Mixed Methods Research Regarding K-12 School Practices and Minority Student Mental Health. (PI: Prof. Sean Darling-Hammond, JD, PhD, UC Berkeley School of Public Health) - YEDI Affiliated Project
Sean Darling-Hammond, Professor
Public Health
Applications for Spring 2025 are closed for this project.
Sean Darling-Hammond is an Assistant Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and the PI for the THESIS lab which stands for
Thriving and
Health
Equity through
Social
Inclusion in
Schools
Dr. Darling-Hammond, and the THESIS team, conduct research to ascertain how k-12 school practices impact students’ sense of belonging, mental health, and wellbeing; and whether implementing particular practices might help enhance mental health and health equity. To reach this goal, they conduct both qualitative and quantitative research with the aim of generating a body of evidence that can be used to impact the implementation of programs for youth in k-12 schools.
Current and expected THESIS projects for the Spring include
- A qualitative project exploring how depolicing Oakland schools impacted staff and youth
- A qualitative project exploring how digital media use is impacting the mental health of minority youth, and how health practitioners are recommend we support youth
- A quantitative project exploring which schools employ "safe" and "unsafe" school police, and whether certain kinds of students are more likely to be exposed to "safe" or "unsafe" police
- A quantitative project exploring the mental health correlates of exposure to "unsafe" school police officers
- A quantitative project exploring whether student mental health is enhanced when students are in schools that employ "relationship-oriented" practices (like conflict resolution and social & emotional learning)
- A quantitative project exploring whether students of all backgrounds have equal access to relationship oriented practices
- A literature review summarizing research on students' perspectives on school policing
- A literature review summarizing the link between youth mental health and digital media consumption
Role: We are looking for 1-2 undergraduate students to help conduct mixed methods research and draft manuscripts on the above exciting projects regarding the relationship between k-12 school practices and student mental health. During the semester (and beyond, if appropriate), the students will:
1) learn more about k-12 school policies impacting student wellbeing;
2) get training on different research methods and tools, including literature reviews, interviews, surveys, and secondary data analysis, as well as training on other topics of interest to the students;
3) develop data gathering tools (e.g., interview guides and surveys);
4) conduct literature reviews, interviews, and secondary data analyses; and,
5) be part of a great team that shares the goal of improving k-12 practices to expand health equity.
Specific tasks include:
1) Conducting in-depth reviews of published research with tasks including recording search methods, reading articles, and summarizing key aspects of articles (methods, sample, findings)
2) Co-developing interview materials and reviewing interview transcripts to identify key themes
3) Running multivariate regression models (and other models as needed) in STATA, summarizing results, generating tables, and generating graphics
Qualifications: While we are hoping to find applicants who meet all of the preferred qualifications below, please feel free to apply if you feel you meet most, but not all, of these qualifications:
- Be at least a second-year undergraduate student
- Interest in using both qualitative and quantitative methods
- Ability to work effectively both independently and as a team member.
- Excellent attention to detail, organizational skills, and strong initiative.
- Open to accepting, acting on, and providing feedback.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Demonstrated familiarity with STATA (please list related course work and / or experience)
- Demonstrated experience with data management (please list related course work and / or experience)
- Demonstrated knowledge of basic statistical methods, including multivariate regression, production of regression tables, and production of data visualizations (please list related course work and / or experience)
- Experience working with youth
- Passionate about working on k-12 education projects
- Experience working on policy-related research projects
- Knowledge of policy analysis, theoretical frameworks and methodologies
- Previous experience conducting qualitative research (e.g., interviews)
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Sean Darling-Hammond
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Social Sciences Education, Cognition & Psychology