Training and Resources

Workshop Series
Faculty Seminar Series
Seminar Series
Research Tutors
Library Resources
Online Tutorials
Research Software
Web Resources

Opportunities for collaboration, sharing of information, and skills training, as well as hearing from world-class researchers are increasing. These opportunities will be available on both an individual and group basis, and all researchers are welcome to attend at any time.

Effort is made to accommodate different teaching patterns, different campuses, and a variety of training and workshop options. Suggestions and feedback are always welcome.

Workshop Series

Every semester a range of workshops are offered covering research methodology skills (eg statistical methods, SPSS, Nvivo), research integrity, advice for literature reviews, grant writing and survey techniques. Workshops are also scheduled to share the research interests and accomplishments of our faculty.

Workshops are generally interactive and highly useful to practicing researchers. Workshops are promoted through InsideZU each week, with a light lunch usually provided. Please pre-register online to ensure that training and catering resources are adequate.

View the Spring 2010 Workshop Program.

Faculty Research Seminars

Several Colleges also offer faculty research seminars, to exchange information and promote the research accomplishments of their faculty. All faculty and staff welcome.

Workshop picture

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Seminar Series

These special sessions showcase national and international guest speakers.

Upcoming Seminars

Future international speakers will include:

May 2010
Dr. Caroline Watters - "PhD opportunities for Zayed University Students"

October 2010
Dr. Robert Porter - "Research Grant Writing"

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Research Tutors - a trial mentorship program for researchers

The Office of Research will trial one-on-one training and support sessions, matching practicing researchers with expert faculty tutors. A register of tutors will be developed based on subject specific skills. Researchers may access these tutors to gain expert advice on problems relating to their current research. Tutors will be paid an hourly rate (monthly salary/60)/2.

Show your support by completing this quick survey

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Library Resources

Many books and articles are available through your ZU library. Some good recommendations include:

Porter, R. (2007) “Why academics have a hard time writing good grant proposals” Journal of Research Administration 38 (2) 2007. pp 37-43.
This is an excellent, brief article well worth reading.

Peyton Jones, S. & Bundy, A. (ND) Writing a good grant proposal.

Bauer, D. (2007) The ‘how to’ grants manual: Successful grantseeking techniques for obtaining public and private grants. Westport, CT: Praeger.
AUH Library HG177.B38 2007

Locke, L.F. (2007) Proposals that work: A guide for planning dissertations and grant proposals. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
DXB and AUH Library Q180.55.P7L63 2007

Gajda, R. (2005) Getting the grant: How educators can write winning proposals and manage successful projects. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.
DXB Library LC243.A1G35 2005

Also ask at the library for help if you would like to find specific information on topics such as the literature review or research methodology for qualitative or quantitative research.

Online tutorials

Research Software Resources

Survey Select

Details: This is web-based software enabling you to create, launch and collate responses and reports for online surveys that you might wish to conduct. This software is licenced for full use by both faculty and students at ZU. There are no limits to the number of ZU users of the software, or the number of people surveyed using Survey Select.

Getting access: Access Survey Select both on and off campus. To become enabled as an active user , contact marwa.basil@zu.ac.ae (DXB), ghalya.alsuwaidi@zu.ac.ae (AUH), or jimson.lee@zu.ac.ae (CSD Administrator)

Support: Introductory workshops are organized by the Office of Research each semester in both DXB and AUH. Visit the Spring 2010 Workshop Program.

SPSS

Details: SPSS is a widely used statistical analysis software often useful in quantitative research work. It will provide predictive analytics, and can handle complex and large number sets. ZU has a site licence for 'SPSS 16' available to all staff and faculty.

Getting access: From your desktop, click onto 'ZU Applications', and choose [All]. Click onto the link for SPSS 16 to begin installation. Contact the Service Desk on your campus for assistance if necessary. University upgrade to SPSS 17 has occurred, so ensure that you have the most recent version installed.

Support: Introductory and advanced workshops are organized by the Office of Research each semester in both DXB and AUH. Visit the Spring 2010 Workshop Program.

Introductory SPSS Powerpoints:

Advanced SPSS Powerpoints:

If you are interested in additional SPSS training, complete the SPSS survey

Nvivo

Details: If you need to handle very rich information, where deep levels of analysis on both small and large volumes of data are required, NVivo 8 is your solution. It removes many of the manual tasks associated with analysis, like classifying, sorting and arranging information. Nvivo is more suitable for analysis of categories, themes and relationships in qualitative data.

Getting access: A limited number of Nvivo 8 licences are available from the Office of Research, at this stage. A 30 day trial of Nvivo is recommended for faculty considering use of this software, and can be downloaded from the Nvivo website.

Support: Introductory workshops are organized by the Office of Research each semester in both DXB and AUH. Visit the Spring 2010 Workshop Program.

Introductory Nvivo Powerpoints:
Nvivo 8 Introduction

EndNote

Details: EndNote is a high quality reference management tool supported by many international universities. EndNote enables you to collect, manage, tailor and annotate unlimited formats of resources in thousands of styles, to download references from databses and catalogs, and to use your references in conjunction with Word for seamless document creation including all in-text citations and bibliography.

Getting access: ZU currently has limited EndNote licences available by emailing to the CSD Service Desk. The licence, once approved, will be available for you to download through your 'ZU Applications' on your desktop. EndNote X.1 version is currently available, but recommended for faculty only. Current upgrade to EndNote X3 (including EndNote Web) is in process.

Support: The library has established extensive information for EndNote including a blogsite for shared learning experiences and collaboration. The EndNote website also contains useful 'help' information.

Introductory workshops are organized by the Office of Research each semester in both DXB and AUH. Visit the Spring 2010 Workshop Program.

RefWorks

Details: RefWorks - a web-based research management, writing and collaboration tool - is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. Refworks is one of the subscriptions available through the library. RefWorks is a full ZU site licence available to all students and faculty.

Getting access: Access RefWorks Contact Library staff for support.

Support: Access PowerPoints and User Guides

Introductory workshops are organized by the Office of Research, in conjunction with the Library, each semester in both DXB and AUH. Visit the Spring 2010 Workshop Program.

Zotero

Details: Zotero is one of the fastest growing citation programs by usage. It is Open Source and a plugin designed to be integrated with Firefox. It is also soon to be Web 2.0 enabled thus facilitating the collaborative building of research libraries. Zotero has been compared favorably with EndNote, and is free and available via the web for all users.

Getting access: Access Zotero

Support: View the ZU online blog

Introductory workshops are organized by the Office of Research each semester in both DXB and AUH. Visit the Spring 2010 Workshop Program or contact james.buckingham@zu.ac.ae for introductory assistance.

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Web Resources

The following sites may be of interest to those engaged in research in the Middle East. This listing does not mean that the program or its website are supported by the University, nor is the University responsible for any of the links' validity or content.