See Change is Hiring - Research Intern

See Change is hiring a Spring Research Intern.

Description of Position: See Change is recruiting an energetic SPRING INTERN to join our small, energetic and creative staff. The position is 15 to 40 hours per week, depending on interest and availability. The responsibilities and tasks for this position are as follows:

1. Data Collection and Analysis: Facilitate and support data collection, with emphasis on the use of survey and guided observations. Participate in visiting non-profit programs to conduct quality observations. Learn about collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.  Administer surveys, monitor and troubleshoot data entry, and help produce descriptive statistical reports.
2. Literature Reviews: Contribute to the design of tools for clients by reviewing available relevant literature and research studies, and synthesizing these in writing.
3. Office and Project Management Support: Work closely with Senior Office and Project Managers to create positive systems for information communication and management.

 Qualifications: The skills and experience necessary for this position are as follows:

1. Pursuing or completed Bachelor’s Degree in associated field (Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, Public Health, Education, etc.)
2. Interest in a research career, and/or interest in career in social benefit sector
3. Understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies – statistical analysis experience is a plus
4. Systems-thinker, i.e. able to conceptualize and understand complex structures, think in micro and macro terms, and creatively problem solve
5. Excellent oral and written communication skills
6. Demonstrated commitment to creating social good
7. Experience working with children, youth, or community-building programs a plus
8. Experience working with non-profit, community-based organizations a plus
9. Technology awareness and interest or experience using digital media as a research

Applications: To submit an application, please email your resume and cover letter, including availability to vania@seechangeevaluation.com or fax to: 415.334-2942.

6 words on the way to change

I'm very excited about Smith Magazine's Six-Word Resolution contest. Why is it that simply condensing down language can make it fun and exciting? Here are some of my favorites tiny New Years Resolutions:

Be fearless when necessary. Cry afterward.

Focus, focus, focus and something else....

see the inside of my gym

Business Jargon - 4 minute post

It's funny to me to think that one of the main reasons I was originally interested in a PhD in Linguistics was business jargon. As is the case with most things that I really like, I couldn't easily put my finger of the use and meaning of business jargon. The words that make a statement business-y weren't words that really added anything to the meaning of the phrase, except to point out, "Hey, there's business happening here!"

At the time I was working at a company that managed and modeled executive compensation. The vocabulary uptake was steep; I had to learn about a thousand new acronyms, and www.acronymfinder.com became my favorite go-to.

Well, I didn't end up studying business jargon back in graduate school, but I continued my interest in how language meaning is defined by context. Using Discourse Analysis principles and Corpus Linguistics (looking at words in the context of large bodies of text), I would dig into not just what it means to have "robust systems", but what a specific person is meaning when they say or write something at a specific time. It's a bit of a mission to sleuth for meaning amid all the tangle...

Themeword 2010: Grow

Happy Holidays! I hope you've enjoyed your feasting and are excited to start 2010. I've just heard of Themewords today, and since I'm all about language and all about precision, I already love them. It's a word to guide your year; a forward-looking version of the Word of the Year (WotY). WotY gives a backwards glance to new words and usages of import. Just for a taste of the exciting WotY action, bailout was last year's WotY, and beat out terrorist fist job. Surprise, surprise!

Anyway, I know that I have very little time to pick a Themeword before 2010 comes around, but I already have one, as do many others. Erica has picked hers (transition), and Tara has picked hers (achieve).

Inspired by some word art, I've pulled together a Wordle of Themewords from twitter to date. Aren't word clouds pretty!?!

Drumroll, please... My Themeword of 2010 is grow. Like an eggplant, like a tomato, like a family or a thought, I'm looking forward to it! Grow 2010!

Earthquakes and Twitter

This is a neat-o article about the US Geological Survey using linguistic data from twitter to get initial information on "tremblors." The San Francisco Chronicle reports:


"There is usually a lag between when an earthquake strikes and when researchers can analyze the data that floods in from seismic stations. During that gap, scientists combing through hundreds of tweets can get an initial picture of where the shaking was felt and areas of potential damage.

A prototype system aggregates tweets based on key words such as "earthquake" or the equivalent in different languages. It can then send an e-mail listing the cities where the tweets came from and what the tweets said."

What gets measured, gets done!

My husband, a documentary filmmaker and owner of Mission Pictures, is consistently astounded that at any party I can find a linguist or social scientist who is thrilled to geek out with me. Recently, at one such party, I met Tom, an activist involved in public transportation, who happily followed me down the rabbit hole of metrics, measurement and outcomes (oh, my!)...

But before we get into cocktail party conversation, some notes about this blog. It's meant to explore what measurement and metrics mean in the real-world. How are our lives different (or the same) when we assess our goals in different ways? ...when we aim for something less achievable, more ambitious? ...when we get curious about exactly how things are getting done, instead of how they are being statistically reported to us?

I want to use this platform to geek out about qualitative and quantitative data, about linguistics, about non-profit evaluation, and about visualization of data. Thanks for coming along!

But back to the glass of wine at hand... Tom (my social activist partner in crime) and I spent way too much of the holiday party talking about different measurement approaches to proving an outcome of safer public transportation.

One approach we discussed would be to measure the number of citations given out by transportation police. Theoretically, higher citations means higher incident intervention which means better public safety. But an unintended consequence of approaching the issue from this negative or deficit standpoint is that safety officers could go undercover, abdicating visible presence and leaving more space open for people to misbehave. There could be more incident interventions, but if this is coupled with more incidences, you're really back where you started.

Another approach we discussed would be to measure the number of safety incidences within the system. Lower incidences here means better public safety. A consequence of this measurement approach might be higher visibility of officers throughout the system, or in key locations. Ideally, the presence of visible officers could deter incidences altogether.

How critical are we being as individuals, as families, as companies, as communities about how we measure the results of our goals? As we come up on the New Year and Resolutions, I challenge you to spend more time thinking about how you will know you've achieved your goal, and whether what you're measuring will take you there through deficit or visible positivity.