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- 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
- 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
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- 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
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- 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
- 5: Survey Research Unit, Polytechnic of North London
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- de Vries 2018
Polytechnic of North London (1976 - 1992)
[Page last updated 19 Nov 2015]
When the SSRC closed their Survey Unit in September 1976, I, along with several other colleagues, was made redundant. Luckily, in May of that year, I had been appointed Principal Lecturer in Sociology at the then Polytechnic of North London (now part of London Metropolitan University) to design and head up the Social Research and Planning option of a brand new four-year BA (Hons) Applied Social Studies degree (the other option being Social Work) The Council for National Academic Awards approved the submission first time round and the first undergraduates were admitted in September 1977. This was the first (and only ever) undergraduate degree providing vocational training of social researchers. Provided they met certain requirements in statistics, graduates could also qualify for the Diploma of the Market Research Society.
Graduates from this degree course (and from its later incarnation BSC (Hons) Social Research) now hold senior positions in social research, including at least five full professorial chairs in UK universities.
Immediately on taking up my new post (in October 1976) I launched Survey Analysis Workshop (postgraduate, professional, hands-on, part-time, evening). This was the first ever evening course in the Faculty, and was based on the data processing and analysis elements of the SSRC Summer Schools in Survey Methods held from 1970 to 1976. There's a separate note on the history and development of the course. In Feb 1977, I launched a sister course Survey Research Practice, taught entirely by senior practitioners from major survey research organisations.such as Social and Community Planning Research (now Natcen), National Opinion Polls (Gfk/NOP from 2005 ) and the Government Social Survey (later the Social Survey Division, Office for Population Censuses and Surveys, now a division of the Office for National Statistics).
Although I had brought with me some funding from the Social Science Research Council (to develop a computer program for Interactive Path Analysis compatible with SPSS) I immediately attracted more funding from unspent "end-of-year" money, some from external agencies, some from internal ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) funds for postgraduate Research Assistants and Research Fellowships (expected to register for Master and PhD respectively). If unspent, this money would revert to the Treasury or to ILEA.
Funding from other sources was sufficient to employ additional research staff. This caused some strain on PNL administrative systems, which were geared to local authority Further Education spending, not research income in the form of grants or contracts. At one point the then Director (Terence Miller) even suggested that I should do less research!
By 1978, we had sufficient grounds to warrant a named group to act as a focus for funding and to provide an identity for research staff. A proposal was made to set up a Centre for Applied Social Research in the Faculty of Social Studies. The proposal was treated with suspicion and scepticism in some quarters, but, as a compromise, the Survey Research Unit was formally established as a research unit of the Department of Applied Social Studies on May 1st 1978, with myself as Unit Director.
Closely modelled on the SSRC Survey Unit (which had been closed by SSRC in 1976) and with very similar terms of reference, it provided advice and assistance on survey methods to academic, public and voluntary sector colleagues, particularly in the London area.
It also provided technological and methodological support to students undertaking survey-based projects, both to postgraduates on Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) and to Social Research Pathway undergraduates during their professional placements. Reports resulting from such support are listed on Publications including reports by undergraduate students as single or joint authors, for example:
Angela Coulter
Who Minds about the Minders?
Low Pay Unit 1981
By the time it closed in 1992 it had attracted more funding than the rest of the Faculty put together, over £1 million in externally funded research grants and contracts and around £400,000 in ILEA funded Research Assistants and Research Fellows, some of which continued to derive from small amounts of "end-of-year" money.
For full details of projects and publications etc. see page Survey Research Unit
When the SSRC closed their Survey Unit in September 1976, I, along with several other colleagues, was made redundant. Luckily, in May of that year, I had been appointed Principal Lecturer in Sociology at the then Polytechnic of North London (now part of London Metropolitan University) to design and head up the Social Research and Planning option of a brand new four-year BA (Hons) Applied Social Studies degree (the other option being Social Work) The Council for National Academic Awards approved the submission first time round and the first undergraduates were admitted in September 1977. This was the first (and only ever) undergraduate degree providing vocational training of social researchers. Provided they met certain requirements in statistics, graduates could also qualify for the Diploma of the Market Research Society.
Graduates from this degree course (and from its later incarnation BSC (Hons) Social Research) now hold senior positions in social research, including at least five full professorial chairs in UK universities.
Immediately on taking up my new post (in October 1976) I launched Survey Analysis Workshop (postgraduate, professional, hands-on, part-time, evening). This was the first ever evening course in the Faculty, and was based on the data processing and analysis elements of the SSRC Summer Schools in Survey Methods held from 1970 to 1976. There's a separate note on the history and development of the course. In Feb 1977, I launched a sister course Survey Research Practice, taught entirely by senior practitioners from major survey research organisations.such as Social and Community Planning Research (now Natcen), National Opinion Polls (Gfk/NOP from 2005 ) and the Government Social Survey (later the Social Survey Division, Office for Population Censuses and Surveys, now a division of the Office for National Statistics).
Although I had brought with me some funding from the Social Science Research Council (to develop a computer program for Interactive Path Analysis compatible with SPSS) I immediately attracted more funding from unspent "end-of-year" money, some from external agencies, some from internal ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) funds for postgraduate Research Assistants and Research Fellowships (expected to register for Master and PhD respectively). If unspent, this money would revert to the Treasury or to ILEA.
Funding from other sources was sufficient to employ additional research staff. This caused some strain on PNL administrative systems, which were geared to local authority Further Education spending, not research income in the form of grants or contracts. At one point the then Director (Terence Miller) even suggested that I should do less research!
By 1978, we had sufficient grounds to warrant a named group to act as a focus for funding and to provide an identity for research staff. A proposal was made to set up a Centre for Applied Social Research in the Faculty of Social Studies. The proposal was treated with suspicion and scepticism in some quarters, but, as a compromise, the Survey Research Unit was formally established as a research unit of the Department of Applied Social Studies on May 1st 1978, with myself as Unit Director.
Closely modelled on the SSRC Survey Unit (which had been closed by SSRC in 1976) and with very similar terms of reference, it provided advice and assistance on survey methods to academic, public and voluntary sector colleagues, particularly in the London area.
It also provided technological and methodological support to students undertaking survey-based projects, both to postgraduates on Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) and to Social Research Pathway undergraduates during their professional placements. Reports resulting from such support are listed on Publications including reports by undergraduate students as single or joint authors, for example:
Angela Coulter
Who Minds about the Minders?
Low Pay Unit 1981
By the time it closed in 1992 it had attracted more funding than the rest of the Faculty put together, over £1 million in externally funded research grants and contracts and around £400,000 in ILEA funded Research Assistants and Research Fellows, some of which continued to derive from small amounts of "end-of-year" money.
For full details of projects and publications etc. see page Survey Research Unit
