Syllabus: SOC WL / CS&SS  589 -- Winter 2009

MULTIVARIATE DATA ANALYSIS FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Instructor:

Elena Erosheva  

C 14C, Padelford Hall (CSSS)

244A, Social Work

elena at stat.washington.edu
  • Class times: Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 - 12:20
  • Place: Parrington Hall 120
  • Office hours:  Tuesday 3:00-4:00 (244A, Social Work) or by appointment

  • Web: follow the class link from my homepage at http://www.stat.washington.edu/elena

Teaching Assistant:

Seunghye Hong 

225G, Social Work            

shong at u.washington.edu
  • Optional lab time: TBD
  • Office hours:  TBD

Course description

This course will focus on multivariate analysis techniques that aim to explore relationship among several observed characteristics. Examples of research questions include examining structure in the work and parenthood styles of dual-earner couples, describing classes of heterogeneous service needs for outpatient substance-use disorder treatment, identifying structurally different typical life course patterns, studying similarity in language dialects, analyzing how countries vary by their economic and demographic indicators or by percentages of their workforce employed in different industries, determining whether people's views on global warming are related to their political views, etc. Statistical methods introduced in the course will include cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, principal component analysis, factor analysis for metrical and binary variables, and latent class analysis. We will also read, discuss and critique articles published in the social science literature that make use of multivariate analysis techniques.

Course Text

  • Analysis of Multivariate Social Science Data (2008), Bartholomew, D. J., Steele, F., Moustaki, I., and Galbraith, J. I.

Other course materials: multivariate analysis and SPSS guides

  • Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis (1998) Johnson, R. I., and Wichern, D. W.

  • Latent Variable Models and Factor Analysis (1999) Bartholomew, D. J. and Knott, M.

  • SPSS 14.0 Guide to Data Analysis (2006) Norušis, M. J.

  • SPSS 14.0 Statistical Procedures Companion (2006) Norušis, M. J.

  • SPSS 14.0 Advanced Statistical Procedures Companion (2006) Norušis, M. J.

Computing

We will use two software packages, SPSS in the beginning of the class and Lami later in the class. The software packages are available in the SWS computer lab. Lami is a free software that you can download by clicking here. 

Many other software packages are capable of doing some or all of the analytic procedures we will study in this class (R, SAS, M-Plus, Latent Gold, etc.). You are welcome to try any software of your choice, however the TA and I will only provide support for SPSS and Lami. I encourage you to first do the homework with SPSS or Lami, and they try your favorite package and compare. If you only use a different software package, it will be your responsibility to explain any possible discrepancies in the results. 

Course objectives

  • To gain statistical background necessary to understand statistical calculations behind several multivariate analysis techniques, to successfully carry out analyses, and to interpret results.

  • To acquire skills that are necessary for being a critical reader of research papers that employ multivariate analysis.

Prerequisites

Fundamentals of Social Work Statistics I and II (Soc WL 587-588 or Bio Stat 511-512), or equivalent.

Homework assignments and grades

  • Final grades will be based on homework assignments (60%), participation in article discussions (10%), and a take-home final exam (30%).
  • I encourage you to work on the homework assignments with each other in small groups. However, each student is required to prepare and submit their own solution and write-up.
  • Aim to resolve all technical questions or problems you might have with running the software at lest 3-5 days before an assignment is due.
  • Homework assignments that are not handed in on time will receive zero points (except in cases of documented emergency).
  • The lowest homework score will be dropped for grade calculation.
  • Please type up your homework assignments using a text editor (equations may be written in by hand, if necessary). Unless specifically requested, never submit raw computer output pages. Instead, insert appropriate parts of the output into your write-up (or cut those parts out and neatly tape them onto your homework paper). Please label all output, plots, variables, etc., appropriately. 
  • Handout article discussions: We will read research papers that use statistical methods we are studying in the course. I will place instructions for each handout article on the web. Students will be assigned to groups for in-class article discussions. Groups will take turns on leading discussions. Please come prepared to talk about the articles' uses of statistical methodology.
  • The final take-home exam will be available on the web at 1pm on March 12. The final will be due by 4:30pm on Wednesday, March 18. You will be allowed to use your notes or consult any written material as you wish, but the instructor will be the only person with whom you can discuss it.

Students with Disabilities

If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, 543-8924 (V/TTY).  If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need for this class.