CSSCR Spring 2016, Number 2
From the Director
This newsletter announces our short course schedule for the rest of the Spring Quarter. These short courses are free and open to anyone in the University community. Consider passing this newsletter on to your colleagues, or invite them to subscribe.
CSSCR was created in 1972 through the consolidation of computational research labs in Sociology, Political Science, and Communications, and we've grown to ten member units since then. An important element of the original Center proposal was to provide consulting in computational research methods for social scientists. To this day, CSSCR has maintained a staff of consultants with a broad set of skills in social science computational research. Our consultants are available to the UW community. The drop-in consulting center is located in Savery 119 and is open at 8am weekdays throughout the school year.
The Autumn quarter time schedule is now at the "proof" stage. Please be sure to contact us for Autumn quarter lab reservations. If you are interested in adding a lab component to your course, stop by Savery 110, call (3-8110), or send us an email (csscr@uw.edu) and we can discuss specifics, give you tour, etc.
--Darryl Holman
Introduction to Stata
Description:
Learn the basics of Stata so that you can understand do/log files, reading help files, and how to write code in order to perform data
cleaning and statistical analysis. No experience in statistical programming necessary.
Instructor: Laine Rutledge
Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Time: 4:00pm to 4:50pm
Place: Savery 121
Register
Introduction to Excel
Description:
Learn the fundamentals of using Excel including: data entry, basic computation, elementary charts and graphs,
and some statistical functions. Prior knowledge of Excel is not necessary.
Instructor: Katelyn Stickel
Date: Friday, April 22, 2016
Time: 4:00pm to 4:50pm
Place: Savery 121
Register
Writing faster code in R
Description:
While many routine analytical techniques are easy to implement in R and require trivial computation time, conducting
more intensive analyses often requires developing code largely from scratch that is more computationally demanding,
e.g. analyses of large datasets involving multiple steps; automated procedures that are intended to be run across
multiple samples; resampling or Monte Carlo simulations involving large numbers of iterations; etc. In such
contexts, thoughtful coding can sometimes mean the difference between writing code that takes hours or days to
run, versus seconds, minutes, or hours. In this workshop, we will look at coding habits that improve computation
time, including taking redundant steps out of for-loops, parallel processing, etc.
Instructor: Will Brown
Date: Monday, April 25, 2016
Time: 9:30am to 10:20am
Place: Savery 121
Register
Introduction to Qualitative Research and ATLAS.ti
Description:
This course provides a brief introduction to computer software for qualitative data analysis, including a
comparison of two options, ATLAS.ti and the cloud-based Dedoose. The class will then provide a practical
introduction to working in ATLAS.ti, covering basic terminology and functionality of the program.
This will include importing documents (text and other media types), coding and annotating documents,
and a brief introduction to analysis and query tools.
Instructor: Carolina Johnson
Date: Monday, April 25, 2016
Time: 4:00pm to 4:50pm
Place: Savery 117
Register
Using R with Big Data
Description:
This course is for those who have some familiarity with R. We will talk about challenges and strategies when using R with big data.
Instructor: Stephanie Lee
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Time: 12:00pm to 12:50pm
Place: Savery 121
Register
Introduction to SAS
Description:
This introductory class will cover basic features and some data analysis procedures of SAS. The topics include: an
overview of the SAS system; how to read/enter data, modify, explore and manage data; as well as some statistical
procedures for regression analysis, such as general linear model and logistic regression.
Instructor: Tina Tian
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Time: 3:00pm to 4:15pm
Place: Savery 121
Register
Regression with Stata
Description:
This course will cover the basics of regression analysis using Stata. Using a sample research question, we will explore the data,
specify a linear model, and test the assumptions underlying OLS regression to come up with a better model. The latter part of
the course will be devoted to running and interpreting logistic regression. Attendees will be assumed to have basic familiarity with
Stata.
Instructor: Myong Hwan Kim
Date: Monday, May 9, 2016
Time: 11:30am to 12:20pm
Place: Savery 117
Register
R Graphics Using ggplot2
Description:
This class is an introduction to the popular graphics package ggplot2. We will discuss the structure of the ggplot2,
including the basic elements of the underlying grammar and how plots can be built-up in a layered fashion. We will
then use ggplot2 to produce number of different plots, such as line graphs, histograms, and boxplots. Attendees will
be assumed to have basic familiarity with R.
Instructor: Colin Beam
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Time: 2:00pm to 2:50pm
Place: Savery 121
Register
Instrument Refinement Across Platforms
Description:
When utilizing measurement tools, an extremely important, but often overlooked part of the methodological process is
evaluating the instrument itself for robustness. This class will survey (pun intended) the various procedures which can be used
to do dimension reduction. The aim is to provide an overview of the different programs that can be used to do this, from the
most basic and accessible (Excel) to more intermediate (SPSS) to the more sophisticated (IRTPRO). Additionally, it will
demonstrate how to get similar metrics, such as reliability, from different programs (ie, R vs STATA vs SPSS), highlighting
when and why one might be a better choice than another.
Instructor: Gabby Gorsky
Date: Friday, May 20, 2016
Time: 10:00am to 10:50am
Place: Savery 121
Register
Introduction to SPSS
Description:
This class introduces SPSS basic structure and layout. We will go over how to import, manage, and record data as well
as do some descriptive statistics and simple analyses like t-test, correlation, and regression.
Instructor: Shin Lee
Date: Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Time: 2:30pm to 3:20pm
Place: Savery 121
Register
Other Seminars, Courses, etc.
The ICPSR Summer Program announces the following workshops:
Curating and Managing Research Data for Re-use
Dates and Location: July 25-29, 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal
Instructors: Louise Corti, UK Data Archive at the University of Essex; Jared Lyle, ICPSR; Veerle Van den Eynden, UK Data Archive at the University of Essex
Description:
This five-day workshop is for individuals interested or actively engaged in the curation and management of research data for sharing and reuse, particularly data librarians, data archivists, and data producers and stewards with responsibilities for data management. Participants will learn about and gain proficiency in the full range of life cycle activities: data review and preparation; confidential data management; effective documentation practices; how to create, comply with, and evaluate required data management plans; digital repository requirements and assessment; and running user support and promotional activities for data. Emphasis will be placed on hands-on exercises demonstrating curation practices and on discussion for sharing local experiences and learning from others. Additional context and expertise will be provided through invited keynote lectures by research data experts.
Geospatial Data Curation
Dates and Location: June 27-29, 2016 in Palo Alto, California
Instructors: Kimberly Durante, Stanford University, and Darren Hardy, Stanford University
Description:
This three-day workshop will focus on strategies for developing scalable and sustainable repository services for the curation of geospatial data. Participants will learn how to develop data and metadata management workflows that support the preservation and discovery of these resources using open source platforms. Aspects of modeling and wrangling GIS data within a digital repository will be demonstrated for a variety of content types, including historic scanned maps, vector data, raster data, scientific data, and georectified maps. Approaches for creating metadata that support preservation and data sharing mandates will be covered in this course, along with methods for auto-generating and transforming metadata for aggregation and web-scale delivery. This workshop is designed for practitioners across the spectrum, including researchers, developers, librarians, and managers.
Teaching and Learning Symposium
Description:
Some of the UW's most innovative research in teaching and learning takes
center stage next week during the UW Teaching and Learning Symposium. More
than 90 faculty members, librarians, staff educators, and students from
nearly 50 departments and units across three UW campuses present 38 posters
that detail their research methods, results and implications. "Doing Race
and Equity Pedagogy," the keynote, highlights the scholarship of UW
instructors who use race and equity to inform their teaching and research.
Host by the Center for Teaching and Learning, the symposium is open to the entire University, and no reservations are required.
Date and Location:Tuesday, April 19, 2:00 - 4:30 p.m. HUB Ballroom
Online: Poster titles, presenters, and abstracts are posted online
ICPSR Webinar: Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study-Understanding the Data
Date: May 10, 2016 at 1:00pm EDT (10:00am PDT)
Presenters: Andy Hyland, PhD, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Robert Choate, University of Michigan, ICPSR
Cost: This webinar is free and open to the public
Register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6853025452415627777
Description:
The PATH Study is a collaboration between the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is a household-based, nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study of 46,000 adults and youth (12-17 years old) in the United States. The study was launched in 2011 to inform FDA's regulatory activities under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that was signed into law in 2009. The first wave of data was collected from September 2013 to December 2014.
The goals of the webinar are to:
- Describe the background of the study
- Describe how to find and access the data through ICPSR
- Discuss future data collections.
New Data at CSSCR
- 2010-2014 5-years ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files for Washington State
- 2014 1-years ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files for Washington State
- 2010-2014 5-years ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files for United States
- 2014 1-years ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files for United States
CSSCR provides complete ACS-PUMS files in SPSS, STATA, R and SAS formats for Washington State, and in SAS and SPSS formats for US level. They are accessible through CSSCR's ACS site. If you have questions on using these complete files, please contact Tina Tian (txtian@uw.edu)
New ICPSR Releases
CSSCR maintains the UW membership in the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). All members of the UW community have direct access to ICPSR's data archive of over 8,200 studies. Please contact us if you have questions or need more information about using this resource for accessing data or adding your data to the ICPSR repository. ICPSR announcements can be found here.
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through March 20, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through March 13, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through March 06, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through February 28, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through February 21, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through February 14, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through February 7, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through January 24, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through January 17, 2016
- New data collection additions and updates to the ICPSR data archive through January 10, 2016
The Center for Social Science Computation and Research (
CSSCR)
is an interdepartmental computer center in the College of Arts and
Sciences at the University of Washington. CSSCR provides resources and
consulting support for computing activity related to teaching and
research in the social sciences at the University.
Hours of Operation
Spring Quarter
Consulting and Computers: Monday to Thursday: 8:00am to 9:00pm, Friday: 8:00am to 5:00pm
Office: Monday to Friday: 8:00am to 12:00pm, 1:00pm to 5:00pm
We are closed weekends and for University holidays
Contact Us
If
you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability,
please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, 543-8924 (V/TDD).
If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have
a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the
letter to Darryl Holman at CSSCR so we may discuss the accommodations
you might need for class.