To elicit participant feedback on the 2020 Lifespan and Life Course Research Integrating Strategies Un-Meeting.
On Monday, March 2, 2020 an Un-Meeting addressing the topics of Lifespan and Life Course Research: Integrating Strategies was held in Chicago, Illinois. The Un-Meeting aimed to cover important topics in research, encourage new collaborations, and generate new ideas. An evaluation survey was sent to all meeting participants following the Un-Meeting to examine how well the meeting goals were achieved. This report of the evaluation addresses Future Collaboration, New Topics, and Overall Value.
An initial email invitation with a link to the survey and two subsequent reminders were sent to attendees. At the conclusion of the online data collection, 42 responses were received from the total of 105 attendees, for a final response rate of 40.0%. The majority of the respondents “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed” that the Un-Meeting addressed their expectations (n=38, 90.4%). The majority of the respondents also “Agreed” or “Strongly Agreed” that the topics covered by the Un-Meeting were valuable (n=37, 88.0%).
All 42 respondents answered a question about actions they had pursued or started to pursue as a result of attending the Un-Meeting. The top two responses (aside from “Other”) were “Implementing a new research idea” (n=13, 36.1%), and “Develop a pilot project program” (n=12, 33.3%). Those who chose “Other” specified other forms of collaborations such as “Potential data collaborations…,” and “stay in contact with the people I met to explore future collaborations”.
The survey included open-ended questions, for which attendees were asked to describe anything new they learned or benefits that they have experienced as a result of attending the Un-Meeting. The text responses were iteratively coded between three and five times via open coding and then categorized into core themes. Text responses were independently coded by a minimum of two coders and reviewed iteratively until agreement was reached on the theme or themes present in the response. The most frequently reported themes were “Networking/ Connections” (n=10) and “New Methods/ Strategies for Recruitment, Retention and/or Community Engagement” (n=10 and 14, respectively).