CSDE Courses
Population Studies Pro-Seminar
The Center now offers a pro-seminar on this topic required of all trainees during their first year of support. The pro-seminar will introduce students to research practice and ethics in demography. Issues covered include resources for demographic research at UW, research themes at CSDE, presentations at professional meetings, dealing with journal editors, proposal writing and the job market.
With growing recognition of the responsibilities associated with research on human subjects, it is now essential that training programs include instruction in the responsible conduct of research. The curriculum will also thoroughly cover the current regulations in the context of demographic research, with special attention to issues of confidentiality, consent, deductive disclosure and scientific misconduct. Training faculty involved in research in developing country settings will discuss first-hand experiences about ethical issues in fieldwork and in international collaborations. Faculty collecting data locally will be able to discuss concrete examples of human subjects issues, sensitivity of minority communities, and confidentiality and data security problems. UW staff from relevant offices governing research will be invited to make presentations.
The Center integrates instruction on responsible conduct of research into other aspects of our training as well. At the start of each year the associate director for training circulates a memo about scientific conduct, plagiarism and responsibilities in research involving human subjects. The courses required of all trainees raise issues of data confidentiality and biased uses of data. Research apprenticeships provide training in data documentation, human subjects review, and the importance of replicable research findings and proper interpretation of results.