This course will take place over three mornings (3/6/23, 3/8/23, 3/10/23), 2.5 hours per morning, and will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.

This course introduces participants to constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Grounded theory (GT) methods consist of flexible guidelines to fit particular research problems, not to apply mechanically. With these guidelines, you expedite and systematize data collection and analysis. GT methods can assist researchers in making their work more analytic, precise, and compelling.

In this course, following an exploration of the history and development of GT, we examine GT basic guidelines and major strategies, including initial line-by-line and focused coding, the use of gerunds, memoing, diagramming, theoretical sampling, and categorising. Throughout the sessions, there is an emphasis on CGT's epistemological foundation and resultant adaptations to the research process, including regarding the literature review, researcher positionality/ies and reflexivity, and participant involvement.

The course will include a number of hands-on exercises to exemplify, and give participants an opportunity to practice, the strategies being discussed. For the coding exercise, you may bring and use some of your own qualitative data, or if you do not have data yet, some will be supplied. Clear guidelines and support are provided to course participants with regard to all aspects of CGT.

The sessions will utilise CGT readings and resources from Kathy Charmaz, Robert Thornberg, Adele Clarke, and myself, and will draw on the extensive scholarship of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. A pack of materials will be shared with participants in advance of the course. This course will be of interest to those doing full CGT studies but also to those who may be interested in learning about and potentially using some of the powerful GT strategies (such as coding) in studies with a different overall methodological approach.

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Estimands in Cluster-Randomized Trials: Choosing Analyses that Answer the Right Question

This NIH Collaboratory Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds features:

Brennan Kahan, PhD
MRC Clinical Trials Unit
University College London (UCL)

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The NIH is hosting a series of listening sessions to hear from the community about their experiences with and perspectives on current infrastructure and share input on potential promising solutions to the fundamental challenges faced by the postdoctoral trainee community.

Listening sessions will take place throughout March 2023, and each session will focus on a specific theme:

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The NIH also announced a Request for Information (RFI) inviting the research community to give input on the state of postdoctoral research training and career progression infrastructure in biomedical science. The RFI is open through April 14, 2023.

The insights from the listening sessions and RFI will assist NIH in hearing the voices of postdoctoral trainees along with others impacted by this unique and skilled training position, and in exploring ways to address some of the fundamental challenges faced by the postdoctoral trainee community.