Carren Ginsburg’s research ventures into areas where few women scientists have gone before. Not only is she combining two divergent disciplines of research, but her PhD study also has a strong emphasis on innovative statistical modelling techniques that have not yet been applied to longitudinal data analysis in the South African context.
A criticism sometimes levelled at the social sciences is that the research methods used are primarily qualitative, not quantitative. In Ginsburg’s research she uses statistical methods and applications to quantify research in the social sciences, in combination with qualitative methodologies.
She graduated with an MSc in Social Research Methods (Statistics) from the London School of Economics in 2003. Her specific research interests lie in education, urbanisation and internal migration in South Africa.
Ginsburg joined the Birth to Twenty Research Programme at Wits University in 2005 as a PhD student and researcher. The Birth to Twenty study began in 1990 in Jo’burg/Soweto and enrolled more than 3Â 000 mothers and their newborns with the aim of tracking their development until the age of 20.
What attracted Ginsburg to this programme was the potential for application of longitudinal as opposed to cross-sectional research techniques. “This type of research, which gives a long-term historical picture, is fairly unique and yields a rich store of data that can be utilised in statistical modelling,” she says.
Her current research focuses on the migration of children over 14 years. It is aimed at exploring both the short-term and long-term implications of migration on children, and to extrapolate what might be applied to the context of education.
As part of her research objectives, she will be conducting statistical analyses of migration patterns over time and modelling migration in order to develop an understanding of factors that may be significant in describing children with differing movement profiles. She will also be analysing the impact of migration on a specific outcome relating to children’s educational attainment.
Limited international research has shown that children’s wellbeing, health and education can be negatively affected by frequent disruption, but little research has been done on the impact of migration on children’s lives in the South African context.
Ginsburg says that she is passionate about South Africa and would like to contribute to its future. “Getting a clear picture of the factors that prevent children from gaining a good education so that these can be addressed is one way of doing just that,” she says.
Her research is also expected to have wider applications in the future. Analysts predict that a rising wave of migration will roll out across Africa. The expectation is that, as this wave arrives in Southern Africa, the new key target destination for the entire continent, it will have an increasing impact on SADC countries. The high rates of adult migration mean that the numbers of children affected by migration is staggering.
Ginsburg’s research could have a significant impact on how governments will address the vital issue of education and children’s wellbeing in these changing circumstances.