Student steps into research role

FCSS student Kimberlee Rizun-Glynn worked as a research assistant this summer. Now she's set to return to class.

Research comes naturally to Kimberlee Rizun-Glynn, a self-described detail-oriented and analytical person.

“I catch on to systems quite easily,” wrote the 32-year-old Family & Community Social Services student, married mother of two boys – three and a year-and-a-half – and dog-owner.

That inclination has helped her in the classroom, particularly the second-year Research Methods class she took last year and which she called “a real introduction to research and having that knowledge prior to going out on the job helped.”

Rizun-Glynn worked two months this summer as a research assistant on a nutritional screening program for toddlers and preschoolers. Called NutriSTEP®, the program provides an important service and ongoing research opportunities.

She had her head in and hands on data related to parent perceptions of NutriSTEP® and nutrition risk screening in a sample of Ontario preschool children, a research project of Dr. Janis Randall Simpson, associate professor in University of Guelph’s Department of Family Relations & Applied Nutrition.

Among other tasks, Rizun-Glynn conducted “interviews with each parent to conclude if they were eligible candidates – met the criteria – for the research.” If eligible, parents then completed a demographic questionnaire and a draft version of NutriSTEP® on two separate occasions.

All responses required confidentiality, a concept explored in Research Methods, according to Rizun-Glynn. Also, the data had to be carefully organized for the research team to continue its work.

Randall Simpson noted Rizun-Glynn’s enthusiasm, sense of teamwork and interpersonal skills, among others, as important qualities for work in a research environment.

Such traits helped the student communicate and coordinate with NutriSTEP® researchers and directors of selected early childhood sites throughout Ontario visited by the researchers. Rizun-Glynn was able to reach out to and recruit parents and caregivers – the very participants.

A University of Guelph-Humber student benefits from such work experience in a number of ways, offered Randall Simpson: building awareness of the research process, study design and protocol, data collection and entry, ethics.

But, added Randall Simpson, her research benefitted because Rizun-Glynn helped “with data collection in the Brampton, Woodbridge and Newmarket areas, which are more distant from Guelph. This made the data collection in these sites more feasible for us and expanded the geographic area for recruitment of study participants.”

This September Kimberlee Rizun-Glynn turns 33 and she starts third year. Twenty years ago, when she was 13 years old, she started volunteering in her community. This grew into work with teens with disabilities – an area she plans to study at the graduate level following University of Guelph-Humber.

Going full circle comes naturally to some.

• Find out more about the Family and Community Social Services (FCSS) program.
• Take a look at University of Guelph-Humber's Career & Placement Services Portal, where Kimberlee Rizun-Glynn found her research posting.
• Rizun-Glynn came to University of Guelph-Humber as a mature student. If you're a mature, or transfer student, register now for the Mature & Transfer Student Social on September 1st.

Sean Flinn, Web Communication Specialist, University of Guelph-Humber, 416-798-1331 ext. 6299, sean.flinn@guelphhumber.ca