Samuel Jett茅's ARIA project:听Social Policy Responses to COVID-19 in Canada and the United States: Explaining Policy Variations Between Two Liberal Welfare Regimes
听
Being the type of person that always wants a new challenge I am constantly looking for another opportunity that will push me in an uncomfortable situation. During my undergraduate studies at McGill, I fell in love with the world of Canadian politics but was initially repulsed by the idea of doing research. So much so that I intentionally avoided research methods classes which I believed would only give me an overview of what I learned in CEGEP. During my second year, I realized that I was missing something crucial for a Political Science student. I was missing advanced research methods classes. Knowing that I would do research methods classes in my third year, I pushed myself into an uncomfortable situation. I pushed myself into the ARIA program.
For eleven weeks, from May to July, I assisted one of my professors with his summer research projects through the ARIA program. I had a course with him the semester before starting this internship. The course about Canadian social policy allowed me to learn the essentials needed to thrive during my time as a research assistant. Professor Daniel B茅land had me track social policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This mostly consisted of collecting public and media documents, taking notes on them, and organizing them in a presentable and useful manner. While I initially perceived this as simple, I eventually realized that there was a fine line between irrelevant and important information. Furthermore, it became increasingly difficult to organize the material as I gathered more of it. It also allowed me to appreciate the time one needs to invest when trying to get an in-depth view of even the briefest moment in time. This data collection process was repeated with slight variations for the three different research projects. I was also given the opportunity to edit the draft copy of the research project I worked on the most. This allowed me to learn about the rules one must follow when attempting to turn a research project into a peer-reviewed article.
I threw myself into this internship to learn more about the research side of the study of politics. In the end, the internship did much more than that. I was doing my research in confinement and had to deal with the challenges of staying motivated hours on end. As a truly social being my work ethic has always been dependent on my proximity to people. Both my inherent desire to work in a team and my desire to outperform others has, in the past, allowed me to adapt and thrive in my work environment. What was challenging for me this time was that I had nobody to work with or against. The human element had been removed and I was alone with my tasks. This was a challenge I had to overcome with self-discipline which was made possible through honest work hour tracking. Being honest with the number of hours I did in one day forced me to work longer the next day if I slacked because there was an expected number of hours I had to work each week. In other words, the biggest challenge I faced was not learning more about research methods but working in solitude.
The part of the internship I liked the most was when I tracked the different COVID-19 social policy responses across Canada. The work allowed me to get an in-depth view of the differing social safety nets each province grew over time. Moreover, this allowed me to compare the diverse social structures across the Canadian federation, an exercise I had never done before. While knowing about the inherent diversity my country held before this internship, I had never actually seen it for myself. I had always been taught this through books, professors, websites, etc. More than just knowing about, but understanding the complexities of my country allows me to further appreciate its federal nature. I believe that understanding this is crucial when one studies not only Political Science but also Canadian Studies. I am glad to have done this alongside someone as knowledgeable as Professor B茅land.
I would like to wrap up by thanking those who made this possible and those who influenced me in my decision-making. Thank you Mrs. Betty Maldoff, Mr. Eric Maldoff, Mr. Gerry Maldoff, and Mrs. Barbara Maldoff for your generous donation to the ARIA program. Without you, this learning experience would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Anne Turner and Antoine-Samuel Mauffette Alavo for having suggested the ARIA program.
