Conference on Policy Process Research

COPPR will host a pre-conference workshop on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at Syracuse University, the day prior to the start of the conference. The pre-conference workshop is targeted towards graduate students and early career professionals. 

There is no fee to participate in the pre-conference workshop. To ensure a personalized and interactive setting, attendance for the workshop will be capped at 90 participants on a first come, first serve basis.

Registration for the pre-conference workshop is currently closed.

The morning will feature three concurrent workshops (each workshop will be capped at 30 participants):

•  Applying the Narrative Policy Framework led by Caroline Schlaufer and Mike Jones
  • This workshop provides an abridged overview of the Narrative Policy Framework and provides an introduction to some of the methods applied within the framework.  If you have ongoing NPF projects, please come prepared to share your ideas and experiences.  However, no previous knowledge of the framework is required to participate.
• Mastering R: Basics and Applications for Policy Research led by Geoboo Song
  • In this workshop, participants will engage in a comprehensive exploration of the R programming language, a powerful tool for statistical analysis and data visualization commonly utilized in policy research. This hands-on workshop is designed to equip participants with the fundamental skills needed to harness the full potential of R through a combination of theoretical foundations and practical applications in the most widely used statistical techniques for policy research, such as regression analysis, Bayesian posterior simulations, sentiment analysis, and applied machine learning.
• Network Analysis led by Adam Douglas Henry
  • This workshop introduces methods used for the analysis of networks in public affairs research, with a particular focus on the policy process. Network concepts are now increasingly used to describe how stakeholders in public policy form and maintain relationships, which in turn help to understand and promote more effective decision-making, learning, innovation, and other outcomes of interest in the public sphere. Network concepts are prevalent across a wide range of social science disciplines and are often used as a tool to study complex phenomenon such as cooperation, diffusion of innovation, and social capital. Policy stakeholders with an understanding of the theory and methods of networks are better equipped to deal with complex, emerging problems within a world characterized by vulnerability, uncertainty, and complexity. 
    
    This workshop is organized around three major research questions in the study of networks in public affairs, including: 
    
    1. How do various types of networks influence public management and policy problems of interest? 
    2. How do networks self-organize and evolve over time? 
    3. What contextual or institutional factors influence how networks evolve and influence problems? 
    
    Although the workshop is theoretically motivated, the primary focus is the development of grounded skills that participants may use to gather, manage, and analyze network data. The following topics are addressed through hands-on tutorials and grounded examples from real-world research studies: 
    
    1. The measurement of networks, including organizational networks, using secondary data and survey, 
    2. How to manage these data in Excel, R, and Visone, 
    3. Visualization of network data using R and Visone, 
    4. Quantitative description of networks using measures of node centrality, clustering, modularity, and segregation, 
    5. Network comparison and correlation using quadratic assignment procedure (QAP), 
    6. Understanding network dynamics using exponential random graph models (ERGM). 
    
    This workshop is designed for the beginner with no prior training in network analysis. Some prior experience in using R is very useful but not required. Examples will make use of Excel, R, and Visone. Visone is a freely-available software with advanced network visualization utilities, and is available online at http://visone.info/. R allows participants to access a large library of network analysis utilities, and is accessible online at https://www.r-project.org/. 

The afternoon will feature two standalone sessions:

• Opportunities and Challenges for Early Career Researchers by Evangelia Petridou, Osmany Porto de Oliveira, and Mallory SoRelle
  • Starting an academic career in policy studies after receiving your PhD is not an easy task. Young scholars face multiple challenges and getting your work recognized in the area can take some time. In this roundtable we will share tips for young scholars about how to get their work published and make their research visible to the policy studies community.
• Developing a Writing Practice: Strategies for Planning, Structuring and Writing Research Outputs by Raul Pacheco-Vega
  • One of the biggest challenges we face in academic life is devising the right strategy for us to plan, structure and write our research outputs. In this workshop, I will share a few techniques, methods and strategies that I have developed to help early career scholars and established academics develop and improve their writing practices.

Pre-Conference Workshop Program

(All times are in Eastern U.S.)

• 8:15am-8:45am – Coffee
• 8:45am-9:00am – Welcome
• 9:15am-10:45am – Workshop Section 1
• 10:45am-11:00am – Break
• 11:00am-12:30pm – Workshop Section 2
• 12:30pm-1:30pm – Lunch
• 1:30pm-3:00pm – Opportunities and Challenges for Early Career Researchers
• 3:00pm-3:15pm – Break
• 3:15pm-4:45pm – Developing a Writing Practice
• 4:45pm-5:00pm – Closing