This summer, I worked with Professor Amelie Quesnel-Vall茅e and Dr. Jaunathan Bilodeau on a research project investigating the relationship between work-family conflict and mental health problems among children in the household. Our study makes use of surveys conducted by 脡tude longitudinale du d茅veloppement des enfants du Qu茅bec (ELDEQ) that asks young parents about their employment, conjugality, coparenting, social support, and mental health, among many others, as well as questions on their children鈥檚 behaviors and temperament.
The ELDEQ survey ran a total of four waves. The first two were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, and the latter two occurred afterwards. Thanks to this coincidence, we were able to examine how the pandemic impacted the relationship in question as well.
I am interested in an ARIA project for a few reasons. I have long hoped to apply my statistical skills and knowledge of health learned in class to a project that have real-world implications, as well to make some contributions towards the social studies of health. Further, I have always been curious about how research is carried out, from idea formulation to the eventual publication of results. ARIA would allow me to gain some hands-on experience in all of this.
On a general level, I aimed to familiarize myself with the academic research process, as well as to enhance my abilities in data analysis through participating in the project. Specifically, I hoped to learn about how 鈥渉ealth鈥� is studied and how crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic had an unequal impact on the population in our society. I also wanted to get a better understanding of the consequences of public health measures and policies, which is a field I would like to pursue further study on in the future.
The research project is likely to be year-long at the minimum, so my involvement ended in the middle, just as we entered the phases of variables construction and correlation measurement. Nonetheless, there are lots of highlights and challenges that I came across over the last three months. In many instances, they are two sides of the same coin.
Up first is the (primarily) remote and virtual nature of research. From this I have experienced slight inconveniences in timely communication. However, this challenge prompted me to be more concise in expressing the difficulties I have when I meet with my supervisors, and it encouraged me to thoroughly think about the questions before asking for solutions. Finally, working remotely provided me with a more flexible work schedule in locations of my own choosing.
Another pair of highlight and challenge comes in during the process of choosing what to study and how. To me this is the best part of research. I was tasked with selecting which survey questions to put in the model, and later with constructing variables from the selected questions. This required 鈥渢hinking like a sociologist鈥� and lots of statistical analyses along the lines of relevancy, exhaustiveness, and exclusiveness. From this I learnt the importance of operationalizing our variables and building a structure of analysis. Also, since we did not collect the data that we are using for the study, we had to live with the constraints and make the best use of what is available.
The most demanding and challenging part of research was data cleaning. I spent hours merging data, checking for incongruencies and scales of measurement on the STATA software, a platform I had little prior experience of. I am greatly aided by my supervisor鈥檚 patient explanation of the syntaxes we use and the significance behind them. At the end of the internship, I am much more adept at using the software and in data management in general.
Over the past 11 weeks, I have developed a firm interest in conducting research, as well as an ever-stronger passion in public health and social health. I suppose I have found the perfect way to integrate what I learned from Math and Sociology, the two majors I am currently pursuing, and apply them to something of practical value. I am now actively looking for more research opportunities in the health policy field, and I have decided to apply for graduate programs that offer such opportunities.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude towards Dr. Joan Eakin and Christopher Hoffmann, whose generous support to the Award has made this valuable experience possible for me. Your donation has enabled me to discover and pursue what I am passionate about.
