New video guide on mapping

An ESDS Government video guide to producing a map from Google Fusion Tables is now available at www.esds.ac.uk/government/resources/video/.

Call for papers - Crime surveys user meeting

Thursday 13 December 2012

Royal Statistical Society, London

The next crime surveys user meeting is being organised by ESDS Government for Thursday 13 December 2012. ESDS Government are inviting offers of presentations based on analysis of the UK crime surveys, e.g. the Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly the British Crime Survey), Offending, Crime and Justice Survey or the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey. Presenters will have 20 minutes for their talk followed by 10 minutes for questions.

Details of previous user meetings are available at www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/types/user/.

Please send offers of a paper, including a 200-word abstract, to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.ukas soon as possible but by 21 September 2012 at the latest.

 

Call for papers - Labour Force Survey/Annual Population Survey user meeting

Dealine for papers extended to the 30th September

Monday 10 December 2012
Royal Statistical Society, London

The next LFS/APS user meeting is being organised by ESDS Government for Monday 10 December 2012. The programme will contain a mixture of papers from data producers and researchers. ESDS Government would like to invite offers of presentations based on analysis of the LFS or APS. Presenters will have 20 minutes for their talk followed by 10 minutes for questions.

Details of previous user meetings are available at www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/types/user/.

Please send offers of a paper, including a 200-word abstract, to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.uk as soon as possible but by 30th September 2012 at the latest.

Webinar - Employment and the Labour Market Data: A Brief Tour

Monday 24 September 2012
Online, 15:00-16:00

Short on time but want to know more about data available to research employment and the labour market?

This free hour-long webinar on individual-level data from government surveys and censuses will introduce you to the main datasets and their use. The session will be presented by Jen Buckley and Jo Wathan of ESDS Government, it will cover basic issues for new users and provide an opportunity to ask questions from your own desk.

The webinar is free to attend but registration is required. Please book a place at www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-09-24/booking.html. Queries are welcome at govsurvey@esds.ac.uk

Using multilevel models and MCMC methods and applying them to the Health Survey for England using the new STAT-JR package

Wednesday 11 - Friday 13 July 2012
Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University of Manchester

This workshop is jointly organised by ESDS Government and e-Stat, a quantitative node for the ESRC Digital Social Research programme which brings together academics working in statistics and computer science.

Prerequisites: a working knowledge of multiple regression and the basics of sample design. Some previous knowledge of multilevel modelling, for example attendance at our workshop in 2010, would be beneficial.

Cost: the workshop fee is £95. Bookings will not be confirmed until payment is received.

The focus of this three day workshop is on the use of new statistical software, STAT-JR for fitting complex statistical models. We will focus on multilevel modelling where the multilevel structure is determined by the sample design, in particular on the way the methods can be applied to the Health Survey for England. This structure will then be used to examine the extent to which variables such as height, weight and BMI are clustered by household and area and whether any of this variability can be accounted for by background variables such as social class and educational qualifications.

The first day will provide a general introduction to the dataset and the STAT-JR software package. On the second day we will give sessions on Bayesian statistics and MCMC methods that the package uses and then describe its application to continuous multilevel models. On the third day we will finish by describing its use on binary response models and give a brief demonstration of an alternative E-book interface to the software. The workshop will be a mixture of lectures and practical sessions using the software on the datasets provided.

To view the programme and book a place please go to http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-07-11/

Using Large-Scale Government Microdata for Employment and Labour Market Research

Tuesday 22 May 2012
Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University of Manchester

A one day training event organised by ESDS government in collaboration with the Office for National Statistics. This workshop is aimed at anyone unfamiliar with large scale government datasets or labour market research. It will introduce those interested in the broad areas of labour market and employment to the microdata available at ESDS Government. It will provide participants with:

1. a broad overview of the different type of information available in the main large scale Government surveys that can be used in conjunction with traditional labour market indicators;

2. a more detailed presentation of the Labour Force Survey, including its fieldwork and data quality issues;

3. a hands-on computer practical enabling users to familiarise themselves with LFS data and perform simple analysis.

The workshop is free to attend and lunch will be provided. To view the programme and book a place please go to http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-05-22/

New ESDS Government teaching dataset

ESDS Government has produced a new teaching dataset:

The English Housing Survey 2008-2009: Household Data Teaching Dataset,

which is available at www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?sn=6949.

The teaching dataset is a subset which has been subjected to certain simplifications and additions for the purpose of learning and teaching.

The main differences are:

·         the number of variables has been reduced
·         weighting has been simplified
·         a reduced codebook is provided

Datasets can be useful resources for teaching. You can use the datasets for hands-on exercises in methods courses such as questionnaire design or statistics. ESDS Government have created a number of teaching datasets for this purpose using the Labour Force Survey, British Crime Survey, Health Survey for England, General Household Survey and Expenditure and Food Survey. If you wish to use one of the teaching datasets or any of the ESDS Government datasets with your students as part of a taught course you should read the information on Teaching uses of data on the ESDS website at www.esds.ac.uk/orderingData/restrictions.asp

Opinions and Lifestyle Survey user meeting

Wednesday 21 March 2012, 9.30am – 1.00pm
Royal Statistical Society, Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX

ESDS Government has organised this half-day Opinions and Lifestyle Survey user meeting which will comprise a number of papers from users of the current ONS Opinions Survey and the General Lifestyle Survey. The user meeting will also provide users with valuable information from ONS on the content and methodology of the new Opinions and Lifestyle Survey that will be created in 2012 as a result of merging the ONS Opinions survey with some of the previous General Lifestyle Survey questions. For more information on this please see the ONS website at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/consultations/closed-consultations/2011/the-future-of-the-glf-survey/index.html.

The meeting is free to attend. To view the programme and book a place please go to www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2012-03-21/

Opinions and Lifestyle Survey User Meeting - Call for Papers

ESDS Government is organising an Opinions and Lifestyle User Meeting for Wednesday 21 March 2012 at the Royal Statistical Society, London.  

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey is a new survey that will be created in 2012 as a result of merging the ONS Opinions survey with some of the previous General Lifestyle Survey questions. For more information on this please follow this link: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/consultations/closed-consultations/2011/the-future-of-the-glf-survey/index.html

The User Meeting will provide users will valuable information from ONS on the content and methodology of the new survey. The meeting will also comprise a number of papers from users of the current ONS Opinions Survey and the General Lifestyle Survey. We, therefore, invite offers of presentations from researchers based on the analysis of either the ONS Opinions Survey or the General Lifestyle Survey.

Details of previous user meetings can be found at http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/types/user/

Please send your title and abstract, of around 200 words, to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.uk as soon as possible but by 23 December at the latest.

Call for papers - Living Costs and Food Survey user meeting

ESDS Government is organising it's first LCF user meeting for Tuesday 20 March 2012 at the Royal Statistical Society, London. The programme will contain a mixture of papers from data producers and researchers. We invite offers of presentations based on analysis of the Living Costs and Food Survey and the former Expenditure and Food Survey. Presenters will have 20 minutes for their talk followed by 10 minutes for questions.

Details of previous user meetings can be found at http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/types/user/

Please send your title and abstract, of around 200 words, to gillian.meadows@manchester.ac.uk as soon as possible but by 9 December at the latest.