Rate My Professor Karen Robson

Karen Robson is a Full Professor in the Department of Sociology at McMaster University and holds the Ontario Research Chair in Educational Achievement and At-Risk Youth. She joined McMaster in 2016 after serving as an Associate Professor at York University, where she had been since 2004. Prior to that, she worked as a Senior Research Officer at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. Robson earned a PhD in Applied Social and Economic Research from the University of Essex, a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Calgary, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology from the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the sociology of education, particularly the transition from high school to postsecondary education, barriers faced by equity-seeking groups, data infrastructure, and statistical methods. She has collaborated extensively with school boards such as the Toronto District School Board and organizations including the Hamilton Community Foundation and the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

Robson serves as chair of graduate studies in the Department of Sociology and was appointed Academic Director of McMaster’s Office of Community Engagement in 2026 for a three-year term. She has authored or co-authored several books, including the fifth Canadian edition of The Basics of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (2024), Multilevel Modeling in Plain Language (2016), Stata Survival Manual (2009), and Quantifying Theory: Pierre Bourdieu (2009, co-edited). In her new role, she chairs the Interdisciplinary Minor in Community Engagement curriculum advisory committee and the Experiential and Community-Engaged Learning group.