Common Ground

https://cground.substack.com/p/resistance-to-alberta-pension-plan

Call for survey questions! 📞

This year, we are launching a new project: an annual student survey question competition. We are inviting University of Alberta students to submit proposals for question modules to be included in the 2023 Viewpoint Alberta Survey collected in January. The deadline for submitting proposals is December 1, 2023.

Learn more on our website: https://www.commongroundpolitics.ca/student-survey-question

The Common Ground team at the University of Alberta helps people understand the difference between who they are and who they think they are when it comes to politics. We use focus groups and surveys to explain how the gap between political culture and public opinion can lead to a false sense of social reality, exclusion, and polarization.

If you are an honours student, we are open to discussing how our ongoing research might support your thesis project. Alternatively, you might think of ways to integrate our research into any term papers you may be considering. Check out our website here: https://www.commongroundpolitics.ca/join-our-team.

While we are not hiring undergraduate research assistants at the moment, we are working with undergraduate students to apply for funding through the UAlberta Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI). There are two main granting programs, which fund students' independent research over the summer:

The URI Undergraduate Researcher Stipend (deadline: February)
The Roger S. Smith Undergraduate Researcher Award (deadline: March)

We are also keen to assist senior-level students graduating in the near future with applying for admission to our UAlberta graduate program (deadline: January 15 for next fall) and securing Canada Graduate Scholarships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (deadline: December 1).

If you are interested in discussing how your research interests align with those of Common Ground, and how these might translate into successful admission and award applications, please feel free to make an appointment with us to discuss it a bit further.

To schedule an appointment, please visit the following links:

Dr. Feodor Snagovsky (public opinion, white identity, conspiracy theories): https://calendly.com/snagovsky/office-hours

Dr. Jared Wesley (political culture, false sense of social reality, polarization):
https://calendly.com/jjwesley/partner.

What's life like for the typical Albertan? If you're in St. Paul (Nov 20) or Fort McMurray (Dec 15 & 16) or we'd love to meet with you. Sign up for a focus group here (and earn $75 for your time): http://commongroundpolitics.ca

If pictures are worth a thousand words, a thousand drawings speak volumes about politics in Alberta. In our latest research brief, we discuss how youth absorb Alberta's Wild West culture.

Becoming Albertan How do youth fit into Alberta's wild west culture?

Do you live in or near St. Paul? We'll be in town again August 3. If you have the time to discuss what life's like for the typical Albertan, we'd love to meet with you. Sign up for our focus group here (and earn $75 for your time): http://commongroundpolitics.ca

Do you live in or near Fort McMurray? We'll be in town again July 31 and August 1. If you have the time to discuss what life's like for the typical Albertan, we'd love to meet with you. Sign up for our focus group here (and earn $75 for your time): http://commongroundpolitics.ca

Do you live in or near High Level? We'll be in town June 26. If you have the time to discuss what life's like for the typical Albertan, we'd love to meet with you. Sign up for our focus group here (and earn $75 for your time):

Common Ground 2023 Focus Group TourWhat is life like for the typical Albertan?  We’re conducting a series of focus groups in communities across the province to understand more about what it’s like to live here. We compensate chosen participants at a rate of $50 per hour ($75 for 90 minutes).   Red DeerJun...

Do you live in or near Red Deer? We'll be in town June 12 and 13. If you have the time to discuss what life's like for the typical Albertan, we'd love to meet with you. Sign up for our focus group here (and earn $75 for your time): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCg5QKyYUxv_EYaZOAjhuvtiwT0fLuzii9FZBiHG3oTyJZsw/viewform?usp=sf_link

What is life like for the typical Albertan? We’re conducting a series of focus groups in communities across the province to understand more about what it’s like to live here.

We compensate chosen participants at a rate of $50 per hour.

Sign up today: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCg5QKyYUxv_EYaZOAjhuvtiwT0fLuzii9FZBiHG3oTyJZsw/viewform?usp=sf_link

What is life like for the typical Albertan? We’re conducting a series of focus groups in communities across the province to understand more about what it’s like to live here.

We compensate chosen participants at a rate of $50 per hour.

Sign up today: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCg5QKyYUxv_EYaZOAjhuvtiwT0fLuzii9FZBiHG3oTyJZsw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Just how polarized are Albertans? Our latest research suggests... not really.

Political Polarization in Alberta Albertans are not as divided as many people assume

What's life like for the typical Saskatchewanian? We’re conducting a series of online focus groups across Saskatchewan to find out. Participate and receive a $50 gift card of your choosing.

Interested? Sign up today:
https://forms.gle/ZnFqrNfEJwV7xRF67

What's life like for the average Albertan? We're traveling the province to find out. Join us for a 90-minute focus group in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Fort McMurray, St. Paul, or Hanna and we will pay you $75 for your time.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBVmYgCYjZCgL72cMkFV2-iu6BcmisnDGwUGq09qfO_lE16A/viewform

Common Ground Focus Groups You are being asked to participate in this study due to the community you belong to and because of your interest in Albertan politics. This research brings Albertans together in a series of focus groups across the province. We are studying the extent to which Albertans agree on a common set of polit...

We love working with Albertans. Our participants love it, too! Here's what they have to say about the Common Ground Focus Group experience.

From our latest Viewpoint Alberta survey. https://theconversation.com/what-the-spectre-of-alberta-separatism-means-for-canada-186897

What the spectre of Alberta separatism means for Canada Even though they lack the profile of Québec sovereigntists, Alberta separatists are positioned to exert significant political influence on intergovernmental relations in the years to come.

Who is Average Joe Albertan?

What does it mean to be average or typical or mainstream? What does it mean to be abnormal or atypical or outside the mainstream?

When most of us think about the “average Albertan,” our minds turn to public opinion polls. Surveys like Viewpoint Alberta suggest that the so-called “median voter” is located somewhere in the centre of the left-right spectrum. Most Albertans favour robust social programs, low taxes (at least for themselves), and a balanced budget. But, surveys only take us so far when it comes to understanding the typical Albertan.

Our focus group research takes a novel approach. Rather than focusing on polling averages, we ask residents who they think the typical Albertan is. We ask them to draw these typical Albertans, tell us about the characters’ lives, and describe how these personas feel about politics in Alberta today.

Learn more about how we understand the “Average Albertan” https://youtu.be/fV7zFcj1-q4

How do Albertans feel about the province's place within Canada? How many want to separate, and how many want to build a "firewall" to keep Ottawa out? Check out this study from our latest Viewpoint Alberta survey. https://www.commongroundpolitics.ca/albertan-orientations-toward-confederation

Who is Common Ground?

The Common Ground team consists of researchers from across the University of Alberta. We work in various departments on campuses across the province. Together, we bring a variety of perspectives to the study of political culture in Western Canada and the American West.

Common Ground is led by Dr. Jared Wesley. Born and raised in small-town Manitoba, Jared Wesley has lived much of his adult life in Edmonton and Calgary. He is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta. He has led a number of large research teams involving over two dozen interdisciplinary collaborators from across Canada. Jared is a pracademic -- a practicing political scientist and former public servant -- whose career path to the University of Alberta Department of Political Science has included senior management positions in the Alberta Public Service (APS). He has returned to academia to study and teach the politics of Western Canada.

Stay tuned to meet more members of the Common Ground team!

Welcome to Common Ground!

People on different sides of the political spectrum are failing to find common ground in communities across the West. Citizens appear to have lost the shared sense of purpose and values necessary to debate matters of the public good respectfully, without alienating or disparaging their neighbours.

These developments raise important questions about the common ground that exists among various political communities. Those commonalities constitute political culture -- a set of often unspoken norms and values that provide stability and guide politics in a given community.

Common Ground uses innovative research methods to study the state of political culture across the West, using surveys, community-based focus groups, youth engagement, public opinion surveys, and coffeehouse conversations.