Short courses on statistics at the University
13 Nov 2014
A few places are still available on three short courses on 18, 19 and 20 November being run by Dr Pamela Campanelli from The Survey Coach
Understanding Statistics: 18 November 2014 (9.30am - 4:45pm)
This course is about understanding the statistics in social policy reports and behind the software packages. It is an opportunity for participants to ask that the basic statistical questions they have always wanted to ask. This course focuses on basic statistical concepts such as: the four levels of measurement, measures of central tendency (median, mean, and mode), measures of dispersion (percentiles, variance, standard deviation, and standard error), confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, design effects and the issue of causality.
These skills allow participants to interpret and evaluate existing research findings within the remit of basic statistics. The course is composed of a combination of lectures and practicals.
Introduction to Survey Sampling: 19 November 2014 (9.30am - 4.45pm)
This course introduces participants to what survey sampling is, why it is important, and how it is implemented. It focuses on the practical aspects as well as some of the technical details. There are four topics covered in the course:
Sampling preliminaries and practical considerations (e.g. population and sampling frame); Different types of sampling strategies; Sampling error and sampling size; Design effects
It is suitable for anyone new, or fairly new, to survey research who wishes to conduct their own survey or commission a survey. Participants should have some knowledge of statistics.
Cognitive Interviewing: 20 November 2014 (9.30am — 4.45pm)
This one day course is designed to familiarise participants with this powerful and efficient method of piloting survey questions called Cognitive Interviewing. Cognitive Interviewing 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.
Details of other short courses