Survey Data Analysis I: Introducing Descriptive & Inferential Statistics
Venue: Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, UK
Presenter: Dr Olga Maslovskaya and Dr Amos Channon
Dates of Course: Wednesday 21st - Friday 23rd November 2012
This course has already run. Please check the course listings for a future course.
Summary of Course:
Topics will include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing for differences between means and proportions and basic contingency table analysis. Practical computer workshops will be used to analyse sample survey data with the computer package SPSS.
Course Objectives:
- To develop an understanding of the basic principles of statistical analysis.
- To enable participants to employ appropriate methods of presenting data in research reports and papers.
Course Content:
- Overview
- Introduction and review of descriptive statistics
- Confidence intervals for means and proportions
- Setting up and testing hypotheses
- Tests of statistical significance
- Two sample tests for means and proportions
- One-way analysis of variance
- Association in tables (Chi-square tests)
The course will include workshop sessions so that participants can work through practical group exercises as well as computer exercises using SPSS. Course participants will be introduced to analysing sample survey data.
Target Audience:
The course is aimed at researchers who need to perform basic analysis on data from sample surveys, especially those in the social, economic, educational and medical sciences. Participants may be researchers working in academia, local or central government, survey agencies, market research, the voluntary or the private sector.
Pre-requisites:
Participants should have a basic familiarity with statistical concepts through a previous introductory course or equivalent experience. This "refresher" course provides a good background to the Survey Data Analysis II course which is another CASS course. For course participants new to this topic the preparatory reading below is recommended. No familiarity with the software SPSS is required.
Please bring a calculator for the workshops as well as a USB memory stick in case you would like to save your computer workshop outputs.
Course Materials:
Participants will receive written course notes.
Please bring a calculator for the workshops as well as a USB memory stick in case you would like to save your outputs from the computer workshops.
The Instructors:
Dr Olga Maslovskaya is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on the EPSRC-funded Care Life Cycle research project, which incorporates members from Social Sciences, Management, and Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. The research project utilises complexity science methods to investigate demand and supply of health and social care in the UK in the context of an ageing population. Olga is currently conducting the investigation of triggers for transition into residential care and is using the British Household Panel Survey for the analysis. Olga holds an MA in European Policy and Politics from the Department of Government, University of Manchester and an MSc in Social Statistics - Research Methods (with distinction) from the Division of Social Statistics, University of Southampton. She also holds a PhD from the Division of Social Statistics, University of Southampton. The title of her PhD thesis is Measuring HIV Awareness and Knowledge: Analyses of Cross-sectional Surveys with a Focus on China. Olga has been involved in the teaching of a wide range of statistical courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as short courses for professional development in the UK and abroad.
Dr Amos Channon is a Lecturer in Demography in the Division of Social Statistics and Demography at the University of Southampton. He has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Durham, and an MSc and PhD in Social Statistics from the University of Southampton. His research interests are in the analysis of large scale surveys to investigate child health and health inequalities in lower income settings, as well as the demography and health of the Middle Eastern region. He is on the British Society of Population Studies Council and has conducted training on survey data analysis to undergraduates, postgraduates and organisations such as the government and other academics.
Location and Accommodation:
The course will be held at the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, Building 39, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ. Participants will need to make their own accommodation arrangements. Further information on accommodation and course location is available here.
Duration:
On the first day, the course will start with registration and coffee at 9.30 with formal teaching starting at 10.00 am; it will finish at about 5.30pm. On the last day, teaching starts at 9am and formal teaching finishes at about 3pm. Afterwards there will be an opportunity for participants to ask questions about the course and to discuss with the instructor how to analyse their own data (until about 4pm). (You can bring your own data to the course if you wish).
Preparatory Reading:
Participants who feel particularly "rusty" could skim through any introductory level textbook on statistical methods. Some examples are:
- Understanding Social Statistics, Fielding, J. and Gilbert, N., 2nd edition, 2007, Sage Publications.
- Beginning Statistics. An Introduction for Social Scientists, Ian Diamond and Julie Jefferies, 2nd Edition, 2001.
- Analyzing Quantitative Data, Norman Blaikie, 2003, London, SAGE Publications.
- Analyzing Social Science Data, David de Vaus, 2002, London, Sage Publications.
- Understanding Statistics, An Introduction for the Social Sciences, Daniel B. Wright, 1997, London, Sage Publications.
- Introducing Data Analysis for Social Scientists, David Rose and Oriel Sullivan, Open University Press, 2nd Edition, 1996.
- Basic Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences, Gary W Heiman, Houghton Mifflin Company, 5th Edition, 2005.
- Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS, Release 12 for Social Scientists, Alan Bryman and Duncan Cramer, Routledge, 2005.
- A Basic Course in Statistics, Geoffrey Clarke and D Cooke, 4th edition, Arnold, 1998.
- Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, Andy Field, 3rd edition, Sage, 2009.
Course Fees:
£30 per day for UK-registered students. £60 per day for staff from UK academic institutions (including research centres), ESRC funded researchers and UK registered charitable organisations. £220 per day for all other participants. The course fee includes course materials, lunches and morning and afternoon refreshments. Travel and accommodation are to be arranged and paid for by the participant.