CCSR Short Course Training in Social Research Methods and Statistics at the University of Manchester 2012There are still a small number of places left on the upcoming courses on research skills, social statistics and data analysis at the Centre for Census and Survey Research.
See
www.ccsr.ac.uk/courses/list/Constructing Measures Using The Rasch Model - 14th - 15th November This short course covers the basic theory behind measurement, from an Item Response Theory perspective, focusing on the assumptions of the Rasch models in particular. The Rasch model provides the means to create measures (or score scales) from a combination of items in tests or surveys. The principles governing the application of such models are shown through examples from educational measurement but are easily applicable to other areas in social and health sciences. The course will be of interest to researchers and practitioners involved, among others with educational measurement, measurement of satisfaction for evaluation, tests of skills, knowledge and other cognitive outcomes, attitudinal scales and measures of dispositions. Participants should have some basic knowledge of introductory statistics.
How to Conduct a Survey - 16th NovemberThe course offers a complete overview of the survey process. There are several key elements in the design of a successful survey, and all of them must be right otherwise the survey might fail. This course considers all of these elements of survey design and management and explores how they fit together and complement one another. The course is taught by a lecturer with hands on experience in delivering surveys across the public and private sector often with hard to reach groups in challenging social policy contexts.
Questionnaire Design - 20th NovemberRubbish in, rubbish out - have you ever discovered too late that your survey questions did not deliver useful or useable data? Through looking at a wide range of pitfalls, this course explores ways to assess the effectiveness of existing questionnaires as well as how to write successful new ones. It combines suggestions from the research literature on questionnaire design with a very practical approach. Common errors in the wording of individual questions are examined as well as how to combine individual questions into a meaningful questionnaire.
Standardised Multi-Item Scale Development for Surveys - 21st NovemberStandardised multi-item scales are very common in psychology, education, and health, but much less so in sociology, political science, and survey research. This one day course is designed to inspire participants from all disciplines that it is possible to develop your own high quality multi-item scales. This course offers an introduction on how to do this: looking at psychometric principles, exploring the special questionnaire design concerns, introducing some basic statistical tools for assessing the reliability and dimensionality of multi-item scales, and practice evaluating some existing scales in a lab session at the end of the day.
Cognitive Interviewing for Testing Survey Questions - 22nd NovemberThis one day course is designed to familiarise participants with this powerful and efficient method of piloting survey questions called Cognitive Interviewing. This is a type of in-depth interviewing which focuses on respondents' thought processing in answering survey questions and uses specialised techniques such as thinking aloud, probing, observation and paraphrasing. The course is about what cognitive interviewing is as well as how to do it. There are practical exercises as well as lecture time.
Data Linkage 1 Background to Techniques - 28th NovemberThe one day course will introduce basic concepts of data linkage, provide background information on data linkage applications and different data sources as well as aspects of
preparing datasets for data linkage. By the end of the day, participants should have an understanding of what is involved when merging datasets.
Data Linkage 2 Theory to Practice - 29th - 30th November The course will cover probabilistic approaches to data linkage including pre-matching processes, string comparators, determining field weights, types of errors and decision theory, the evaluation of the quality of linkage procedures and the analysis of linked datasets. The course will have a strong practical emphasis to enable course participants to put the taught methods into practice and will include a tutorial and computer workshop.
Introduction to Statistical Testing in Research - 5th DecemberThe course aims to cover many of the commonly used parametric and non-parametric statistical tests, along with basic concepts of a randomized clinical trial and the analysis of survival data, with data examples from a health environment but for use in social research more widely.
For more information and to book a place please go to http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/courses/list/
Dr. K. Purdam
[log in to unmask]PGT and Short Course Director
CCSR and Social Statistics
University of Manchester
M13 9PL
UK
www.ccsr.ac.uk
01612754719
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