Using Large Publicly Available Datasets for Psychological & Social Science Research

APPLICATION DEADLINE 31st May - THERE IS A CAP ON NUMBERS AND WE WILL CLOSE THE APPLICATION FORM WHEN THAT IS REACHED.

There are now many publicly available datasets within the UK (such as those hosted by the UK Data Service) and across the world. These data have been collected with the primary purpose of enabling researchers to better understand how people function within the world around them. Although these data-sets are free to access and are commonly used within economics and epidemiology, they remain under-utilized in many disciplines in the social sciences, particularly psychology. This is unfortunate given that many of these datasets contain measures and scales relevant to cutting-edge psychological research, such as personality, well-being, attitudes, behaviour, physical health and mental health. One barrier to unlocking these datasets' potential is having the necessary skills to manage and analyse them. We at the Behavioural Science Centre, Stirling Management School, funded by the Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC), are offering a 2-day training workshops specifically built around these datasets to equip you with the necessary skills, which includes an introduction to the statistical package Stata, to handle them.

Day 1: Introduction to data analysis of large publicly available datasets (7th June 2016) 

Participants will learn how to obtain and manage data, use the statistical program Stata, conduct basic analysis and interpret the results. This workshop requires that participants are comfortable with basic statistics prior to the course and will enable researchers to begin using untapped resources immediately. 

Day 2: Advanced techniques for large publicly available datasets (8th June 2016) 

Participants will learn advanced statistical methodology to enable them to get the most out of large publicly available datasets. This will include panel data techniques such as understanding and implementing fixed effect and difference-in-difference models, as well as how to implement instrumental variable estimations. This workshop will require that participants have a basic knowledge of handling large datasets and using the statistical program Stata. Attendance at workshop 1, although not a pre-requisite, would represent sufficient knowledge. 

Timetable for Workshop 2:

Tuesday June 7th	Wednesday June 8th
09:00  Registration	09:00  Lecture: Difference-in-Difference
09:30  Lecture: OLS & RCTs	10:30  Break
10:45  Break	10:45  Lecture: Matching Techniques
11:00  Lecture: Instrumental Variables	12:00  Lunch
12:30  Lunch	13:00  Lab Session 3
13:30  Lab Session 1	14:50  Break
15:20  Break	15:00  Lab Session 4
15:30  Lab Session 2	17:00  Close
17:30  Close

Further details: Both courses will take place at Stirling Management School, University of Stirling. At our Behavioural Science Centre we have a number of researchers, including Prof Liam Delaney, Dr Michael Daly (early Career Award recipient, UK Society for Behavioural Medicine), and Prof Alex Wood and Dr Christopher Boyce (joint winners, best paper using GSOEP data resource 2012-2013), with substantial experience using and publishing with these types of datasets. Both workshops are aimed at PhD students but advanced Masters students and post-PhD researchers are welcome to apply. The University of Stirling is approximately 50 minutes by train from Edinburgh, 25 minutes from Glasgow and 5 hours from London. The course is funded by the ESRC and the cost to participants is £100 (in addition to accommodation and transport). There are a limited number of fee waiving scholarships that will be given depending on the strength of the applications and availability.

How to apply: Please fill in the following application form to apply for the workshop.