Millenium Cohort Study Workshop

Bookings are now open for a workshop to introduce the Millennium Cohort Study. The workshop will be held at the Institute of Education, University of London on 28 November 2012 and will focus on the data from the survey carried out when the study children were aged seven years.

The taught component includes presentations on the MCS survey; the MCS sample and issues of weights, response, non-response and attrition; and how to access data.

The hands-on component will cover a range of topics, including: linking data from all four sweeps; recoding variables; deriving new variables; examining frequencies and percentages; correlation and regression; how issues of weighting affect results; how to measure attrition and the implications this may have for research.

 

THIS IS NOT A FREE EVENT for more details and booking:

http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3356

Teaching Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data: a workshop for qualitative methods teachers.

On 18 September the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) is hosting a half-day workshop at the UK Data Archive aimed at best practices in teaching qualitative analysis of secondary data.

ESDS Qualidata has pioneered archiving, sharing and methods of reuse of qualitative research data, and is incorporating some of the great materials for secondary analysis advanced by the Timescapes team.

The workshop is aimed at those with and without experience in teaching in this area and provides an opportunity for participants to share current strategies and ideas on how to promote skills in reusing data. This event is free of charge, but numbers are limited and booking is essential.

http://www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3306

An Introduction to the International Passenger Survey

Friday 29 June 2012
Basement Computer Lab, Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University of Manchester

A one-day workshop to introduce the International Passenger Survey to those with no or little knowledge of the IPS.

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/2012-06-29/

Using Census Microdata

29 February 2012
Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University of Manchester

Description:  This event will provide users with an introduction to two types of census microdata; SARs data which takes a sample of census respondents at a single time and longitudinal data which follows a sample of respondents over time.

During the day participants will hear about the unique and key features of the data, how they compare with other datasets, how they can used to answer research questions and get the opportunity to use both types of data in hands-on sessions.

Organiser/Chair: Rachel Stuchbury works within the Centre for Longitudinal Study Information and User Support (CeLSIUS) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Where she is extending the distance-based learning and web resources and also provides advice and data extracts to users of the Longitudinal Studies.

Jo Wathan supports the Samples of Anonymised Records at the Centre for Census and Survey Research at the University of Manchester. She has been a member of the SARs team since 2001 where she has worked on setting up, documenting, supporting and promoting use of the SARs

Level: Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)

Cost: The fee is: 1. £30 - For UK registered postgraduate students 2. £60 - For staff at UK academic institutions, ESRC funded researchers and registered charity organisations 3. £220 - For all other participants. All fees include event materials, lunch, morning and afternoon tea. They do not include travel and accommodation costs.

Website and registration: http://store.southampton.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=5&prodid=38&deptid=8&catid=23

Contact:

Jacqui Thorp

Training Administrator
National Centre for Research Methods
University of Southampton
Tel: 023 8059 4069
Email: jmh6@soton.ac.uk

Understanding Society: Introductory Workshop

Date: 24 January 2012
Location: HEFCE offices, CentrePoint, London

This half-day workshop is designed for researchers who want to maximise the research value of the new Understanding Society dataset, also known as the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS).

The event, jointly organised by the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), includes presentations on:

• the value of household longitudinal studies
• the design and collection of the Understanding Society survey
• how to access the data

A particular focus will be on the study's four samples, including the British Household Panel Study and the Ethnic Minority Boost sample, plus the study's richness of data on family and social ties, work, financial resources, and health. Participants will also learn how to use the online resources available to users.

This is one of a series of events being run in support of the ESRC's Secondary Data Analysis Initiative. The course is free to attend but booking is essential.

For further details and to book a place please visit: http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/news/eventdetail.asp?id=3051

INSPIRE for the social sciences workshop

when: 7 October 2011
where: UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester.

The UK Data Archive and EDINA are hosting a workshop on the European INSPIRE Directive and how this directive matters for the social sciences.

The aim is to bring together academics, data providers and research councils to share what various people are currently doing regarding the INSPIRE Directive - in particular the Annex III data specifications - and to provide a platform to discuss what needs to be done in the near future.

The INSPIRE Directive aims to create an EU spatial data infrastructure to enable the sharing of environmental spatial data among public sector organisations and facilitate public access to spatial information across Europe. This will benefit the development and monitoring of environmental policy and practice in all Member States and across the European Community. Annex III data themes include social sciences domain data on human health and safety, utility and government services, and population distribution and demography.

For further details and to register, please visit http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2951

This workshop is co-ordinated by the JISC-funded geospatial projects U•Geo and GECO.

Ethnic Minorities Biritish Election Study - a Research Workshop

Date: 19th September 2011
Venue: Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester

This ESRC sponsored research workshop is designed as an introduction to the new major dataset on political attitudes, behaviour and integration of ethnic minorities in Britain: Ethnic Minorities British Election Study 2010. This major new survey has been conducted following the last general election in May 2010 and was in the field simultaneously with the main British Election Study, with which it shares a core common questionnaire. As such, it is the largest and the only up to date source of comparison of political attitudes of British ethnic minorities with the white majority.

The workshop is designed specially to encourage and enable graduate students to use this data in their research. It is open to anyone with a research interest in ethnicity, the integration of ethnic minorities and the political attitudes of British Muslims, although graduate students will have priority if space is limited. The workshop will introduce the data, provide expert advice on the best ways to use and analyse it, and there will be an opportunity for the students to obtain expert feedback on their own research projects.

The event is free to attend and a small number of bursaries will be available to graduate students to cover travel costs to Manchester. This will be on a first come-first served basis.

Programme includes:

Introduction to EMBES - Prof Anthony Heath
How to analyse EMBES - Dr Stephen Fisher
Questions EMBES has already helped to answer - Dr Maria Sobolewska

Please e-mail Alexandra.mandich@manchester.ac.uk to register your attendance and get further details of the workshop. Please write on that e-mail, your Dept/ Course/ Year/ Dissertation Topic, and any diet restrictions. Alternatively please provide details of your organisation or company, and your interest in this subject area.

Two-day course on questionnaire design and measurement

This is a two-day course on questionnaire design and measurement, taught by Professor Jon A. Krosnick (Stanford University), running 5th and 6th of May at the LSE. The course is organized by the LSE’s Methodology Institute, Ipsos-MORI and the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex.

Further details can be found at: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/methodologyInstitute/newsEvents/Krosnick.aspx

The two-day course is free for LSE students and staff, £100 for non-LSE students, £200 for the public sector (including non-LSE University staff) and £400 for the private-sector.

Applications can be made at: https://eshop.lse.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&prodid=71&deptid=212&catid=40

Surveys and questionnaires are a common way of gathering data in the social sciences. The structuring, wording and ordering of questions has traditionally been viewed as an art, not a science, best guided by intuition. But in recent years, it has become clear that this is an antiquated and even dangerous view that does not reflect the accumulation of knowledge throughout the social sciences about effective question-asking. Intuition often leads us astray in the questionnaire design field, as becomes clear when putting intuitions to the test via scientific evaluation. A large body of relevant scientific studies has now accumulated, and when taken together, the findings point to a series of formal rules for how best to design questions. Yet the vast majority of contemporary questionnaire design fails to follow these rules, because they are not yet widely understood. During the past 25 years, Jon Krosnick has been gathering up the huge body of evidence on optimal questionnaire design for this forthcoming book, The Handbook of Questionnaire Design. In this course, Dr. Krosnick will review the contents of the first half of the book.

The two-day course educates participants about the optimal techniques for questionnaire design, for guarding against measurement artifacts, and for analyzing data in order to overcome the biasing impact of such artifacts. The course will teach participants a new way of thinking about questionnaire design, rooted in psychology. By gaining insight into how respondents approach their tasks of interpreting questions, searching their memories for information, integrating that information into judgments, and expressing those judgments in words, workshop participants will begin to develop skills that will help them to mange design issues for which there are not yet formal rules. In addition to helping participants to design better questionnaires, the two-day course will also equip analysts of questionnaire data to look from a new perspective as they evaluate the meaning of their findings, knowing how measurement artifacts can lead them astray.

Longitudinal studies: lessons for research and policy

Date: 10 May 2011, 10.00-16.45
Location: British Library Conference Centre

Information and booking form: http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2770

The day will focus on longitudinal data sources. This event is organised in conjunction with the UK Data Archive and Longview, and will give you an opportunity to hear talks about major studies, research projects, and their application to policy.

This event will give you an overview of the issues involved in analysing and using data from large-scale studies which track populations over time. The day will focus on how findings from longitudinal studies can contribute to policy development, with contributions from research and policy perspectives. The event will include talks about longitudinal studies from England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The introduction will be given by Jude England, Head of Social Sciences at the British Library. The keynote speaker will be John Hobcraft, Professor of Demography and Social Policy at the University of York. There will be a panel session chaired by John Pullinger of the House of Commons Library. Speakers to include Professor Diana Kuh and Dr Rebecca Hardy, MRC National Survey of Health and Development; Nick Buck, PI of Understanding Society; Dr Dermot O'Reilly, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast; Gemma Tetlow, the Institute for Fiscal Studies; and Dr Chris Dibben, Director of the Longitudinal Studies Centre - Scotland.

Census Resources for Research

On 12 April 2011, 10.00-4.30
British Library

The event will be an introduction to using census data for UK researchers. Organised in conjunction with the ESRC Census Programme and the UK Data Archive, it will feature presentations on interaction data, samples of anonymised records, aggregate data, boundary data and the ONS Longitudinal Study.

Although the event is open to all, those who are planning to carry out academic research using census data will benefit most. It is not suitable for those interested in genealogy.

This event is free of charge. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.


To find out more and to book a place, please go to: http://www.esds.ac.uk/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2752

Managing and sharing social science research data: legal and ethical issues

8 April 2011, 10.00-2.30
British Library, London

http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2751

As part of its current Researcher Development Initiative (RDI) grant, the UK Data Archive will host a workshop on managing and sharing research data for quantitative and qualitative social science research. The workshop is aimed at social researchers at all stages of their career - from new to experienced - and will cover key legal and ethical issues surrounding the managing and sharing of data in research with people (surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations and ethnography). The workshop will provide guidance and practical exercises and discussions focusing on:


• ethical and legal issues in data sharing and re-use
• handling and sharing confidential information and personal data
• informed consent and data sharing
• anonymising data

Content is based on advice and guidance provided by the UK Data Archive to researchers and aims to help researchers plan data management strategies for projects and consider data sharing and archiving as part of ethical review procedures.

Travel bursaries are available for postgraduate students. Contact datasharing@data-archive.ac.uk for further information.

Organisers: UK Data Archive, Research Data Management Support Services, University

What Makes You Happy? Office for National Statistics: Consultation on National Well Being Survey

Tuesday 29th March, 2.00 - 4.00pm,
SRA, 24 – 32 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HX

Booking by email to makiD@the-sra.org.uk

The purpose of this event is to gather together practicing social researchers to explore in some depth the methodological issues facing ONS

For more information http://www.the-sra.org.uk/events.htm

Launch of the ESRC Secure Data Service

On Tuesday 29th March the ESRC funded Secure Data Service will be officially launched at the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), One Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET

To celebrate this major advance in the UK data infrastructure and the resulting increase in data access for policy based research, two events will be held:

Launch
6.00 Drinks reception
6.30 Keynote address and panel discussion
Speakers to include:

• Jil Matheson, National Statistician, UK Statistics Authority
• Paul Boyle, Chief Executive, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Julia Lane, Program Director, National Science Foundation (USA) and Chair, Secure Data Service Advisory Committee
• Melanie Wright, Director, Secure Data Service

To book your place: www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/2011/sdslaunch

Before the official launch there will also be a joint workshop


VML/SDS workshop: Joining together to improve research and impact

2.00-5.30  A decade of microdata: what have we learned, and what difference has it made?

This short workshop will focus on how changes in microdata access have affected research, policy and our understanding of the world, particularly in relation to economic performance. Information about how the VML and Secure Data Service will work together to provide researchers with access to data will also be provided.

To book your place: www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/2011/sdsworkshop

NOTE: Building security requires all attendees to book in advance. Kindly submit your booking form no later than Monday 21 March 2011.

Introduction to the ESRC Secure Data Service

Date: 17th February
Time: 15.30-16.30
Location: CEP Conference Room, London School of Economics

The Secure Data Service is an ESRC-funded service designed to provide approved researchers with safe and secure access to confidential/sensitive data free of charge, from any UK higher education or research institution.

The Service currently provides access to detailed social and health data, including versions of the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, with grid-references for each respondent.

It is anticipated that the Service will also provide access to the business and economic microdata collections currently available only from the ONS Virtual Microdata Laboratory.

This information event is designed to inform you about the Service and the datasets that will be available to you.

For queries, please contact the Secure Data Service at securedata@ukda.ac.uk

RSS Event: The Retail Prices Index and the Consumer Price Index

Tuesday 25th January 2011 5pm
Royal Statistical Society, London.
12 Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX


The Retail Prices Index is the traditional measure of retail price inflation, and has been widely used for a range of purposes. Recently the Government has been giving more prominence to an alternative measure, the Consumer Price Index. This meeting will discuss whether the CPI is a better inflation measure than the RPI for all or some purposes. The ONS is considering how to improve the CPI and in particular how to include housing costs, which are currently excluded.

Speakers
To include Pam Davies (ONS).
Chairperson
Michael Baxter, Official Statistics Section committee.

Tea and coffee will be provided during the meeting.

Attendance is free and open to all, but pre-registration is recommended. You can register by email: meetings@rss.org.uk or by phone (020) 7638 8998. For further information contact Michael Baxter (michael_a_baxter@hotmail.com

Synthetic data meets simulation workshop - last call for participants

Date: 22nd October 2010 10AM - 4PM
Venue: University of Manchester

A workshop to explore synergies between synthetic data generation and agent-based modelling.

This workshop has been conceived to explore whether research in both fields could be mutually informative and whether the techniques, methods and data products of each could enhance the other. Some ideas that may be worth exploring include: the use of synthetic data to assign properties to agents so that they possess the multivariate properties of the population of interest; and the use of agent based models to enhance longitudinal aspects of synthetic data (which may well have been generated cross-sectionally).

The workshop is free to attend. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Register here: http://www.simian.ac.uk/courses/course-registration

Labour Force Survey User Meeting

Thursday 2 December 2010: Royal Statistical Society, London

This meeting will provide a forum for data users and producers to meet and discuss new developments and exchange information about the Labour Force Survey.

To view the programme and book a place please go to http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/esds/events/2010-12-02/

LSYPE Introductory Workshop

One-day introductory workshop on the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE).
Monday 13 December 2010: London

The workshop is designed both for researchers who are considering using data from LSYPE in their work and for those in government departments and the voluntary sector who are involved in commissioning research.

Issues to be covered will include: themes and content covered by the survey; survey design; accessing LSYPE via the ESDS; research findings using LSYPE, and i-LSYPE, a new online analysis tool.

Further details including booking form: http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/news/eventdetail.asp?id=2622