This page refers to a seminar held on 11th May 2007 under the title 'Variable Constructions in Longitudinal Research'. This is an introductory seminar/workshop concerned with issues of measurement and meaning in longitudinal survey analysis.

[Download the event flyer].

 

Schedule:

 

Date:      Friday 11th May 2007

Venue:    Royal Statistical Society, Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX (directions to RSS) (final programme)

 

1000	Registration
1015-1100	Introduction to Variable Constructions in Longitudinal Research, and the example of Occupational Information (Dr Paul Lambert, University of Stirling) (slides - ppt / pdf)
1120-1140	Variable Constructions in Longitudinal Research: Ethnicity (Dr Paul Lambert, University of Stirling) (slides - ppt / pdf)
1140-1220	Expert Presentation: Social mobility amongst Britain's minority ethnic population (Dr Lucinda Platt, University of Essex)
1330-1400	Variable Constructions in Longitudinal Research: Education (Dr Vernon Gayle, University of Stirling) (slides - pdf)
1400-1445	Expert Presentation: Harmonising educational measures from the Youth Cohort Surveys of England, Wales and Scotland (Linda Croxford, University of Edinburgh)
1515-1600	Expert Presentation: Labour market position of minority ethnic groups in Britain, 1972-2005 (Dr Yaojun Li, University of Manchester)
1600-1630	Discussion / Close

 

Booking arrangments:

• Bookings for the meeting are taken through the Research Methods Programme online events booking form: http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/methods/events/

• The contact for bookings is Ruth Durrell of University of Manchester, email: r.durrell@manchester.ac.uk , contact address:

  ESRC Research Methods Programme CCSR

  2nd Floor, Crawford House

  University of Manchester

  Manchester, M13 9PL

  United Kindom

• The content of the event is organised by Paul Lambert, University of Stirling, email: paul.lambert@stirling.ac.uk

Abstract:

This is an introductory workshop suitable for social science researchers with an interest in the opportunities and challenges associated with longitudinal survey data. 'Variable constructions' concern the processes by which survey measures are defined and subsequently interpreted by research analysts. Decisions about variable constructions are amongst the most fundamental of any survey research process, and are particularly pronounced in the context of longitudinal studies. Yet issues of variable constructions are often neglected in introductory methodological accounts.

This workshop will feature a combination of methodological reviews, and expert research presentations, in order to provide an accessible introduction to this important topic in the context of large scale longitudinal social surveys. Attention will focus particularly on issues concerned with the measurement of 'class', 'ethnicity' and 'education' in longitudinal government surveys in the UK, though many materials will have a wider relevance. A key aim of the meeting will be to emphasise the practical constraints and issues which impact upon decisions over the construction of such 'key variables' in longitudinal research projects. 

Cross-references will often be made to the resources available from the project 'Longitudinal Data Analysis in the Social Sciences' (www.longitudinal.stir.ac.uk). These pages include introductory talks and resources on longitudinal survey data, including example command files illustrating data management and data analysis tasks in the popular packages SPSS and Stata.

Selected links:

 

• ESRC Research Methods Programme
• ESRC Researcher Development Initiative
• Longitudinal Data Analysis for Social Science Researchers
• Practical Exemplars in the Analysis of Surveys (PEAS)
• Longitudinal Studies Centre Scotland (LSCS)
• Data: UK Data Archive / Edinburgh Data Library / CASCOT / GEODE / ONS Data Guides / ESDS
• Software: SPSS / Stata / R / QV