The SSC has its own student and recent graduate committee (SARGC) that communicates with students and recent graduates (SARG) and organizes SSC activities for them. It represents SARG in the planning of the SSC board of directors and of SSC committees. It has the mandate to regularly administer surveys. This past summer, the SARGC completed the 2024 Pilot Survey, and we learned a lot. The SARG request several services in common from the SARGC. But some requests vary according to student status, work status, and demographic status. The SARGC must continue its mandate to regularly administer surveys.
Outcomes
Relying on a questionnaire that contains several ranking questions and two free-form written questions, the Pilot Survey tells us that virtual events are in high demand. Moreover, we should consider in our planning: the distinction between BSc students, MSc students, PhD students, and recent graduates. We must remind ourselves what the SARG think: “Is this event the right one for me at this stage of my career?” The Pilot Survey also reveals that any future SSC initiatives seeking feedback from SARG should strive to receive 10 responses in Ontario, another 10 in Quebec, and another 10 from the remainder of the SSC regions combined. With that allocation, we can ensure some measure of regional representation because the numbers reflect something about the interests of SARG in Canada as a whole.
The Pilot Survey has built a foundation for future SARGC surveys. It was performed through an administrative system initiated and monitored by the SSC executive committee. This administrative system ensures both transparency across the board and executive and secure data storage. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of SARG, the Pilot Survey received over 50 responses: 10% from Quebec, 20% from Ontario, and 30% from the remainder of the SSC regions combined. Not only this, but the SARGC received feedback from SARG themselves during meetups, and from the SSC board and several SSC committees. As a result, the SSC has produced survey outcomes that will guide the way the SSC will function in its future planning for SARG.
Survey Development and Execution
In 2022, the SSC annual meeting was a virtual event. During that annual meeting, the SSC assisted the CANSSI (Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute) in performing an equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI) survey of SSC membership. SARG comprise an active component of the SSC membership: a total of 300 responses came in, 50–75% of which said they studied at a Canadian university. The SSC responded to these findings by initiating in 2023 the ad hoc strategic planning committee, whose function is to ensure retainment of current student members after they have concluded their study programs.
In 2021, the SARGC chair (Dr. Steve Ferreira Guerra) proposed that the SARGC survey be redeveloped to provide SARG of the SSC membership a platform, so that their voices are heard in the SSC decision-making process. The 3 years subsequent, the following past/current members of the SARGC made significant contributions to the 2024 SARGC Pilot Survey: Ms. Jennifer McNichol, Mr. Thai-Son Tang, and Dr. François Marshall. Survey development was overseen by both the SSC EDI committee representative and the SSC PR officer (Profs. Amadou Diogo Barry and Rhonda Rosychuk, respectively). The SSC board of directors and both its executive and ad hoc strategic planning committees provided feedback whilst facilitating survey execution. During the development years, both the 2023–24 and 2024–25 SARGC chairs (Dr. Luke Hagar and Prof. Kuan Liu, respectively) gave feedback and advice. They also contributed to the board of directors' reports and participated in email exchanges with both the SSC executive (special thanks to Mr. Jack Gambino) and ad hoc strategic planning committees (special thanks to Prof. Léo Belzille).
The 2024 SARGC Pilot Survey was designed in accordance with Statistics Canada guidelines: founded on subject matter research, aligned with SARG feedback, and having a sampling design informed by demographic results of the 2022 CANSSI EDI Survey. Choosing an appropriate question base was just one of the challenges facing the SARGC if its questionnaire was to make a difference in future planning. How many responses did we need to ensure the statistics say something about SARG in the whole of Canada rather than SARG in certain regions alone? To build the question base, the SARGC listened to SARG during meetups: instrumental to these efforts were both the Pre-SSC 2024 Virtual Meetup and the SSC 2024 Student Barbeque.
We also needed good advertisement. To this end, we received great support from the SSC IT administrator (Mr. Clayton Forrest) who sent out the June 17 email advertisement accompanied by survey link, as well as the corresponding reminder email on July 16. At Memorial University during the Student Barbeque, we announced the survey. SARG event attendees actively displayed their interest.
The SARGC conducted its 2024 Pilot Survey during the summer of 2024. Having submitted a proposal to the SSC board of directors, the board granted the SARGC permission to perform the Pilot Survey. The SSC executive committee administered secure, confidential data storage of the questionnaire. It also sent to the SARGC the appropriate response data so that the SARGC could perform its sampling analysis.
Conclusion
The SARGC sincerely thanks everyone who helped make possible the 2024 Pilot Survey. With the information SARG have provided us, we are now planning services that meet your requests. We look forward to letting you know the outcomes of our future activities and meetups. In the meantime, see you soon and we hope our activities will give you what you’re looking for!
The SARGC
https://ssc.ca/en/committees/student-and-recent-graduate-committee
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ssc-sargc/?originalSubdomain=ca
https://www.facebook.com/ssc.sargc/
X (Formerly known as Twitter)
https://x.com/sscsargc?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/sscsargc/?hl=en
Bibliography
Franklin, S., & Walker, C. (2010). Statistics Canada: Survey methods and practices. Statistics Canada.
Marshall, F. A. (2024). A proposal to the Statistical Society of Canada main office: The 2024 Student and Recent Graduate Committee Survey as a mechanism for the increased representation of students and recent graduates, 2024 [SARGC Detailed Report]. Submitted to the SSC board of directors for its Spring 2024 meeting.
Marshall, F. A. (2024). Results and conclusions of the 2024 student and recent graduate committee Pilot Survey: SSC members make clear their interests/demographic-makeup and reveal the deficits and strong points of the current SSC survey process. [SARGC Internal Report].
SSC. (January 26, 2023). Recap on SSC 2022 and EDI Survey. SSC Liaison 37(1). https://ssc.ca/en/publications/ssc-liaison/vol-37-1-february-2023