Doing Social Research

In inferential statistics μ (mu) represents the population mean—a presumably real but impossible to know value. It’s also the point around which the numbers in a distribution balance.

Humility. Balance.
Seeking > Finding.
Always doing social research.

🎓 Doing social research? Don’t go it alone!
Here are 5 essential tools that can make your research life easier:

✏️ Grammarly — For clear, polished writing.
📚 Zotero — For painless reference management.
🤖 ChatGPT — For brainstorming, organizing ideas, and practicing critical thinking.
🌐 Purdue OWL — For reliable writing and citation guides.
🔎 DoingSocialResearch.com — (That’s us!) For free resources, tips, and support created by researchers for researchers.

🔍 Whether you’re planning a project, writing a paper, or just getting started, these tools can help you stay organized, confident, and creative.

💬 Which tool have you used — or which one are you excited to try? Tell us in the comments! 👇

🎙️ New episode! Researching Cyberviolence & the Politics of NOT Caring with Dr. Lena Hübner ()

We talk digital violence, the emotional toll of online spaces, and why “not caring” is never neutral. 🔥

🎨 Plus, don’t miss the launch of her latest project Voix Plurielles—April 10 @ 17h15 (en français) at uOttawa. Featuring virtual art by F***y Constatino, Yasmine Hadid & Dion Prints exploring cyberviolence through a feminist lens.

🎧 Listen now on your favorite pod catcher or at the Doing Social Research website: https://doingsocialresearch.com/podcast/lena-hubner/

Voix Plurielles Presents 🔍 An exhibition organized as part of a research project led by Prof. Lena Hübner and funded by the University of Ottawa.
Explore three virtual exhibitions based on research led by Lena Hübner, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa.
📅 Date: April 10, 2025
⏰ Time: 5:15 p.m.
📍 Location: University of Ottawa,Creative Space, Pérez Pavilion, Room 302,
🆓 Free & Open to All | Registration Required.
✅ Register your spot now.

In this fascinating episode, Dr. Kelly Bronson, reveals how Big Tech companies use AI and big data to gain, maintain, and wield their power, especially within the field of agriculture. The conversation, set during a December 2024 snowstorm in Ottawa, teases out some of the ethical, moral, social, and financial implications of these technologies in order to ask: what are we even doing?!? We go deep into the framing of expertise, what it means to be a social researcher, and how to distinguish between evidence, claims, opinion, facts, and ideology, in order to move our understanding forward and bring light to the unseen. Tune in to hear me exclaim things like "what?!?" "no way?!?!" "Oh I get it now!!!" "Oh wow!!!!" and prepare to have your mind blown!

What are we doing? -Hannah Arendt-

Just dropped a new Doing Social Research Podcast episode, and this one had me laughing AND raging with the brilliant Dr. Maggie M. Werner. 😡🔥🎙️

We talked about her research on portmanteau words (like "Megxit" or "tradwife") that aren’t just quirky wordplay, but sneaky tools of propaganda that spread hate while sounding totes adorbs 🙄 The pod's favorite dead philosopher 😢 Hannah Arendt also shows up to help explain how these words do this by transcending context--key for kickstarting fascism!

We also go deep on:
🔹 Why fighting stupidity might require embracing stupidity
🔹The struggles of ADHD in academia (pointing at self)
🔹 And expert tips that will actually make you better at writing AND at teaching writing

🎧 Listen here: https://doingsocialresearch.com/podcast/maggie-werner then come back to share your favorite portmanteau words here 🧠💬️ unless you're a malware bot and/or want to be my latest frenemy... chillax! I'm just trying to make you chortle. See what I did there??? 🤓🤭

Holy moly, y'all. This episode was recorded on November 29, 2024 and boy was Dr. Willow Scobie prescient about US interest in Canada! Suddenly, Elon and Trump wanting to make Canada the 51st state is becoming as clear as the crystals needed to make electric cars. (I'm probably misusing the metaphor and the minerals probably just look like boring rocks but whatever, focus, friends, focus!) We also explore research ethics, especially in regards to research with Indigenous communities, and how not to be gross as a researcher (and how to learn when we make mistakes). Plus, get tons of super concrete and helpful tips on applying to graduate school and for profs needing to write yet another reference letter, from UOttawa's very own Sociology MA program coordinator.

This is an episode you will definitely not want to miss! Check it out at the Doing Social Research website, on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

https://doingsocialresearch.com/podcast/willow-scobie

Just in time before I gotta start prepping my Spring/Summer Gender & Sexuality course 📚

📍The Sociology of Cardi B: A Trap Feminist Approach by Aaryn L. Green, Maretta Darnell McDonald, Veronica A. Newton, Candice C. Robinson, Shantee Rosado



📍Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom edited by Natalie Kouri-Towe

😘Whisper sweet null hypotheses into my ear and murmur to me about my work’s novel contributions to the literature. ❤️

😍

In the latest episode of the Doing Social Research Podcast, feminist sociologist Farinaz Basmachi shares her current doctoral research on sexuality, sexual agency, and sexual violence in Canada and Iran, as well as the research from her first dissertation (yes, she’s doing TWO PhD’s!) titled Not Just About a Piece of Cloth: Three Content Analysis Studies of an Online Anti-Mandatory Hijab Movement in Iran. They dig into the long history that led to the ground breaking 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising against the Iranian morality police. The episode concludes by highlighting the importance of building professional networks, engaging with professors and peers, and suggestions for taking advantage of opportunities for publishing and gaining teaching experience in graduate school.

Listen now on your favourite pod catcher including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at https://doingsocialresearch.com/podcast/farinaz-basmechi/

🎧