Research Portfolio
Brewing by the Numbers
In January 2020, UNC Chapel Hill’s College of Arts & Sciences launched an initiative to bring together quantitative and qualitative research faculty and student researchers to design syllabi and instruction materials for the upcoming IDEAs in Action curriculum. Planned for Fall 2021, the IDEAs - Identify, Discover, Evaluate and Act - program seeks to craft interdisciplinary education that trains students in quantitative and qualitative data collection, critical analysis, and intervention design.
As a Qualitative Research Coordinator, I lead small teams of undergraduate researchers in collecting data and designing databases as pilot modules that IDEAs instructors can use in their courses. Our project, “Brewing by the Numbers,” tackles North Carolina’s craft brewing industry to design modules that articulate with student interests in local production, local food, and rural and urban development. We are working closely with faculty in UNC’s Data Science program to develop a searchable database of NC breweries and brewery demographics, as well infographics that highlight challenges and opportunities for the craft industry. In doing so, we are creating accessible data useful to both academic institutions and professional organizations.
This project is ongoing, but check out some of the things we’ve produced so far!
Big IDEA Courses
Mentoring student researchers has been an education in its own right. As we’ve developed data modules, I’ve observed the aspects of mixed-methods research that inspire my team, and the aspects that frustrate or stymie them. These insights have informed the design of a large-scale course for the IDEAs program: Culture & Consumption. This course aims to teach fundamentals of anthropology through critical qualitative and quantitative research, and in a way that is empathetic to the pleasures and pains of complex learning and design.
A Brewer’s Aesthetic
COVID-19 has prompted brewery leadership to revaluate their organizational resilience. Roundtable and informal discussions have focused on SOPs, market presence, and strategic collaborations. Observing this moment, our team proposed a question: To what extent does aesthetic design influence resilience?
To explore this question, we are collecting all NC brewery beer names and logo designs into a database. Using qualitative analysis, we are developing a bank of themes to describe these aesthetic choices and track trends across brewing communities. Comparing these trends against production data, demographics, and opening/closures give insight into the potential of aesthetics to enfranchise or disenfranchise consumers.
This study will serve as a practical demonstration of data-based interventions for IDEAs students. We are currently developing infographics to disseminate findings to NC breweries in collaboration with the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild.