Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute

Survey data analysis I: Introducing descriptive and inferential statistics 17/09/14

Overview

Fees/duration

Teaching

Reading list

Summary of Course:
This course introduces participants to basic concepts of applied statistical data analysis. 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 test)

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. No knowledge of SPSS is assumed.

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.

Course Fee:
Thanks to continued ESRC funding we are able to offer this course at reduced rates as follows:

£30 per day for UK registered students
£60 per day for staff at UK academic institutions, RCUK funded researchers, public sector staff and staff at registered charity 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.

Course places are limited and early registration is strongly recommended.

Deadline and Refunds:
Please refer to the terms and conditions of the University of Southampton online store when booking. An administration charge of £30 may apply for cancellations. No refunds can be provided for cancellations less than 28 days prior to the start of the course.

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. Maps and travel information are available from the University of Southampton Travel Page. This also includes a map of the Highfield Campus. Building 39 is at the end of Salisbury Road edging onto Southampton Common.

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).

Pre-requisites:
Although not required, participants should ideally have a basic familiarity with some 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 (to save your outputs from the computer workshops).

The Instructor:
Dr Gabriele B. Durrant is a Reader at the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute (S3RI) at the University of Southampton. Her research interests include modeling of paradata, analysis of interviewer effects, nonresponse in sample surveys and multilevel modeling. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a 3.5 year ESRC funded research project on the ‘The Use of Paradata in Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Surveys'. She previously was the PI of a 3.5 year ESRC funded research project on ‘Analysis of Nonresponse in Hierarchical Surveys'. She has published widely in the area of paradata and nonresponse. Gabriele teaches a wide range of statistical courses for professional development.

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.