invited to speak at the University of Oxford graduate symposium

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Sonja Marzi has been invited to present to the 'Everyday Spaces of Encounter and Migrant Participation in Urban Life' graduate symposium, held at the University of Oxford.

At this event, Sonja will host a methodology workshop during which the innovative remote participatory video method approach will be presented. 

Sonja was invited to participate due to her experience of research using this method. Sonja's research 'Reinventada: the realities of women in Medellin during the pandemic' involves creating an innovative co-production research design with video shot by the women themselves using their smartphones.

30 September 2020
Dr Ben Wilson receives ERC grant to study the lives of children and grandchildren of refugees

Visiting Fellow Ben Wilson recently received a new ERC Starting Grant to study the inequalities that are faced by the children and grandchildren of refugees living in Sweden.

Ben explains that the aim of the project is to "set the foundation for future research on the descendants of refugees.” 

Titled 'A Better Life for the Children of Exile: Intergenerational Adaptation of the Descendants of Refugees (REFU-GEN)', this will be the first comprehensive holistic study of the descendants of refugees. The grant is worth €1.4 million and sets out to compare education, income and employment, family formation, where and how they live, and health.

As part of this project, there is an opportunity for a fully-funded PhD studentship (in Sociological Demography), to start on 1st Jan 2021. The deadline for applications is 12 October 2020.

More information about Ben can be found on his website.

29 September 2020
COVID-19: Read a new blog from Dr Aliya Rao

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Aliya Rao has published a new LSE COVID-19 blog.

This blog is titled '‘I’m home to find a job, not do that’: what research on unemployment teaches us about gender and job-searching' and explores the impact of COVID-19 on unemployment. 

Aliya explains that women are more likely to have lost their job due to the pandemic and, although some may embrace the chance to devote themselves to their families, unemployed men do not always feel the same obligation.

This blog finds that those that quit jobs due to unpaid caregiving responsibilites subsequently find it more difficult to reenter the workforce.

Keep up to date with Aliya on Twitter.

25 September 2020
Dr Kate Summers to take part in UK Data Service 'data dive'

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Dr Kate Summers will take part in the upcoming UK Data Service COVID-19 Data Dive. 

Kate recently received a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council as part of the COVID-19 response from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the resulting research 'Welfare at a Social Distance' is included in this 'data dive'.

The UK Data Service has organised this two-day event to bring together similar studies so as to allow researchers, policymakers and charities to collaborate and explore impacts of the pandemic that will need to be addressed in the future.

Kate is an associate of the LSE Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and can be found on Twitter here

22 September 2020
Read a new blog from Dr Audrey Alejandro

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro has posted a new blog on her site 'The Methodological Artist'.

Audrey's most recent post is titled 'Online Teaching Challenges (and some insights about how to address them)'. With the new academic year ahead of us, Audrey shares tips based on her past experience of being employed as a full-time online lecturer.

Keep up to date with Audrey on Twitter.

18 September 2020
Watch a new video released as part of Dr Sonja Marzi's research

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Sonja Marzi previously launched a website as part of research on migrant women in Medellín, Colombia and has released a new video.

Sonja's research is titled ‘Reinventada: the realities of women in Medellin during the pandemic’ and the first video gives information on this research project.

Having been awarded a grant from LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund (KEI), Sonja's research involves creating an innovative co-production research design and the video has been shot by the women themselves using their smartphones. More information about the project can be found here.

Keep up to date with Sonja on Twitter.

17 September 2020
Read the latest paper from Thiago R. Oliveira

Department of Methodology PhD student Thiago R. Oliveira has recently had the first paper of his PhD accepted for publication in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.

This paper is titled 'Are trustworthiness and legitimacy ‘hard to win, easy to lose? A longitudinal test of the asymmetry thesis of police-citizen contact' and explores police-citizen contact, police trustworthiness and legitimacy.

Thiago uses a two-wave panel survey of a nationally representative sample of Australian adults and analyses responses through use of autoregressive structural equation modelling and latent moderated structural models.

The paper concludes that "the association between police-citizen encounters and attitudes towards the police may not be as asymmetrical as previously thought, particularly for changes in trust in procedural fairness and legitimacy". 

This paper was co-authored with Head of Department Professor Jon Jackson, Kristina Murphy and Ben Bradford.

16 September 2020
Read the results of Professor Ken Benoit's ERC research

Professor of Computational Social Science Ken Benoit has published the results of research funded by a grant from the European Research Council.

The results are published in an article titled 'User-Friendly Software For the Quantitative Analysis of Textual Data' and outline the graphical user interface created for Quanteda. This application is named Quanteda Guru.

Ken was quoted in regard to the potential users of this application being, in addition to academic researchers, “medical professionals, especially healthcare providers, and government departments such as ministries of justice or departments of health.”

Keep up to date with Ken on Twitter.

15 September 2020
COVID-19: Read the latest research report from Dr Kate Summers 

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Dr Kate Summers recently received a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council as part of the COVID-19 response from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

This research is titled 'Welfare at a Social Distance' and the second report has now been published. This is titled 'Who are the new COVID-19 cohort of benefit claimants?' and provides an overview of the key characteristics of benefit claimants, distinguishing between those who made their claim either before or after the outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK.

The report finds that, in comparison to older cohorts, the new cohort of claimants are more likely to be some or all of:
younger, BAME, men, not experiencing a disability, from a higher 'social grade', university graduates, and owner occupiers.

You can read the full report here.

Kate is a co-investigator in this project which is being conducted alongside colleagues from the University of Leeds, University of Salford and University of Kent. 

Kate is also an associate of the LSE Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and can be found on Twitter here.

14 September 2020
Dr Milena Tsvetkova to speak in the Tech + Democracy Seminar Series

Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science Dr Milena Tsvetkova will be speaking as part of the Tech + Democracy Seminar Series hosted by the Centre for Cognition, Computation, & Modelling at Birkbeck University.

These seminars involve researchers working at the intersection of complex social systems and all things computational. This includes research addressing substantive questions of human behaviour in the digital age, as well as research taking innovative methodological approaches that leverage newfound capacities for computation and online data collection. 

Milena will speak on 'Inequality and fairness with heterogenous endowments' which explores the functional relationship between endowments and outcomes to distinguish between fairness concepts such as meritocracy, equality of opportunity, and equality of outcomes. The research findings also carry practical implications for policies and strategies in companies, organisations, and schools.

Keep up to date with Milena on Twitter.

7 September 2020
Dr Audrey Alejandro to present in a webinar with the IOP Physics Communicators Group

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be speaking today (7 September 2020) in a webinar organised by the IOP Physics Communicators Group.

Audrey's presentation, titled 'Reflexivity and the practice of physics' is part of the broader discussion 'Physics, COVID and a kindness culture - a new way of working'.

This webinar takes place from 14:00 - 17:00 and all are welcome to attend. Keep up to date with Audrey on Twitter.

3 September 2020
Dr Audrey Alejandro to speak at LSE Women's PhD Network event

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will speak at an event with the LSE Women's PhD Network.

This event is titled 'Building an Online Presence' and takes place on Tuesday 8 September, with all LSE PhD students welcome.

The event is one of a series of workshops on how to develop online presence as PhD students, especially female researchers, are sometimes reluctant to share academic ideas, preventing non-academic audiences from engaging in ideas.

This session will discuss the benefits of creating an academic website, bringing together academics from LSE and the University of Oxford to present their process in developing their websites.

Other speakers will be Rachel Elizabeth Fraser and Lindsey Jones.

2 September 2020
Read a new journal article from Dr Edward Ademolu

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology, Dr Edward Ademolu, has had a new article published on Taylor & Francis Online. 

This article is titled ‘An outward sign of an inward grace’: how African diaspora religious identities shape their understandings of and engagement in international development and argues that development should be conceived as a performance of African Diaspora religious identities.

25 August 2020
Read a new journal article from Indraneel Sircar

The Department of Methodology's Dr Indraneel Sircar has co-authored a new article published in the Journal of European Integration.

This article is titled 'Public-elite gap on European integration: the missing link between discourses among citizens and elites in Serbia' and uses newly collected data from Serbia to explore the relationship between elite and citizen discourses on European integration. The article argues that imperfections in cue-making and cue-taking lead to a gap, especially in societies experiencing major changes.

This article was co-authored by Elitsa Kortenska and Bernard Steunenberg.

24 August 2020
Professor Patrick Sturgis awarded ESRC/UKRI research grant

Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis has been awarded a research grant from Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

This grant is awarded to Patrick in collaboration with the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) within the Institute of Education (IOE) at University College London (UCL). New funding will allow Patrick and colleagues to conduct a year-long study into the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on young people.

The representative study, designed in partnership with Kantar, the Department for Education (DfE) and Wellcome will aim to assess whether prolonged school closures, exam cancellation and the experience of returning to education have differential impacts. The study will focus on wellbeing, motivations and transitions into further and higher education.

Find more information here and keep up to date with Patrick on Twitter.

21 August 2020
Read a new article from research student Joe Strong

Department of Methodology MSc Social Research Methods alumni and LSE PhD research student in Demography Joe Strong has co-authored a new article in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.

This article is titled 'Adapting research with men during COVID-19: Experiences shifting to mobile phone-based methods' and discusses the how the current project 'Exploring the relationships between men, masculinities and post-coital pregnancy avoidance' has adapted as a response to COVID-19, exploring new challenges, opportunities and ethical considerations.

Experiences of new methods are also discussed. For example, use of mobile phones allows respondents to decide when and where they want to be surveyed, providing greater autonomy than a household survey.

The article also notes that some respondents are reticent to be interviewed over the phone, preferring face-to-face interviews so that they might see the interviewer and build trust through sight.

For information and updates on the project, visit the website and keep up to date with Joe on Twitter.

19 August 2020
Read a new article co-authored by Professor Jonathan Jackson

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson has had a new journal article published in Law and Human Behaviour.

This article is titled 'On the Importance of a Procedurally Fair Organizational Climate for Openness to Change in Law Enforcement' and draws on recent work in policing and psychology to examine factors related to openness in organisational change.

The studies conducted within this research highlight the value of a procedurally just organisational climate framework in understanding law enforcement interrogators' propensity towards implementing new evidence-based techniques.

This article was co-authored by Laure Brimbal, Ben Bradford, Maria Hartwig and Emily Joseph.

11 August 2020
Read a new journal article co-authored by Dr Ruxandra Serban

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Dr Ruxandra Serban has had a new article published in Government and Opposition.

This article is titled 'The Muddle of the ‘Westminster Model’: A Concept Stretched Beyond Repair' and argues that the term 'Westminster Model' is is no longer a meaningful concept in comparative politics.

The article finds that the use of the term has become extremely confused, leading to the co-authors suggesting that it should be retired from academic and practitioner discourse.

This article was co-authored by Professor Meg Russell and a British Politics and Policy blog titled 'An ageing and distinctly cloudy term: why it is time for the ‘Westminster model’ to be retired' has also been published to summarise the article.

You can keep up to date with Ruxandra on Twitter.

23 July 2020

Read a new article co-authored by Dr Alasdair Jones

Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology and Associate at LSE Cities Dr Alasdair Jones has had an article published in the Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability.

This article is titled 'Exploring sustainable urbanism in masterplanned developments: a collective case study of slippage between principles, policies, and practices'. This article on sustainable urbanism in masterplanned developments analyses evidence from five communities in the UK and Australia to explore how key theoretical principles are translated into different contexts.

Co-author of this article is Prof Susan Parham of the University of Hertfordshire.

22 July 2020
Read a new article from Professors Jonathan Jackson and Patrick Sturgis, Dr Chris Pósch and Thiago Oliveira

Professors Jonathan Jackson and Patrick Sturgis, Visiting Fellow Dr Chris Pósch and PhD candidate Thiago Oliveira have co-authored a new article published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.

This article is titled 'Police Legitimacy and the Norm to Cooperate: Using a Mixed Effects Location-Scale Model to Estimate the Strength of Social Norms at a Small Spatial Scale' and aims to test whether cooperation with the police can be modelled as a place-based norm that varies in strength between neighbourhoods.

Through surveying 1057 individuals in 98 relatively high-crime English neighbourhoods, the article finds that cooperation can be modelled in this way and that legitimacy only predicts an individual’s willingness to cooperate in neighbourhoods where the norm is relatively weak.

Other co-authors are Ian Brunton-Smith and Ben Bradford.

17 July 2020
MSc Social Research Methods take part in LSE Change Makers

We are very proud to share news of some of our MSc Social Research Methods students taking part in the LSE Change Makers programme!

This programme gives students the chance to make meaningful change at LSE through independent research.

They have worked on some research titled 'How do students understand and perceive the policies and programmes on sexual misconduct at LSE?' to explore the issue of sexual misconduct at universities.

This is a prevalent experience for many students, with a 2018 survey finding that 62% of students and recent graduates in the UK had experienced sexual misconduct at some point during their time at university.

The aim of this project is to explore the ways in which students perceive and experience LSE sexual misconduct policies and programs. It thereby also aims to make suggestions to the university as to how to best create a safer environment.

Find more information on the project here and find more projects here.

15 July 2020
Read a new article on racism within policing co-authored by Jonathan Jackson

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson has published a new LSE US Centre blog.

This blog is titled 'Racist policing is making Black and White Americans question police authority' and focuses on racist policing and public attitudes in the US.

Through using a new nationwide survey of 1,500 Americans, this finds that racially targeted policing is leading people to question the fairness and legitimacy of the police to the extent that 40 percent believe that the police should be defunded. 

Other co-authors of this blog are Tasseli McKay and Leonidas Cheliotis of LSE Social Policy, Adam Fine and Rick Trickner of ASU Criminal Justice and & Ben Bradford of UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science.

Find more information and keep up to date with Jonathan on Twitter.

14 July 2020
Dr Alasdair Jones to speak at the 2020 Sunbelt Virtual Conference

Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology and Associate at LSE Cities Dr Alasdair Jones will be speaking at the 2020 Sunbelt Virtual Conference.

The Sunbelt Virtual Conference is held by the International Network for Social Network Analysis and is taking place this week. Alasdair will present on 15 July 2020 and Alasdair's Presentation is Presentation #23.

13 July 2020
COVID-19: Read an open letter article from Dr Flora Cornish on mental health

Associate Professor in Research Methodology Dr Flora Cornish has co-authored an open letter publised by Wellcome Open Research.

This article focuses on the social, political and economic underpinnings of mental distress caused by COVID-19 and is written by an Expert Group on Society and Mental Health in the time of COVID-19, hosted at the Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London.

This article is titled 'The social underpinnings of mental distress in the time of COVID-19 – time for urgent action' and proposes less medicalisation and more social science.

This argument comes in response to predictions of a ‘tsunami’ of mental health problems as a consequence of COVID-19 and the lockdown. The article argues that this is overstated; feelings of anxiety and sadness are entirely normal reactions to difficult circumstances, not symptoms of poor mental health.

Find more information and keep up to date with Flora on Twitter.

7 July 2020
Ruxandra Serban to give evidence to the Australian House of Representatives

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Ruxandra Serban has been invited to give evidence to a committee in the Australian House of Representatives.

On 14 July Ruxandra will speak with the Standing Committee on Procedure to advise on their ongoing enquiry into the practice of Question Time in the House.

This '2019 Inquiry into the practices and procedures relating to question time' will exploring means to reform the Question Time practice and Ruxandra has been invited me to give oral evidence based on research conducted on questioning mechanisms in different parliaments.

Ruxandra's public hearing will appear here and you can keep up to date with Ruxandra on Twitter.

6 July 2020
Dr Ellie Knott to host a workshop with ASEN - submit an abstract

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods Dr Ellie Knott has been invited to lead a workshop for PhD and early career researchers with ASEN.

This ASEN Early Career and PhD Project Workshop will invite participants to present their nationalism and ethnicity research and to discuss problems. Ellie's aim is to "provide some space to support and nurture research projects during this difficult time".

The workshop will take place on 28 August and is calling for abstract submissions by 31 July. Find information on how to submit a short short abstract here. If you have questions, please either reach Ellie via email or Twitter.

6 July 2020
Dr Sonja Marzi launches a new website - Reinventada

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Sonja Marzi has launched a new website as part the current research project on migrant women in Medellín, Colombia.

Having been awarded a grant from LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund (KEI) to conduct the project, Sonja's research involves creating an innovative co-production research design that utilises remote video and photo diaries.

The website name 'Reinventada' has been selected democratically with those involved and will mirror the struggle but also the way in which they constantly reinvent their lives to adapt to and overcome challenges.

3 July 2020
Read a new working paper co-authored by Professor Patrick Sturgis

Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis has co-authored a new working paper in the IZA - Institute of Labor Economics.

This paper is titled 'Spatial and Social Mobility in England and Wales: Moving Out to Move On?' and makes use of Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study data to explore the question of whether social mobility chances differ across regions of England and Wales.

This paper notes that recent studies have documented that parentage and geographical impacts on social mobility and brings these two concepts together to study trends.

Findings show, for example, that while rates of upward mobility increased in every region between the mid-1950s and the early 1980s, this upward shift varied across different parts of the country, and tailed off for more recent cohorts. 

This article was co-authored by Emma Gorman and Franz Buscha.

Find more information on this working paper on Twitter.

23 June 2020 
Assistant Professor Blake Miller contributes to a project on US political funding

Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science Dr Blake Miller has been working with colleagues from the University of Michigan on a new project that explores the donations received by US politicians from law enforcement-affiliated political action committees.This project is titled ‘No More Cop Money’ and is a national database that documents campaign funds that current US state and local politicians have accepted from law enforcement-affiliated PACs since 2015.

The project provides contact information to make it easy to interact with these representatives and request that these campaign funds are donated or refused in the future. The goal of the project is to decrease the influence of law enforcement in government.
With the issue of policing gaining traction recently, Blake suggests that donations can be made to US bail funds, the Okra Project or other organisations mentioned here.

Keep up to date with Blake on Twitter.

19 June 2020
Read a new Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology article from Professor Patrick Sturgis

Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis has published a new article in the Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology.

This article is titled 'The Interviewer Contribution to Variability in Response Times in Face-To-Face Interview Surveys' and explores the small but systematic contribution that interviewers make to variability in survey response times.

Although this is recognised, the article explains that little is known about the characteristics of interviewers that lead to this effect. The study addresses this gap in understanding by linking item-level response times from wave 3 of the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS) to data from an independently conducted survey of interviewers.

This article was co-authored by Olga Maslovskaya, Ian Brunton-Smith and Gabriele Durrant.

Find more information on how the study makes both methodological and substantive contributions to the investigation of response times here or in Patrick's Twitter thread.

19 June 2020
Read a new journal article on emoji use co-authored by Oriol Bosch

Department of Methodology PhD student Oriol Bosch-Jover has recently published a new journal article in Quality and Quantity. This was co-authored with Melanie Revilla.

The paper is titled 'Using emojis in mobile web surveys for Millennials? A study in Spain and Mexico' and explores means to involve Millennials in survey participation, suggesting that survey designers may require new tools that better catch Millennials' interest and attention.

One key new tool that could improve communication and survey participation rate are emojis. Oriol uses data from a survey conducted among Millennials by the online fieldwork company Netquest in Spain and Mexico (n = 1614) to determine how emojis can be used in mobile web surveys. Overall, results show a high willingness of Millennials to use emojis in surveys and a positive impact on the amount of information conveyed, the completion time and the survey enjoyment.

We are very proud of our active Department. Keep up to date with Oriol on Twitter.

18 June 2020
Watch and listen to Dr Audrey Alejandro's guest Global South Adda podcast appearance

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro recently made a guest appearance on the the Global South Adda podcast, from the Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE).

This podcast episode is titled 'Is there Western Dominance in IR?' and discusses focuses on discussion away from 'why and how' questions, asking whether the question itself is Eurocentric.

Dr Karen Smith also appears in this podcast and alongside Audrey explores the differences and commonalities of IR Scholarship in South Africa, Brazil and India.

Questions that arise include how Europeans should engage with non-western scholarship, why there is a need for a Global South textbook and the geographical and generational IR traditions in South Africa, Brazil and India.

Listen to and watch the podcast here.

The Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE) is a research think tank working towards bringing in research excellence in the field of international relations, security and development that looks for better approaches for enhanced international cooperation.

17 June 2020
Dr Ellie Knott to speak at the #VirtualASN workshop

Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods Dr Ellie Knott has been invited to speak at the #VirtualASN Workshop titled 'Teaching Nationalism in Turbulent Times'.

This webinar focuses on how to teach students in the area of nationalism in the current context of emergency remote teaching. This roundtable discussion contextualises the role of nationalism in world events and features experienced teachers of nationalism.

These teachers will examine the kinds of issues that are likely to arise, will highlight strategies to approach sensitive subjects and discuss ways that online and offline assignments can stimulate students’ awareness of nationalism in the world around them.

This webinar takes place at 13:00 (EST) on June 18, 2020. Register to attend here.

16 June 2020
COVID-19: Dominic Cummings and lockdown compliance: Read a new blog from Professor Jonathan Jackson

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson has published a new LSE British Politics and Policy blog.

This blog is titled 'Public compliance and COVID-19: Did Cummings damage the fight against the virus, or become a useful anti-role model?' and provides data on how the Cummings affair has produced cynicism around the measures.

Data is taken from the ongoing 10-city longitudinal panel study on compliance with lockdown measures, finding that adherence continues to be rooted in widespread social norms, but that complacency is a risk as the government pushes to open up more of the economy.

Other co-authors of this blog are Ben Bradford, Julia Yesberg, Zoe Hobson, Arabella Kyprianides, Chris Pósch and Reka Solymosi.

8 June 2020
COVID-19 lockdown compliance: Read a new blog from Professors Patrick Sturgis, Jon Jackson and Jouni Kuha

Professors Patrick Sturgis, Jon Jackson and Jouni Kuha have published a new LSE COVID-19 blog. The blog is titled 'Lockdown scepticism is part of the Brexit divide' and by using evidence from a new Kantar Public Voice random sample survey attempts to answer the question of who breaks lockdown?

There has been concern following Dominic Cummings’ controversial trips and this blog shows nearly a third of the public reporting that they are not sticking to the lockdown guidelines completely.

The blog also suggests that resistance to lockdown may be more widespread and ideologically patterned than binary support/oppose questions. This includes indications that scepticism is becoming entwined with Brexit.

The survey suggests no difference in scepticism by age, education, perceived financial situation or whether people think they have already had COVID-19. However, the Brexit divide is still apparent, with Leavers and non-voters significantly more lockdown sceptic than Remainers. 

Despite the blog suggesting no direct effect of EU referendum vote on actually breaking lockdown, there may be an indirect effect. This idea will be pursued in future research. 

4 June 2020
COVID-19 homeschooling: Read a new blog co-authored by Professor Patrick Sturgis

Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis has published a new LSE COVID-19 blog. This blog explores the impact of homeschooling caused by COVID-19.

The blog is titled 'Homeschooling during lockdown deepens inequality' and uses new data from a high-quality random sample collected using the Kantar Public Voice Survey

The blog examines the extent of inequalities in homeschooling during lockdown from the end of April to the beginning of June and suggests that inequalities arising from homeschooling during lockdown will exacerbate existing inequalities in education.

The data suggests find stark differences between graduate and non-graduate parents in the time spent homeschooling as well as parental perceptions of how well they are able to support learning and in how the burden of homeschooling is divided between mothers and fathers.

You can keep up to date with Patrick on Twitter. Other co-authors of this blog are Jake Anders, Lindsey Macmillan and Gill Wyness.

3 June 2020
Dr Milena Tsvetkova invited to speak at CogX 2020

Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science Dr Milena Tsvetkova will be speaking at the three day CogX 2020 event, from 8 - 10 June.

This event aims to answer the question: 'How to get next 10 years right?' through presenting an online gathering of leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and activists from across the world.

Milena is part of the event titled 'Research – The Long View'. Curated by the Alan Turing Institute and Springer Nature, this will examine the wider implications of research papers through interviewing authors and holding a Q&A session.

Milena will discuss the research topic of 'What big data can teach us about ourselves' alongside Mary Elizabeth-Sutherland and David Lazer.

Update 29 June 2020:
Following this event, a recording of this event is now available.

1 June 2020
COVID-19 and the benefits system: Dr Kate Summers receives a grant from the UKRI

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Dr Kate Summers recently received a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council as part of the COVID-19 response from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

This grant of £618,000 has been awarded for research that will investigate how the working-age social security system responds to and copes with COVID-19 in the next 18 months.

Kate is a co-investigator on the bid and this project is being conducted alongside colleagues from the University of Leeds, University of Salford and University of Kent. 

Researchers will seek to provide data on whether claimants are receiving the income they need, when they need it, and how support has been impacted by the need for social distancing.

This will include an online survey of 8,000 new and existing benefit claimants and is announced as figures show that the number of people claiming unemployment benefit reached 2.1 million in April. Find out more about this current project on our Research page.

Kate is also an associate of the LSE Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and can be found on Twitter here.

29 May 2020
COVID-19 contact tracing: Fresh results in the study from Professor Jonathan Jackson and Dr Chris Pósch

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Chris Pósch have published new findings from their ongoing COVID-19 study.

The latest update on these findings is titled 'Track, Trace and Trust' and discusses public opinion on contact-tracing apps that have been developed since the easing of lockdown. Other co-authors of this article are Julia Yesburg and Emmeline Taylor.

The research shows public willingness to use a contact-tracing app associated with the NHS, partly because doing so signals collective solidarity. Findings also show that people care more about how long their data will be stored and how long they will be expected to use the app than they care about how the data is collected.

This follows another recent blog titled 'The Cummings row undermines the sense of collective solidarity on which the lockdown relies' and the most recent findings suggest that rebuilding trust in government will be important to ensure compliance.

28 May 2020
Department of Methodology recognised at the LSE Class Teacher Awards

The Department of Methodology is very proud to have been recognised at the LSE Class Teacher Awards.

These awards are organised by the Eden Centre and recognise Graduate Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows and Guest Teachers for their very special contribution to LSE teaching.

The Department of Methodology would like to congratulate Kate Summers for winning one of the LSE Class Teacher Awards and all of those that were Highly Commended: Edward Ademolu, Sarah Jewett, Ruxandra Serban and Ellen Watts.

We are proud and privileged to work alongside each of these colleagues.

27 May 2020
COVID-19 and Dominic Cummings: Fresh results in the study from Professor Jonathan Jackson and Dr Chris Pósch

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Chris Pósch have published new findings from their ongoing panel study.

The latest blog is titled 'The Cummings row undermines the sense of collective solidarity on which the lockdown relies' and focuses on fear of the virus and lockdown compliance.

The blog's findings suggest that it was not fear of COVID-19 that drove adherence to the public health measures, but instead a sense of shared identity and collective responsibility. This is supported by the extraordinary popularity of laws underpinning lockdown.

The recent actions of Dominic Cummings are also discussed. The blog suggest that the government risks undermining social solidarity, therefore jeopardising UK widespread support.

26 May 2020
MSc Applied Social Data Science students win a COVID-19 themed hackathon!

We are extremely proud that Team Quatrefoil, formed of MSc Applied Social Data Science students took part in the Female Tech Leaders COVID-19 themed hackathon and tied for first place.

Members of this team were Silja Lüthi, Kevin Ren, Maria Jose Herrera and Merle Wülbers. The team used skills that they have gained during their MSc Applied Social Data Science studies and gave the following summary:

“Team Quatrefoil analysed sentiment in Reddit data around using face masks because of COVID-19 using VADER in Python. Our findings show that sentiment over time has increased marginally and is slightly positive. We hope that our pilot study will compel governments to consider the benefits of sentiment analysis in assessing the efficacy of their communication methods, especially in a context when the result could have greater implications on public health.

Going forward, we’d consider using news headlines by country to understand how mask use is being portrayed by the media, potentially expanding our analysis with qualitative methodology.”

The prize for Team Quatrefoil is to take part in a workshop with German tech company INVENSITY to discuss with them further on AI and innovations in technology, as well as ethical issues surrounding their use.

It is always brilliant to hear about success stories like this from our students and are extremely proud of this achievement.

22 May 2020
COVID-19: Read a new blog on Dr Sonja Marzi's KEI project

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Sonja Marzi has published a new LSE International Development blog.

This blog is titled 'Conducting transnational participatory research with women during Covid-19 remotely: an impossibility?' and relates to Sonja's current research project on migrant women in Medellín, Colombia.

Sonja was recently awarded a grant from LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund (KEI) to conduct the project and this blog shares how she responded to the unprecedented disruptions caused by COVID-19. 

This involves creating an innovative co-production research design that utilises remote video and photo diaries.

You can keep up to date with Sonja on Twitter, where more updates on this project can be found.

22 May 2020
Watch Dr Milena Tsvetkova's guest appearance on The Know Show

Assistant Professor in Quantitative Methodology Milena Tsvetkova has made a guest appearance on The Know Show podcast.

This podcast aims to make sense of the world by breaking down complex research and challenging authors on their work and what it means to everyday life.

Milena's episode is titled 'Sociological Phenomena' and discusses questions on this and a range of other areas. The podcast is available on YouTube, Spotify and more.

20 May 2020
COVID-19: Read a new blog from Professors Patrick Sturgis and Jouni Kuha

Professors Patrick Sturgis and Jouni Kuha have published a new LSE COVID-19 blog. This blog estimates the COVID-19 population infection rate.

The blog is titled 'Over 5 million people in Britain think they have been infected with COVID-19' and uses self-report data from a representative probability sample - the Wellcome Trust UK Monitor.

This evidence suggests around five million symptomatic infections by end of April, although Patrick and Jouni explain the caveats regarding the accuracy of reporting. Using survey data allows for comparison of infection status across demographic groups. This evidence finds no difference by sex or income which has been found for fatalities.

You can keep up to date with Patrick on Twitter, where his summary of the blog can be found.

19 May 2020
Read a new article from Dr Kate Summers reflecting on the ethics of qualitative research

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Kate Summers has published a new article in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.

This journal article is titled 'For the greater good? Ethical reflections on interviewing the ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ in qualitative research' and reflects on the ethics of interviewing to study advantage and disadvantage in qualitative research.

Kate explains the risk for ‘poor’ research participants to become ethical collateral for research agendas that aim to improve conditions of ‘poverty’ more widely. Kate then outlines the distinction between ethical obligations to individual research participants and wider relevant social groups. 

You can keep up to date with Kate on Twitter, where a full summary of the article can be found.

18 May 2020
COVID-19 contact tracing: Read a new article from Professor Jonathan Jackson and Dr Chris Pósch

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Chris Pósch have co-authored a new article in The Conversation.

The article is titled 'Coronavirus: survey reveals what the public wants from a contact-tracing app' and discusses the findings of their recent survey. 

The article explains that survey findings show public support for contact-tracing apps. Despite significant privacy concerns, most respondents indicated that they will download and use this app.

A sense of common fate and desire to act for the common good appears to be shown in this support for a contact tracing app that is strongly associated with the NHS. This mirrors findings outlined in another recent article that explains the belief that ‘we are all in it together’ to be more important than other factors in explaining UK lockdown compliance. 

Other co-authors of this article are Julia Yesburg and Dr Ben Bradford of UCL.

15 May 2020
Department of Methodology commended at LSESU Teaching Awards 2020

The Department of Methodology is proud to have been highly commended at the LSESU Teaching Awards 2020, in the category of 'The Award for Departmental Excellence'. The awards ceremony was streamed live on YouTube.

This award recognises organisation, student service and the fostering of departmental community. Thank you to our students for nominating us and to our staff for providing the support that earned this recogniton.

We would like to congratulate the winners of this award, the Department of Geography and Environment.

We were also proud to have so many members of our Department nominated for individual awards. Thank you to all of those that made nominations.

6 May 2020
Read a new book co-authored by research student Imre Bárd

Department of Methodology research student Imre Bárd has co-authored a new book with Elisabeth Hildt, published by Elsevier.

This is titled 'Ethical Dimensions of Commercial and DIY Neurotechnologies Volume Three' and is the latest release in the 'Developments in Neuroethics and Bioethics' series. This series aims to address developments in neuroethics and connected topics in biomedical ethics.

Earlier this year, Imre also worked with researchers with Nesta on a report commissioned by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This report is titled 'Regulator approaches to facilitate, support and enable innovation' and explores innovation-friendly regulatory approaches as well as practical methods that regulators can adopt to stimulate and support innovation.

5 May 2020
Read a new journal article co-authored by Dr Chana Teeger

Assistant Professor Dr Chana Teeger has a new journal article published in Socio-Economic Review.

This mixed-methods paper is titled 'Economic and cultural determinants of elite attitudes toward redistribution' and draws on in-depth interview and survey data with political and economic elites from Brazil, South Africa and Uruguay.

The paper finds that elites' perceptions of the poor affect their support for redistributive policies, even when they acknowledge that inequality has negative consequences for themselves.

Other co-authors of this paper are Matias López, Pedro Marques and Graziella Moraes Dias da Silva. You can keep up to date with Chana on Twitter. 

4 May 2020
Dr Audrey Alejandro has published a new book - Western Dominance in International Relations

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro has published a new book, titled 'Western Dominance in International Relations'.

This book is a methodological and pedagogical demonstration of how to use discourse analysis and reflexivity to produce innovative results and decenter ourselves from socialised common sense.

Audrey challenges the idea that the internationalisation of social sciences in the ‘Global South’ is conditioned by a core-periphery ‘Western dominance’. Rather, Audrey argues that states remain the main agents in the globalisation of science.

Audrey engages in a Foucaldian discourse analysis of the critical literature and shows it to reproduce the very eurocentrism it denounces by denying the agency of “non-Western” states, essentialising “Western” vs “non-Western” actors, universaling the history and standards of academic publication legitimised in the US/UK and presenting them as "the only game in town".

Find more information here and on Twitter. Purchase this book here.

1 May 2020
Dr Audrey Alejandro to speak at the EGU General Assembly 2020

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be speaking as part of a 'Social science meets geoscience' panel at the EGU General Assembly 2020.

Audrey will appear alongside John Bruun to present their work on the topic of 'Talking about the physics of climate change’. During a live online discussion on Monday 4 May.

This will explore the role of discourse and communication for the production of knowledge in the physics of climate change.

Find more information here and keep up to date with Audrey on Twitter.

29 April 2020
COVID-19: Professors Patrick Sturgis, Jon Jackson and Jouni Kuha receive a grant from the LSE Pro-Director for Research

Professors Patrick Sturgis, Jon Jackson and Jouni Kuha have been successful in receiving a grant from LSE Pro-Director for Research, Simon Hix to undertake research.

This survey research will focus on compliance with lockdown, the authority of the police, economic and health trade-offs and the impacts on employment, income, and education. The survey will be carried out via the Kantar Public Voice online probability panel, with which the Department has an existing collaborative agreement.

Patrick will also be taking part in the launch event of Kantar's Public Voice. This will present information on a powerful new random sample research tool and Patrick will give thoughts on the value of random sampling in survey research.

28 April 2020
Read a new blog post from Dr Nimesh Dhungana

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Nimesh Dhungana has published a new LSE South Asia Centre blog post.

As Nepal marks the fifth anniversary of the 2015 earthquake, this blog is titled '2015 Nepal earthquake and COVID-19: A comparison of the politics of crisis governance' and argues that citizen-centric politics of governance triggered by the earthquake can be witnessed in the immediate response to the global pandemic.

Nimesh completed his PhD research in post-earthquake Nepal and recently published another blog post to aid current and prospective PhD students during COVID-19.

28 April 2020
COVID-19: Read a new blog post from Professor Jonathan Jackson and Dr Chris Pósch

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson has co-written a blog piece for LSE British Politics & Policy with Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Chris Pósch, discussing lockdown compliance in the UK.

This blog is titled 'The lockdown and social norms: why the UK is complying by consent rather than compulsion' and explains that the belief that ‘we are all in it together’ is more important than other factors in explaining why the UK public has complied with lockdown measures so far.

This is the first of the findings from a survey on lockdown compliance in ten UK cities that was successful in receiving a grant from the School of Public Policy's COVID-19 fund.

Other co-authors of this blog are Julia Yesburg and Dr Ben Bradford of UCL.

27 April 2020
Professor Ken Benoit appointed as the inaugural Director of the Data Science Initiative (DSI)

Professor of Computational Social Science Ken Benoit has been appointed as the inaugural Director of the Data Science Initiative (DSI).

Ken is also Co-Director of LSE’s interdisciplinary Social & Economic Data Science (SEDS) Unit and Director of the ‘Research Methods, Data Science, and Mathematics’ Summer School programme. 

Ken commented: “Much of the data that most affects our daily lives is human-generated and involves human activities in social, economic, and political contexts. With the new Data Science Initiative, we will bridge LSE’s tremendous social science expertise with data science to better understand how society, public policy, and business in every aspect".

Keep up to date with Ken on Twitter.

24 April 2020
COVID-19: Dr Chris Pósch receives a grant from the School of Public Policy 

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Chris Pósch has been successful in receiving a grant from the School of Public Policy's COVID-19 fund.

The project is titled 'Policing the COVID-19 outbreak' and aims to understand how public views on governmental institutions, especially legal authorities, may change during the COVID-19 outbreak. This will sample participants from ten metropolitan areas from across the country and the grant will finance three additional waves of a longitudinal study.

Chris will work with Head of the Department Professor Jonathan Jackson on this project alongside Ben Bradford and others at the UCL Jill Dando Institute. 

Keep up to date with Chris and Jonathan on Twitter.

23 April 2020
Read a new blog from Dr Nimesh Dhungana on conducting research during crises like COVID-19

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Nimesh Dhungana has published a blog post to aid current and prospective PhD students during COVID-19.

This blog is titled 'Doing PhD research in time of (COVID-19) crisis: reflections from my PhD journey' and aims to offer guidance to these individuals as they are amongst the most affected by the ongoing uncertainty.

Nimesh completed his PhD research in post-Earthquake Nepal and explains that crises force (and entice) many PhD researchers to change their original research focus. Whilst impulse topic changes are best avoided, if you are personally driven and have a ‘big picture’ intellectual puzzle that COVID-19 has ignited, then changing the course of your PhD research may be a worthwhile journey.

17 April 2020
Read a new blog post from Professor Jonathan Jackson

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson recently had a paper accepted for publication by the British Journal of Criminology.

Following this, Jonathan has now co-written a blog piece for LSE British Politics & Policy, discussing the implications for policing the COVID-19 lockdown.

This blog is titled 'Public support for Live Facial Recognition and implications for COVID-19 policing' and finds that people accepted this technology if they generally trusted the police to ‘do the right thing’.

The co-authors of this blog are Julia Yesburg and Dr Ben Bradford of UCL.

3 April 2020
Read a new paper from Professor Jonathan Jackson

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson has had a paper accepted for publication by the British Journal of Criminology.

This working paper is titled 'Live Facial Recognition: Trust and Legitimacy as Predictors of Public Support for Police Use of New Technology' and reports results from a major new London-based study that explores public responses to Live Facial Recognition (LFR): a technology that enables police to carry out real-time automated identity checks in public spaces.

The study of Londoners took place before the current COVID-19 situation and findings are relevant to the current context. These findings show support for the use of new technologies, but only when respondents trust the police to use this appropriately.

31 March 2020
COVID-19 crisis: Dr Kate Summers joins academics in calling for a raise in Child Benefit

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Kate Summers has joined over eighty other leading social policy academics from LSE and universities across the UK in signing a letter that calls on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to raise Child Benefit to £50 per child per week.

This comes in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the letter argues this to be a simple, efficient and cost-effective way of providing urgent assistance.

Other signatories include Professor Sir John Hills of LSE CASE and Loughborough University’s Professor Baroness Lister of Burtersett.

More information can be found here, on Kate's Twitter account or by emailing Kate directly. 

25 March 2020
Read Dr Audrey Alejandro's new blog - The Methodological Artist

Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro has started a new blog to aid student learning.

This blog is named 'The Methodological Artist' and Audrey's most recent post is titled 'What is analysis? Some tips to "become more analytical"'. This post discusses the problem of students being told that their work is 'too descriptive' and describes analysis as the "elephant in the room" within social sciences.

Keep up to date with Audrey on Twitter.

18 March 2020
Read a new journal from Dr Ben Wilson in Population and Development Review

Visiting Fellow Ben Wilson has a new paper published in Population and Development Review.

The paper is titled 'Migrant Mortality Advantage Versus Origin and the Selection Hypothesis' and reports on findings from a new analysis of the 35 largest immigrant groups in the UK, by country of birth.

The study is summarised in the online magazine of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. It shows that the majority of immigrants are selectively different from the population in their country of origin, not only with respect to their health, but also with respect to their education.

More information about Ben can be found on his website.

13 March 2020
Read a new journal article from Dr Ben Wilson in the European Journal of Population

Visiting Fellow Ben Wilson has a new paper published in the European Journal of Population.

The open access paper is titled 'Understanding how immigrant fertility differentials vary over the reproductive life course' and reports on findings from a new analysis of Understanding Society, one of the largest longitudinal studies in the world. 

This study shows that the childbearing of immigrants varies considerably in the UK, both over the reproductive life course and according to migration background. It implies that general statements about immigrant fertility are potentially misleading unless they account for this variation.

More information about Ben can be found on his website.

9 March 2020
Call for papers issued by a research group including Dr Alasdair Jones

Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology and Associate at LSE Cities Dr Alasdair Jones is currently working with colleagues from across the EU on the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) action 'Writing Urban Places'.

Within this action, Alasdair is a member of the 'Methodological Framework' working group. This working group has recently announced a call for papers concerned with 'Narrative Methods for Writing Urban Places'.

Submitted abstracts must be less than 500 words and the submission deadline is 23 March 2020. Accepted papers will be published as a special issue of the 'Writing Place' journal. More information can be found here.

5 March 2020
Read a new journal article from Dr Alasdair Jones published in Urban Studies

Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology and Associate at LSE Cities Dr Alasdair Jones has had a new article published in the journal Urban Studies.

The article is titled 'Public realm ethnography: (Non-)participation, co-presence and the challenge of situated multiplicity'. The article reviews and synthesises the methodological approaches taken by qualitative researchers interested in studying the use, experience and production of urban public realm settings.

4 March 2020
Read a new paper from Dr Chris Pósch and Professor Jonathan Jackson.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Chris Pósch and Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson have recently had a new paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Experimental Criminology.

This working paper is titled 'Truly Free Consent”? Clarifying the Nature of Police Legitimacy using Causal Mediation Analysis' and aims to draw an empirically informed conclusion as to whether police legitimacy can be partly defined as a normatively grounded form of obligation to obey the police.

2 March 2020
Read a new paper from Professor Jonathan Jackson

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department Jonathan Jackson has had a new paper accepted for publication in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.

This paper is titled 'Functional and Dysfunctional Fear of Crime in Inner Sydney: Findings from the Quantitative Component of a Mixed-Methods Study' and reports on findings from a project into fear of crime in Sydney.

28 February 2020
Read the latest article from Dr Flora Cornish and join a panel discussion that Flora will chair

Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Flora Cornish recently published an article in The Psychologist. This article is titled 'Finding Joy in Decolonising' and reflects on a critical reading and dialogue group led by Dr Deanne Bell at the 2019 Festival of Community Psychology.

Flora will also be chairing a panel discussion on the topic of 'In a #ClimateEmergency, is civil disobedience a necessity?'. This panel discussion will follow the free screening of 'Necessity: Oil, Water & Climate Resistance' and takes place on Monday 2 March in CBG.2.04.

Members of the panel will include film director Jan Haaken and Hillary Vipond of Atlantic Fellows and LSE International Inequalities Institute.

26 February 2020
Dr Sonja Marzi to speak at LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre event

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Sonja Marzi will speak at the upcoming LSE Latin and Caribbean Centre event 'Participatory Research in Contexts of Violence and Insecurity'.

This event will bring together experienced researchers from LSE and El Colegio de Sonora to discuss the challenges and opportunities of using participatory research methods to investigate complex social problems with participants.

Having worked in Medellin, Sonja will share knowledge on the role of academic research in understanding and addressing pressing problems for residents in the region.

This event will take place on March 19 and you can register to attend the event here.

18 February 2020
Dr Nimesh Dhungana to deliver a talk at the LSE Department of International Development

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Nimesh Dhungana will be speaking at the LSE Department of International Relations on 'The politics of participatory disaster governance in post-earthquake Nepal'.

This talk is based on Nimesh's ethnographic fieldwork conducted in post-earthquake Nepal as part of his Department of Methodology PhD research. This research can be found here. Nimesh also recently published a related paper with Dr Flora Cornish entitled 'Beyond performance and protocols: Early responders’ experiences of multiple accountability demands in the emergency response to the 2015 Nepal earthquake' that examines the politics of accountability in the wake of the 2015 Nepal earthquake. 

The talk will take place in CON.7.03 on Wednesday 19 February from 12:30 - 14:00. For more information, please contact Nimesh via email.

14 February 2020
Read a new research project on wealth inequality from Dr Kate Summers

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Kate Summers has been working as part of a team on a research project commissioned by the Trust for London.

This research project 'Living on Different Incomes in London: Can public consensus identify a ‘riches line’?' has now been published and asked, using focus groups, whether members of the public can identify and agree on what it means to be 'rich'. This included both descriptive and normative considerations.

The project concludes that while the groups were able to reach consensus on standards of living well above the minimum, including the wealthy at the top and the super rich at the very top, it was much harder to agree on a point beyond which greater resources could be considered excessive.

Kate was part of a team with colleagues from LSE CASE, the University of Birmingham and the University of Loughborough. Find more information here and on Twitter.

12 February 2020
Dr Eleanor Power meets with Santa Fe Institute to collaborate on National Science Foundation project 

Assistant Professor in the Department of Methodology Dr Eleanor Power recently met with Santa Fe Institute researchers to discuss a project funded by the National Science Foundation.

This project 'The effect of social networks on inequality' aims to explore the co-evolution of social networks and wealth inequality in small-scale human societies. Over forty researchers met to review their research, to plan future publications and to plan the second wave of data collection.

This workshop was held in New Mexico from 5-7 February 2020. More information is available here and on Twitter.

11 February 2020
Dr Alasdair Jones to convene a methods-based session at the Urban and Regional Development (RC21) conference

Methodology's Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Dr Alasdair Jones will convene a methods-based session at the International Sociological Association Research Committee 21 on Urban and Regional Development conference (RC21).

This conference takes place in Antwerp from 6-8 July 2020 and Alasdair's session is entitled 'Methods for understanding place-based urban communities as embodied experience and practice'. This will focus on urban studies research and research methodologies concerned with exploring place-based urban community as a socio-spatial phenomenon.

This session will be co-convened with Dr Zachary Neal (Michigan State University) and if you are interested in participating in this session, you can submit an abstract here. The deadline for abstracts is 15 March 2020.

10 February 2020
Dr Audrey Alejandro to speak at a TU Darmstadt conference

Methodology's Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be speaking at the upcoming Data in Discourse Analysis conference.

This conference aims to bring together scholars from various disciplines to discuss standards and strategies of handling research data in discourse analysis. Audrey will take part in a panel discussion on 'Data, Discourse, Fieldwork'.

This discussion takens place on Tuesday 18 February at TU Darmstadt. More information on the conference is available here.

7 February 2020
Read the new research article from Dr Edward Ademolu

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Edward Ademolu was recently published in the Identities journal. 

Edward's article is entitled 'Seeing and Being the Visualised 'Other': Humanitarian Representations and hybridity in African Diaspora identities' and examines how humanitarianism representations affect British Nigerian identities.

Edward applies Bhabha’s hybridity theory to reveal distinct ways in which Nigerian audiences in the UK negotiate racialised identities and humanitarian representations.

The article has also been summarised by Carolina Are in the Humanitarian News Research Network. This summary concludes that Edward's research "makes important contributions to mainstream and critical scholarship in African diaspora identification and humanitarian/NGO representations". You can read the full summary here: 'Does Humanitarian Literature Assume NGOs' Audience is White-Only?'.

7 February 2020
Watch Dr Ellie Knott discuss her research on EU27 citizens and Brexit

Methodology's Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods Dr Ellie Knott was recently invited to the Politics and International Relations Department at the University of Reading to deliver a talk on her research on EU27 citizens.

Ellie's research discusses EU27 citizens, often referred to as EU migrants, and how their identity and citizenship has been reconfigured through Brexit. As Ellie explains, methodological questions arise as to how to capture the diverse experiences of millions of individuals.

You can watch Ellie discuss her research here.

6 February 2020
Dr Audrey Alejandro to speak at the LSE Festival

Methodology's Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be speaking at the Shape the World LSE Festival on 6 March.

Audrey will speak at an event entitled ‘Planet, Population and Rights’, discussing the complex relationship between demographic trends and climate change in the context of dire warnings of catastrophic and irreversible environmental disaster.

This event is one of a series of events exploring how social science can make the world a better place. Tickets are free and open to all, but a ticket is required. Online booking will open for events in the LSE Festival from 12:00 on Monday 10 February 2020. Full details here.

5 February 2020
Professor Jon Jackson speaks at the Institute for Global City Policing

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department, Jonathan Jackson recently presented at the Instutute for Global City Policing's one day Dealing with Violence Conference.

This conference took place on 31 January 2020 at UCL and was opened by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

The main focus of the day was taking an evidence informed approach to the issue of violence and Jon spoke to between one and two hundred Metropolitain Police officers, particularly discussing the issue of trust.

31 January 2020
Professor Patrick Sturgis leading a strategic review of the European Social Survey

The Department of Methodology's Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis is leading a methodological review of the European Social Survey (ESS).

The ESS is an academically driven cross-national survey that is conducted across Europe. Every two years, face-to-face interviews are conducted with cross-sectional samples. Patrick's review aims to inform the future design of the ESS, its fieldwork procedures and impact strategy.

Other members of the Review Board are Mick Couper, Edith de Leeuw and Piet Bracke. You can find out further information and keep up to date with Patrick on Twitter. 

29 January 2020
Dr Blake Miller to teach a course at the LSE-PKU Summer School

Assistant Professor of Computational Social Science Dr Blake Miller will teach a new course at the LSE-PKU Summer School in Beijing.

Blake's course is entitled 'Data Collection and Management with Python' and aims to provide students with the necessary tools for the construction, pre-processing and cleaning of data found online.

After taking this course, students will have mastered the requisite tools needed to construct datasets out of unstructured, semi-structured, and structured online data.

For more information and to keep up to date with Blake, you can follow him on Twitter.

20 January 2020
Professor Patrick Sturgis to speak at the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Methodology's Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis will deliver a talk at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle on 14 February 2020.

Patrick will take part in a panel discussing 'Public Trust in Science: Strength and Skepticism', bringing together international perspectives on how publics view and connect with science.

Patrick's talk 'Global Perspectives on Public Trust in Science' will present new data from the Wellcome Global Monitor, a new survey on public attitudes to science covering 140,000 respondents across over 140 countries.

9 January 2020
Dr Ellen Watts to present at the MeCCSA Conference in Brighton

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology Dr Ellen Watts will be speaking at the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) Conference in Brighton on 10 January 2020.

Ellen will present work on celebrities and political representation. Following comments made by Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes, Ellen will ask the question 'Are celebrities all just rich hypocrites, or can they be legitimate political actors?'

This conference will be hosted by the University of Brighton’s School of Media and the full programme of events can be found here.

Ellen also recently published a related article on politics and celebrity, discussing 'Stormzy, status, and the serious business of social media spats'. This article explores why it matters what Stormzy says about politics, and why it might matter even more what politicians say about Stormzy.

19 December 2019
Read a new article co-authored by Dr Milena Tsvetkova

Assistant Professor in Quantitative Methodology Dr Milena Tsvetkova has co-authored a paper, published in the journal New Media & Society.

This article is titled 'Perceiving education from Facebook profile pictures' and conducts a large-scale online study to investigate whether observers can correctly guess the education of others from their Facebook profile pictures.

This article suggests that a Facebook profile picture which shows you enjoying the outdoors provides a strong signal to others that you have a higher level of education. Participants were able to successfully guess whether someone in a profile picture had a college degree in 61 per cent of attempts. However, Milena cautions that “people can guess someone’s education from a profile picture better than chance, but they can’t tell if someone’s failed college.”

More information can be found here.

18 December 2019
Read a new article published by Nimesh Dhungana and Dr Flora Cornish

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Nimesh Dhungana and Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Methodology Flora Cornish have published a new article in the Disasters Journal.

This article is titled 'Beyond performance and protocols: Early responders’ experiences of multiple accountability demands in the emergency response to the 2015 Nepal earthquake'.

Set in the contested climate of the emergency response to the 2015 Nepal earthquake, this paper reveals three forms of accountability demands: (a) accountability as compliance; (b) accountability as an object of government regulation and; (c) accountability as public opposition and interrogation.

You can keep up to date with Nimesh on Twitter here. Flora can be found here.

17 December 2019
Read Ruxandra Serban's latest article in the LSE British Politics and Policy blog

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Ruxandra Serban has published an article in the LSE British Politics and Policy blog. 

This article is titled 'Can the new parliament hold the Prime Minister to account?' and discusses the parliamentary impact of the return to a traditional single-party majority.

Ruxandra suggests that while the UK Parliament is well-equipped to question the Prime Minister on various matters, this accountability relationship can only function if Boris Johnson follows certain established conventions. Johnson's track record means that there can be no guarantee of this.

16 December 2019
Read a chapter from Dr Alasdair Jones in The Routledge Handbook of Henri Lefebvre, The City and Urban Society

Methodology's Associate Professor in Qualitative Research Dr Alasdair Jones has had a chapter published in 'The Routledge Handbook of Henri Lefebvre, The City and Urban Society'.

This book focuses on Henri Lefebvre's urban theories and ideas from a glocal perspective. Alasdair's chapter is entitled "'Something More, Something Better, Something Else, is needed’: A renewed ‘Fête’ on London’s South Bank.'" 

This book is available to purchase here.

9 December 2019
Read Dr Audrey Alejandro's Education Case Study

Methodology's Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro has published an Education Case Study on 'Developing post-graduate research skills'.

In this, Audrey discusses ways to help postgraduate students in developing their research skills, with the aim for them to become junior autonomous researchers. Techniques include seminar activities such as blogpost writing and peer feedback that lead to key graduate attributes and a feeling of community within the course.

To keep up to date with Audrey, follow her on Twitter.

4 December 2019
Read Dr Indraneel Sircar's recent articles

Programme Director of MSc Social Research Methods Dr Indraneel Sircar has recently been published in multiple articles.

The first of these articles is titled 'Linking active and activist citizens: electoral change and the Bosnian plenums'. This appears in the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties and examines whether the demands for social justice during the February 2014 citizen-led assemblies ("plenums") in Bosnia–Herzegovina subsequently triggered electoral change.

Indraneel has also contributed to an article published in the Journal of European Integration. This article is titled 'Public-elite gap on European integration: the missing link between discourses among citizens and elites in Serbia' and compares citizen and elite discourses on EU enlargement in Serbia. This was co-authored with Elitsa Kortenska and Bernard Steunenberg.

The Journal of Common Market Studies has also published an article to which Indraneel contributed, titled 'Transformation All the Way Down? European Union Integration and the Professional Socialization of Municipal Health Officials in Serbia'. This article uses Serbia as a case study to assess whether different types of exposure to European Union socialisation are associated with differences in attitudes towards corruption. This was co-authored with Adam Fagan.

25 November 2019
Read Dr Ellie Knott's comments on Moldova in Foreign Policy

Methodology's Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods Dr Ellie Knott has been quoted in a Foreign Policy article titled 'Moldova’s Failed Revolution Is Not Over Yet'.

In this article, Ellie suggests a need to "interrogate politics in Moldova beyond a lens of East-West and identity politics”. 

Ellie previously published a journal article in East European Politics on this topic. This article is titled 'Perpetually “partly free”: lessons from post-soviet hybrid regimes on backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe' and discusses the lessons that can be drawn from post-Soviet experiences of democratisation for debates on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) “democratic backsliding”. 

To keep up to date with Ellie's work, follow her on Twitter.

22 November 2019
Department of Methodology recognised at the LSE Excellence in Education Awards

The Department of Methodology is very proud that so many members of our Department have been recognised in the LSE Excellence in Education Awards.

Audrey Alejandro, Nimesh Dhungana, Ellie Knott, Sonja Marzi, Eleanor Power and Kate Summers all received recognition at a ceremony on Thursday 21 November.

Excellence in Education Awards are made on the recommendation of Heads of Department to staff who have demonstrated outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership in their departments. These awards are designed to support the School’s aspiration of creating ‘a culture where excellence in teaching is valued and rewarded on a level with excellence in research’.

Alasdair Jones also received recognition in the form of an LSE Teaching Promotion Award. These are given to those who make a significant educational contribution to LSE and as a result Alasdair has been promoted to Associate Professor.

Congratulations to all of our winners! Find our more about each of them here.

13 November 2019
Read the latest article from Professor Patrick Sturgis in The Guardian

Methodology's Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis has published an article in The Guardian titled 'After the failures of recent years, can the polls be trusted in 2019?'

Patrick chaired the British Polling Council inquiry into the failure of the 2015 General Election polls. This article argues that even with new models and methodologies, this election promises to be one of the toughest to call in living memory.

For more information on this topic, come to the joint LSE and British Polling Council event on 27 November. Register for tickets here.

4 November 2019
Dr Flora Cornish to speak at University College Cork

Associate Professor in Research Methodology Dr Flora Cornish will be speaking at University College Cork's School of Applied Psychology on 4 November. 

Flora will present a talk entitled '"Grenfell changes everything?" Post-disaster agency beyond hope and despair.'

This presentation examines the aftermath of Grenfell and, after almost two and a half years, the changes that have been enacted, seized, called for, achieved, partially achieved, postponed, denied or neglected.

1 November 2019
Dr Audrey Alejandro to present at Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'homme

Methodology's Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be presenting at Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'homme (FMSH) in Paris on 7 November.

Audrey will discuss 'Rethinking the globalisation of social sciences from the Global South: a correlative history of nationalisation and internationalisation of IR in Brazil and India'.

1 November 2019
Dr Ellie Knott to speak at the King's Russia Institute

Methodology's Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods, Dr Ellie Knott will be speaking at the King's Russia Institute at King's College London on 11 November. 

Ellie will speak on 'Contextualising Crimea: Fractured Majorities, Identity and Citizenship before Annexation'. This talk will examine the relationship between identity and citizenship in Crimea and in comparison to Moldova before 2014.

For more information on this talk and details on how to attend, follow this link.

31 October 2019
Dr Audrey Alejandro to speak at the Centre for International Studies

Methodology's Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be speaking at the Centre for International Studies (CERI) in Paris on 5 November.

Audrey will speak at a session on 'Is the (post-colonial) criticism Eurocentric? An international political sociology of 'Western domination' in the field of International Relations'.

28 October 2019
Dr Ellie Knott to speak at The Institute for East European Studies

Methodology's Assistant Professor in Qualitative Methods, Dr Ellie Knott will be speaking at The Institute for East European Studies in Berlin on 6 November.

Ellie will deliver a lecture on Fractured Majorities: Identity and Citizenship in Moldova and Crimea as part of the 'The Nation Strikes Back? New and Old Nationalisms in Eastern Europe' lecture series.

This lecture series seeks to approach contested topics such as "the nation" and "the people" in Eastern Europe as well as the (re)emergence of nationalism and its social and political consequences from a broad range of theoretical angles.

25 October 2019
Dr Eleanor Power co-authors paper "Dynamics of Beneficial Epidemics" as part of 72 Hours of Science

Methodology's Assistant Professor Dr Eleanor Power recently co-authored Dynamics of Beneficial Epidemics as part of the Santa Fe Institute '72 Hours of Science' initiative. This paper challenges the notion that science has to move slowly by going from idea to submission in only 72 hours.

This paper investigates the question of how the dynamics of beneficial biological and social epidemics differ from those of detrimental epidemics. You can read it here.

For more information, see this article and another co-author's Twitter thread.

24 October 2019 
Dr Sonja Marzi to convene a panel at the EADI ISS Conference 2020

The European Association of Development Research (EADI) ISS Conference 2020 will feature a panel convened by LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Dr Sonja Marzi. 

This panel is named 'Ethical and practical challenges of participatory development research' and aims at exploring critical and innovative research methodologies in development studies that include a participatory approach. Contributions can be submitted here.

The ISS Conference 2020 central theme is “Solidarity, Peace and Social Justice” and will take place in The Hague (Netherlands) from 29 June to 2 July 2020.

17 October 2019 
Dr Audrey Alejandro to appear at the Institute of Physics

Methodology's Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be speaking at the Physics in the Spotlight forum at the Institute of Physics on 23 October.

This forum includes four days of discussion, debate and knowledge sharing on topics such as oceans and the climate, optics in quantum technologies and machine learning. Audrey is speaking at "The physics of our climate change world: what is happening and what can we do?"

15 October 2019
Kate Summers to speak as part of London Challenge Poverty Week 2019

LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methods Dr Kate Summers will be speaking at 'Designing principles together: Co-producing solutions for tackling poverty' at Toynbee Hall on 18 October. 

This event is part of London Challenge Poverty Week and Kate will draw on her previous work with the Commission on Social Security. Register for tickets here.

More information on London Challenge Poverty Week and how to get involved can be found here. #LDNChallengePovertyWeek

14 October 2019
Chana Teeger to present at the Conflict and Identity Conference 2019

Chana Teeger will be presenting a paper at the Conflict and Identity Conference at Oxford University on 17 October. The conference explores the evolving relationship between conflict and identity, with a specific interest in the role of history education in pre-conflict, at-conflict, and post-conflict societies.

Chana’s paper focuses on the politics of boredom in South African history classrooms by interrogating how and why some histories (but not others) come to viewed as “boring.”

8 October 2019
Dr Milena Tsvetkova to speak at 'Stop collaborate and listen: Gender equality in social data science'

Assistant Professor in Quantiative Methodology Milena Tsvetkova will be speaking at an event on Ada Lovelace Day, 8 October 2019.

A panel of leading computational social scientists and data scientists will discuss collaboration, equality and skills that future social scientists need to work with big data.

Milena and other panel members will also discuss how they got started working with data, the projects that they are part of and the skills that they think students should focus on to work with big data, both in industry and academia.

2 October 2019
Dr Kate Summers to present to the 'Exploring Economics' civil servant network

In the spring of 2016, a group of civil servants formed Exploring Economics. LSE Fellow in Qualitative Methodology Kate Summers will present to this group on 10 October in Whitehall.

This network aims to increase the accessibility and understanding of economics in government and to encourage and raise awareness of a plurality of economic perspectives in decision-making. The network has grown rapidly and now has several hundred members across the Civil Service.

25 September 2019
Professor Jonathan Jackson speaks at the Institute for Public Security of Catalonia

Professor of Research Methodology and Head of the Department, Jonathan Jackson presented the opening talk at an Institute for Public Security of Catalonia event celebrating 300 years of police in Catalonia.

This talk took place on 25 September, discussing public trust and police legitimacy, with some 300 police officers and researchers present. Find out more here.

16 September 2019
Professor Patrick Sturgis to speak on Royal Society panel at the Liberal Democrat Conference

Methodology's Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis will speak on The #PeoplesList: how can £60bn unlock the door to Number 10? This Royal Society panel will take place at the Liberal Democrat conference on 16 September

11 September 2019
Professor Patrick Sturgis to talk at the Exeter Q-Step Centre

Methodology's Professor of Quantitative Social Science Patrick Sturgis will speak at Q-estival 2019: People, Data and Society on 11 September. Patrick will speak on "Trust in science around the world: findings from the first global survey of public attitudes to science".

10 September 2019
Dr Audrey Alejandro to speak at European International Studies Association

A Century of Show and Tell: The Seen and the Unseen of IR. Methodology's Assistant Professor of Qualitative Text Analysis Dr Audrey Alejandro will be speaking at the plenary roundtable of the European International Studies Association. This conference takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Wednesday 11 September 2019.