Dr. Ellen MacEachen

Scientist

PhD, University of Toronto

Dr. Ellen MacEachen received her earliest training in sociology on the road. By the time she began university, she had already travelled much of China and Europe. She had also become interested in the way social, political and economic environments can shape human thought and behaviour.

“The social aspect of life varied considerably as I travelled from one place to another,” she recalls. “I wanted to understand why.”

Dr. MacEachen, who studied anthropology, sociology and public health sciences, is one of a growing number of qualitative researchers at the Institute for Work & Health. Unlike quantitative research, which draws conclusions from numerical data, qualitative research relies on such methods as direct observation and in-depth interviews. According to Dr. MacEachen, these methods carry special benefits for occupational health research.

“Qualitative methods can get at issues of experience and process," she says. “They can help us to understand how policies operate in practice.”

Currently, Dr. MacEachen is investigating disability management in non-standard work arrangements. She wants to know how occupational health policies play out in workplaces that do not offer the traditional model of full-time employment. “The nature of work is changing,” she explains. “We have more flex-time work arrangements, for example, and more people are working on temporary contracts. What we don’t have is a good understanding of how workers’ compensation functions in the context of these changes.”