This summer, from July 9th to July 13th, Sample Solutions BV participated at the 1st Summer School in Research and Computational Methods organized by The Public Opinion Research Unit at the University of Macedonia Research Institute of Applied Social and Economic Sciences in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Sample Solutions BV believes that well-trained staff is able to meet the company goals. Thus Sample Solutions recognizes the importance of continuous training and improvement of the employees for the overall company success. The constant learning is accompanied by one of the main company’s core values – Have fun and discover.
For more details regarding the Summer School visit the following link: http://www.poru.eu/en/summer-school/
Sample Solutions team had a unique opportunity to deepen its knowledge of research methods and to explore new fields of expertise. The Summer School was lead by established researchers from the University of Oxford & EUI and Stanford University. The lecturers introduced state-of-the-art approaches to survey design, data collection and analysis. The Summer School widened our views regarding the fundamentals of causal inference and enriched our knowledge with innovative methods to generate, measure and display data. During the week in Thessaloniki, different design-based methods to unpack causality, including experiments, difference in differences, instrumental variables and regression discontinuity designs were examined. In addition, Sample Solutions team experienced great opportunity in taking part of interesting and fruitful discussions and exchange of views on cross-cutting issues.
Besides the learning part, Summer schools always provide a great opportunity to meet people with similar interests. Consequently, during the Thessaloniki Summer School, Sample Solutions team used the chance to expand its network of cooperating partners and friends. We built new connections with people from the research field who are interested in conducting surveys for the purpose of political science, economics and history.
And that was not everything that Sample Solutions team has grasped from the Summer School in Thessaloniki. Our new Greek friends showed us the beauty of the Greek food accompanied by the positive historical vibes of Thessaloniki. We have visited some of the historically important places of Thessaloniki and enriched our knowledge of the Greek history.
Sample Solutions team discovered new trends which are popular in the field of conducting a research, learnt more about the methods of causality, presenting the data as well as obtaining it. At the same time we had fun time in Thessaloniki enjoying the city together with our new friends. Overall, we fully adhered to our core value Have fun and discover!
We look forward to many more series of summer schools in Thessaloniki – see you next year!
Carsten Broich
Carsten is the founder of Sample Solutions and Lifepanel with over a decade of sampling and social research experience. A trained aerospace engineer who discovered his love for random phone numbers.
