The second aspect of the course is the analysis of panel data. The focus here is also practical, on how to prepare the data, what sorts of analyses are possible, and what sorts of inferences can be drawn. The emphasis will mostly be on relatively simple analyses, using familiar techniques such as linear or logistic regression adapted for the panel context, but some specialised panel models will also be considered (e.g. fixed and random effects models, discrete-time hazard rate models).
Issues specific to panel data such as attrition and longitudinal weighting will also be considered.
The course will mostly use SPSS (and, subject to demand, Stata). The data used will be, in the main, the British Household Panel Study, which is a fairly typical and reasonably mature panel study (eight waves are currently available). Reference will be made to other data sets, such as the German Socio-ecomonic Panel (GSOEP), the Swiss Panel, the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), and the multi-national Panel Analysis Comparability data set (PACO).
The orientation of the course will be practical, with real-life research questions being worked through in the classes and practicals. Students will be encouraged to formulate their own research questions.
Basic competence in at least one survey data analysis package such as SPSS, SAS, Stata, etc. Teaching will depend mostly on SPSS.