----- Original Message -----
From: "Jane Schofield" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 11:24 AM
Subject: Short Course UK
Centre for Applied Social Surveys
Short Course
Classifying and Scoring People in Surveys
Supported by the ESRC
Roger Thomas and Elaine McColl
8-9 May 2003
University of York
CASS is an ESRC Resource Centre hosted by
the National Centre for Social Research, the University of
Southampton and
the University of Surrey
Course Content:
Classifying and scoring are at the heart of quantitative surveys,
since they are the means of converting responses to questions
from words into numbers. Some classifications and scoring
systems appear simple, such as those provided by answers to
the question "Are you married?" or "How many cigarettes do
you smoke a day", but are more complex than they look.
Others can appear rather intimidating, such as the complex
standard systems used for classifying persons according to
their occupation, their social class, their qualifications,
diseases and conditions from which they may suffer, or for
scoring them on dimensions of behaviour or attitude.
This course will review the criteria that statistically useful
classification and scoring systems must satisfy. It will outline
the systems of classification used in major survey topic areas
including demographics, economic activity and employment,
housing, health, education, income and consumption. It will
also consider how ad hoc classification systems and coding
frames may be developed, tested and applied in classifying
responses to open-ended questions, particularly those relating to
behaviour. In addition, it will describe methods that can be used
to score individuals in terms of the opinions and attitudes that
they hold.
Target Audience:
The target audience for this course is people who are, or are
about to begin, designing, conducting or analysing quantitative
social surveys 'hands-on'. It is relevant both to those whose job
is to carry out the operational stages of surveys (data collection
etc) and prepare data sets for analysis by themselves or others,
and to those who are about to embark on analysis of social
survey data. However, it is important to note that this is not a
course about questionnaire design or statistical data analysis.
Course Materials:
Participants will receive written course notes.
The Instructors:
Roger Thomas is the Deputy Director of CASS. He has had
long experience of designing, running and managing surveys,
first at Social Survey Division of the Office for National
Statistics, where he was also assistant director in charge of
methodology and founder and editor of the Survey Methods
Bulletin, and then at National Centre for Social Research's
Survey Methods Centre, where he participates in the
programme of methodological research and consultancy and
teaches survey methods.
Elaine McColl is a National Primary Care Career Scientist at the
Centre for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle
upon Tyne. Her main research interests are in the assessment
of health-related quality of life in relation to chronic disease
management and in survey methodology. She was principal
investigator for a recently completed literature review (to
which Roger Thomas also contributed) on Designing and
using Patient and Staff Questionnaires which was funded by
the NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme.
Fee:
£300 (includes course materials, lunches and morning and
afternoon tea). Because of ESRC support, a number of bursaries
are available which reduce the fee to £65 - applicants must be
full-time students, UK academic staff or ESRC-funded
researchers.
Location:
The course will be held at The King's Manor, University of
York.
Duration:
The course will begin with coffee and registration at 10.00 a.m.
on Thursday,
8 May and end at 4.30 p.m. on Friday, 9 May 2003.
For a registration form please contact:
Jane Schofield
Department of Social Statistics
University of Southampton
Building 58
Highfield
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Tel: 02380 593048
Fax: 02380 593846
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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