12/18/2025
By Shanna Thompson

The Center for Program Evaluation (CPE) will be holding workshops on Jan. 12-15, 2026. All participants interested in registering for this year's CPE workshops, should email cpe@uml.edu.

Our workshops are open to both people affiliated and not affiliated with UMass Lowell. You can register for as many of the workshops as you like.

ALL REGISTRATION FEES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.

  • UMass Lowell Faculty/Staff/Students: Registration fee: $10/workshop. Register for all 4 workshops and receive a discounted rate of $30 total.
  • Non-Profit Community Organization Employees: Registration fee: $35/workshop. Register for all 4 workshops and receive a discounted rate of $105 total.
  • For-Profit Business Organizations Employees: Registration fee: $100/workshop. Register for all 4 workshops and receive a discounted rate of $300 total.

MONDAY, JAN. 12, 2026

R Statistical Computing Environment Bootcamp
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. (1 hour lunch break)
On-Campus – Room TBD
Jason Rydberg, Associate Professor in School of Criminology & Justice Studies

This extended workshop will provide a thorough introduction to the R Statistical Computing Environment. The morning session will introduce the mechanics of the R language, loading and manipulating data, creating and recoding variables. The afternoon session will cover statistical graphics using the ggplot package, and implementing basic bivariate statistical tests (e.g., chi-squared, t tests, ANOVA, correlation, and linear regression). The tidyverse variant of the R language will be emphasized throughout.
Level: Beginner

TUESDAY, JAN. 13, 2026

Introduction to Cases & Case Classifications in NVivo
Online Workshop held via Zoom
9 – 11:30 a.m.
Shanna Thompson, CPE Manager

This workshop introduces participants to cases and case classifications in the qualitative software NVivo. Participants will learn how to create and manage cases, assign attributes, and use case classifications to systematically compare units of analysis. The session will demonstrate how these features support more rigorous analysis, enable meaningful queries, and strengthen transparency in qualitative and mixed-methods research. The workshop is designed for users with basic familiarity with NVivo who want to enhance their analytic structure and reporting.
Level: Beginner

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14, 2026

Basic Inferential Statistics Refresher
Hybrid Session: Attend either On-Campus (Room TBD) or Via Zoom
1 – 3:30 p.m.
Jill Hendrickson, Professor in School of Education & Associate Dean of the Graduate School

This workshop will review the most basic inferential statistics that you already learned about but actually need to use now. Dr. Hendrickson will explain what they mean, when to use them, and how to decide which analysis to use for basic research questions. This session is an intermediate level workshop and will NOT cover advanced analyses. Correlation, t-tests, ANOVA and Chi-square will be covered. It is probably most appropriate for graduate students in social sciences, although others are also welcome.
Level: Intermediate

THURSDAY, JAN. 15, 2026

Using AI tools for Qualitative Text Analysis Online Workshop held via Zoom
9 – 10 a.m.
Minjeong Kim, Associate Professor in School of Education

This workshop examines the affordances and challenges associated with employing AI tools as peer debriefers within qualitative research, with particular attention to text analysis. Drawing on a current project that analyzes emotion markers in a well-known Korean folktale—a double-contrastive-structure narrative frequently used in elementary classrooms to facilitate children's emotional and moral socialization—the session considers the processes by which AI tools, including ChatGPT and those integrated into the qualitative software Dedoose, can be incorporated to support both deductive and inductive coding. The discussion also addresses the limitations of these tools when applied to interpretive analyses that require sensitivity to cultural nuance.
Level: Beginner

The mission of the Center for Program Evaluation (CPE) is to conduct research on program evaluation methods as well as to offer evaluation planning, consulting, training and services for the university, regional and global community. CPE offers program evaluation services that support the university’s missions of research, teaching, and service to the community and industry for both faculty and students.