Seminar series

This seminar examined what indicators we might try to look for within organisational and digital data that would provide evidence for poor health and wellbeing. It also examined what we know about the dynamic nature of wellbeing over time, its measurement and analysis. The implications of this evidence for Big Data analysis will also be explored.

Speakers

• Jeff Stich (PhD student), Lancaster University

• Dr Noelle Chesley, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA

• Professor Jeremy Dawson, the University of Sheffield

• Professor Christian Dormann, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

Materials

A summary of our discussions from this seminar (PDF, 58KB).

Dr Noelle Chesley

Unhealthy ICT Related (Work) Practices: What are they? How might we measure them?

• Dr Noel Chesley’s presentation (PDF, 467KB)

• Watch Dr Noelle Chesley's presentation

• Interview with Dr Noelle Chesley

Abstract:

Work scholars have identified a number of key practices facilitated through information and communication technology (ICT) use that promote work-life extension and intensification in ways that detract from worker wellbeing.

What are “extension” and “intensification” and how are these processes initiated and supported by our ICT infrastructure? How might extension and intensification processes, and their associated practices, detract from worker health and wellbeing? How should future research engage the changing nature of work, work organisations, and shifting connections among employers and workers to better theorise and measure the role that ICT-based practices play in shaping unhealthy work conditions?

Jeff Stich

Wellbeing, technology use and attitudes towards technology

• Jeff Stich’s presentation (PDF, 974KB)

• Interview with Jeff Stich

Abstract:

Big Data facilitates the collection of large amounts of measures on objective usage of technology such as number of emails sent or received or response time. Such objective variables might however be unreliable indicators of wellbeing due to the subjectivity involved in the appraisal process. For instance, a same amount of emails might be considered stressful by one individual but not by the other.

This presentation will thus explore

• the links between attitudes towards technology and wellbeing

• the measurement of subjective indicators of technology use

• the impact of both actual and perceived technology use on wellbeing using Person-Environment fit approaches

Professor Christian Dormann

Temporal dynamics of wellbeing

• Professor Christian Dormann’s presentation (PDF, 1.8MB)

• Interview with Professor Christian Dormann

Abstract:

For capturing dynamics in work stress and wellbeing, conducting multiple measurements across time is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Any measurement reflects a snapshot at a discrete time point only.

Important questions are:

• How discrete measurements can be used to analyse continuous (ie dynamic) relations among work stress and wellbeing?

• How to optimally design the spacing (lags) of measurements and the length of studies?

I will introduce some recent developments, which have demonstrated how discrete measurements can be related to their underlying continuous time (CT) processes and how this can be implemented in structural equation models (SEM). I will also show how the optimal spacing of measurements can be computed (using continuous or discrete time analyses), and discuss implications for the design of studies.

Professor Jeremy Dawson

Analysing organisational indicators of wellbeing

• Professor Jeremy Dawson’s presentation (PDF, 476KB)

Abstract:

Jeremy will present some findings on the relationship between organisational data and wellbeing. He will examine issues related to statistical analysis across multiple data sources and different levels of analysis.