Methodology Notes

TechNotes

These are a selection of Technical Notes designed to assist students and researchers to understand common methodological issues. Those currently published by PRA are designated; many of these are updated from technical notes originally published by the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

History of survey research Download
Why is 1000 enough? When is 1000 not enough? Download
Primer on polling Download
Focus groups Download
The in-depth interview Download

Workshops

These are .pdf versions of workshops delivered in the last several years. The PowerPoint versions typically have more explanation and documentation in the Notes fields and are available on request.

Attribution in evaluation Download
Logic Models Download
Mixed Methods Download

Exaggerations of vaccine risk dangerous

November 4, 2021 By Greg Mason

When I was 12, a friend offered to teach me a new card game. After explaining the basics, we started to play and I lost, as he mentioned another rule he had forgotten. I continued to lose as new and increasingly obscure rules surfaced. This is how I feel about COVID-19. New rules keep extending […]

A Nobel Price for methods, not results

November 4, 2021 By Greg Mason

This year’s Nobel laureates in economics received the award for coming up with creative methods for extracting causal insight from observational data. That may sound underwhelming but the three economists who were recognized have helped free us from the tyranny of randomized control trials (RCTs) as being the only route to understanding cause and effect.

Want a COVID booster? Maybe you should pay for it.

November 4, 2021 By Greg Mason

Though disheartening, the emerging consensus that the COVID vaccines offer declining immunity is hardly surprising. Some vaccines, such as those for polio, do offer long-term immunity; in contrast, influenza shots have become an annual ritual in many households. The possibility that COVID vaccines would require an annual booster has always been on the table. With […]

Some problems with “evidence based” policy

February 16, 2021 By Gregory Mason

One of the effects of COVID, is the ubiquity of evidence-based policy. Aside from coronavirus cranks, most accept that public health directives rest on science. However, evidence can be a cudgel when used to promote a specific policy and limit discussion under the assertion that “the science is settled.” This seems to have happened with […]

Vaccine plan in peril as third wave looms

February 8, 2021 By Gregory Mason

A week before New Year’s Eve, I started to receive promotional material from restaurants, my gym and arts groups, gushing about how 2021 will be different. Life will be good again, and 2020 will be but a dream. That was then; this is now. The vaccine rollout has gone poorly, in Manitoba and elsewhere in […]

Methodology Notes

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