The training provided an overview of longitudinal analysis and followed through with specific techniques for analysis of categorical data.
There were 33 participants, 28 of whom were graduate students and 5 were professors and visiting scholar. Twenty-six participants were from various faculties and disciplines of the University of Western Ontario, and the rest were from other universities in Canada.
The instructors were: Rajulton Fernando and Alain Gagnon from the Department of Sociology, and Piotr Wilk, Community and Health Researcher/Educator at the Middlesex-London Health Unit. The topics they covered were:
• Day 1: General Overview of Longitudinal Analysis (Rajulton Fernando)
• Day 2: Markov Transition Models and Binary Sequence Models (Rajulton Fernando)
• Day 3: Survival Analysis (Alain Gagnon)
• Day 4: Growth Curve Models (Piotr Wilk)
• Day 5: Multilevel Modeling (Rajulton Fernando)
The instructors used the mornings for lectures and illustrations, and the afternoons for hands-on lab work using the British Household Panel Survey, Waves 1 to 11 (1991 – 2002) Teaching Dataset on Work, Family and Health. As for statistical software, Stata was used for the first three days, MPlus on the 4th day, and HLM on the last day.
Participants rated the workshop favourably. Some of the comments about the workshop were:
“Interesting to have met very well qualified instructors in all the sessions. They delivered with much confidence and authority. I like it. Good tips on the Do and Don’ts on the various models.”
“Thank you! Nicely organized workshop, great learning experience, great people. Great information – both lectures and WebCT content."
“A good introduction to longitudinal data analysis; I have overcome my phobia of using the various software programs. Excellent motivated instructors and organizers."
Also of interest:
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