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Monday 10 ꟷ Friday 14 August 2020
2 hours of live teaching per day
Courses will be either morning or afternoon to suit participants’ requirements
This course provides a highly interactive online teaching and learning environment, using state of the art online pedagogical tools. It is designed for a demanding audience (researchers, professional analysts, advanced students) and capped at a maximum of 16 participants so that the teaching team (the Instructor plus one highly qualified Teaching Assistant) can cater to the specific needs of each individual.
The course offers an introduction to the main statistical techniques used to analyse cross-national comparative surveys data.
Its main goal is to teach you how different statistical methods treat the ‘country effect’: how statistical models (linear regression, logit models, loglinear models, multilevel regression models), scaling techniques (from simple methods to complex factorial techniques) or data reduction methods (factor and PCA analysis) test for the ‘invariance’ of the relationship between variables across countries.
The course has two key points:
3 credits Engage fully with class activities
4 credits Complete a post-class assignment
Bruno Cautrès is attached to CEVIPOF – Centre de recherches politiques de Sciences Po (Paris), at the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques in Paris.
He is a senior CNRS research fellow with interests in voting behaviour, political attitudes and behaviours, comparative survey research and quantitative techniques.
Bruno is involved in a variety of projects, including the European Social Survey, European Values Studies, International Social Survey Programme and European elections studies; and he participates in the development of elections studies in France. His current research programme concerns political trust and attitudes to democracy in France.
We start on Monday with a review of the substantial and methodological problems the multivariate statistical analysis tries to solve for comparing countries, particularly what is a ‘country effect’ and how this translates in statistical terms. The first day’s activities will also show very simple recalls using descriptive and bivariate techniques applied to ‘country effects’ problems.
Then we will work to understand and two main types of multivariate techniques, still applied to the same question of the ‘country effects’:
Finally, on the Friday, we will also extend the perspective to multilevel analysis applied to cross-national data analysis. Examples will be given and replicated through R programmes.
The course is designed to exploit the interactive capabilities of online technology, combining annotated readings, short pre-recorded lectures, and live group work. It combines pre-class activities and live/online interaction. You will be given annotated and interactive readings which we will discuss ahead of the course. You should have completed the readings and watched the pre-recorded lectures on the key topics. The pre-recorded lectures take two forms: a methodological presentation and an illustration, through a published text or a data analysis, explained in plain English. The main tables or graphics will serve as key elements to understand the substantive issues of the methods.
There will be ten hours, or two hours each day, of live, in-class teaching. During these two hours we will review the main methodological issues and concepts related to the pre-recorded presentations and annotated readings.
We will set up an online Slack community to discuss course-related matters. The instructor will provide R scripts for running analysis and you will develop and complete them as your project work. During office hours, you’ll also have the chance to sign up for a quick one-to-one consultation with the Instructor or TA.
The course will consist of five sessions, organised in three main topics
The substantial and main methodological issues of comparing countries through statistical techniques
How the reasonings of statistical models do this ‘country effects’ analysis, through classical techniques like linear regression models, logit and loglinear models. We will pay attention to the fundamental problem of comparing regression estimates from one country to another one and the sometimes tricky issues of it.
How data reduction techniques are used, and can be used, in cross-national analysis, through classical techniques like PCA. We will pay attention to another fundamental problem of comparative analysis: can we use the same instruments (survey questionnaire items) across countries and what does it mean to run scaling analysis across it? Friday’s session will provide some short but important extensions to multilevel analysis and structural equations models that will prepare you to attend other courses more specialised in these techniques.
You must be familiar with with basic statistical inference and regression models. If you are not, take the course Introduction to Inferential Statistics before you sign up for this one.
Each course includes pre-course assignments, including readings and pre-recorded videos, as well as daily live lectures totalling at least three hours. The instructor will conduct live Q&A sessions and offer designated office hours for one-to-one consultations.
Please check your course format before registering.
Live classes will be held daily for three hours on a video meeting platform, allowing you to interact with both the instructor and other participants in real-time. To avoid online fatigue, the course employs a pedagogy that includes small-group work, short and focused tasks, as well as troubleshooting exercises that utilise a variety of online applications to facilitate collaboration and engagement with the course content.
In-person courses will consist of daily three-hour classroom sessions, featuring a range of interactive in-class activities including short lectures, peer feedback, group exercises, and presentations.
This course description may be subject to subsequent adaptations (e.g. taking into account new developments in the field, participant demands, group size, etc.). Registered participants will be informed at the time of change.
By registering for this course, you confirm that you possess the knowledge required to follow it. The instructor will not teach these prerequisite items. If in doubt, please contact us before registering.