New Publication for ASPECT

Something happened last week that I thought you might find interesting. Two years ago, we conducted research with help from the Government of Canada and the Future Skills Centre about the transition of career development practitioners to virtual services, particularly in their challenges to meet the needs of clients underrepresented in the workforce. The research methods in the Competency of Career Development Practitioners for Virtual Services project included focus groups with CDPs and an online survey. We did everything right. The project went through an ethics review, our Virtual Learning Consortium made up of employment service sector leaders vetted the survey questions, and the survey launched with an incentive of a small-amount gift card. The result, however, was chaos!
 
Online robots took over our survey and had us spending hours trying to combat the robots as well as refining the data, removing false answers, and setting criteria for valid answers. Since we had two research assistants working with us and had some time in the schedule as we waited for the online results, we wrote a case study about what happened. Last week, this case study, “The Bot Toolbox: An accidental case study on how to eliminate bots from your online survey” was finally published by the Journal of Social Thought.
 
Not only would you find our experiences interesting if you were to do your own research, but you might also find it interesting because many of our Aspectives readers participated in that online survey. Thanks to our research assistants Bennett King-Nyberg and Erica Thomson, and our academic leads, Dr. Roberta Borgen and Cassie Taylor, for creating the article and their perseverance in getting it published. It’s a perfect example that sharing that information can be valuable to others when things go horribly wrong. 

Conference: Register ASAP
 
Finally, I want to add a note about the ASPECT Conference and our change to the new venue at the Radisson Hotel Vancouver Airport in Richmond. The conference space is smaller than what we are accustomed to at an ASPECT Conference, which means we are selling out fast, both for conference registrations and hotel rooms at our heavily discounted conference rate. If you are considering registering, please do so ASAP to avoid disappointment. Also, don’t forget to register separately for the in-person workshop: Mental Health Strategies for CDPs. Program details are now available on our website.
 

Janet Morris-Reade, CEO
ASPECT