Quantitative methodology

Quantitation of cellular dynamics in growing Arabidopsis roots with light sheet microscopy

by Giovanni Sena

Quantitative geography: perspectives on spatial data analysis

by Chris Brunsdon

Evaluating Performance Improvement through Repeated Measures: A Primer for Educators Considering Univariate and Multivariate Designs

by Kim Nimon

Understanding structural and cultural school characteristics in relation to educational change: The case of ICT integration

by Jo Tondeur

Co-authored with Devos, G., Van Houtte, M., van Braak, J., & Valcke, M. (2009). Published in "Educational Studies"

This study builds on the idea that school characteristics affect educational change, such as ICT integration. The goal... more This study builds on the idea that school characteristics affect educational change, such as ICT integration. The goal of this inquiry is to explore both structural school characteristics (i.e. infrastructure and support) and cultural school characteristics (i.e. leadership and innovativeness) and how they contribute to ICT integration in the classroom. A survey of 527 teachers in 68 primary schools in Flanders (Belgium) was conducted that focused on teacher perceptions about structural and cultural school characteristics and their use of ICT in the classroom. In order to study the variables at school level, teacher responses were aggregated. The next step was to delineate school profiles originating from structural and cultural school characteristics by using a cluster analysis. Finally, the relationship between these school profiles and ICT integration was studied. The results suggest that (1) structural and cultural school characteristics fit together and (2) are relevant catalysts for ICT integration in the classroom.

Special topics in the inclusion of covariates and distal outcomes in finite mixture and latent class models

by Elián Cabrera-Nguyen

Masyn,K., Nylund-Gibson,K., Cabrera-Nguyen, E. P.,Peña, J.B. (2012, February 11). Special topics in the inclusion of covariates and distal outcomes in finite mixture and latent class models. Symposium to be conducted at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Developmental Methodology Section, Tampa, FL.

Presenting authors: Masyn,K., Nylund-Gibson,K., Cabrera-Nguyen, E. P.

Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Analyse mittelalterlicher sozialer Netzwerke am Beispiel der spätbyzantinischen Kirche und Gesellschaft (Possibilities and limits of the analysis of medieval social networks on the example of Late Byzantine Church and Society)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Paper for a lecture at the Oberseminar für mittelalterliche Geschichte, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena (Germany), November 17th, 2011, Dept. of Medieval History; the slides for the presentation you find here:
http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks/60893/_In_the_Holy_Spirit_beloved_brothers._Possibilities_and_limits_of_Social_Network_Analysis_for_research_on_the_Late_Byzantine_church_and_society_in_German_

Contents:

- Einige Grundlagen der (Historischen) Sozialen Netzwerkanalyse

- Vom historischen... more Contents:

- Einige Grundlagen der (Historischen) Sozialen Netzwerkanalyse

- Vom historischen Dokument zum Netzwerk

- Das Individuum im Zentrum – Ego-Netzwerke in Byzanz

- Die Verflechtungen innerhalb einer Institution – Netzwerke der Interaktion in der Synode von Konstantinopel und ihre zeitliche Dynamik

- Die Ungleichverteilung von Netzwerkverbindungen – das Geflecht der spätbyzantinischen Aristokratie
-
Ein kurzer Ausblick: die Erfassung des Raumes – der geographische Aspekt von Netzwerken

- Zusammenfassung

Mihailo Popović - Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, With Satellite and Facebook to Byzantium. New Methods at the Institute for Byzantine Studies [in German]

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Pre-Print from: Akademie Intakt 2011

Das Institut für Byzanzforschung (IBF) der ÖAW stellt weltweit eines der wichtigsten Zentren für die Erforschung des... more Das Institut für Byzanzforschung (IBF) der ÖAW stellt weltweit eines der wichtigsten Zentren für die Erforschung des Byzantinischen Reiches und des östlichen Mittelmeerraumes als Übergangsregion zwischen Europa, Asien und Afrika von der Spätantike bis in die Frühe Neuzeit (300-1500) dar. Dieser einzigartige Status wurde zuletzt im Juni 2011 durch eine hochkarätig besetzte internationale Evaluierungskommission bestätigt, die unter anderem festhielt: „[…] no other research institute in the world has such long-term projects or provides such a service“. Besonders hervorgehoben wurden dabei aber auch die „modern approaches“, die in den letzten Jahren am IBF für die Erforschung der mittelalterlichen Welt erprobt wurden. Zwei dieser innovativen Ansätze im Bereich der Historischen Geographie (Historical Geographic Information Systems – HGIS) und der Textedition und Proposopographie (Soziale Netzwerkanalyse – SNA) sollen hier kurz vorgestellt werden.

Multilevel examination of student, school, and district-level effects on academic achievement

by Carl L Bankston

Intervalos de confianza para las estimaciones de proporciones y las diferencias entre ellas

by Cesar Merino

Interdisciplinaria

It's nowadays accepted by many journals in diverse areas of health and social sciences, that confidence intervals give... more It's nowadays accepted by many journals in diverse areas of health and social sciences, that confidence intervals give more descriptive information and they are better than hypothesis tests to express uncertainty resulting from limited sample size. The tool confidence intervals is a very useful descriptive frame to the researcher and to the consumer of statistical results, and their value as statistical summary is very important in descriptive and comparative studies. During decades, hypothesis tests have been the main support of statistical inference in comparative studies, whereas in comparative-descriptive research in social sciences, the method of analysis for categorical variables has been unusual. In fact, good methods to calculate confidence intervals for proportions and their differences, have not been generally available to researchers. Moreover, these methods have not been popular because they remain in statistical articles and away from non specialized users in mathematical knowledge. In this article methods based in works of Newcombe (1998a, 1998b, 1998c) and Wilson (1927) are reported. They overcome traditional methods for the proportion confidence intervals calculation.
Although this calculation is moderately simple, we took advantage of the computational technology to facilitate the process of calculus and to diminish errors. An Excel spreadsheet is now available, in Spanish, English and Welsh versions. Also equivalent versions were developed in the language of macros for SPSS and Minitab, which are all available in the internet address mentioned within the text of the article. These devices enable researchers to calculate the intervals using proven good methods; these methods come from the score method, which is derived from Wilson's work (1927). The typical situation for calculating intervals of confidence for proportions comes from a single sample of participants, and/or from a comparison between dependent and independent samples.The score method takes advantage of the calculation of a simple proportion, to extend it to the comparison between dependent and independent proportions.
The rationality of this extension is intuitive and is applied easily by means of the computer programs mentioned previously. Examples of confidence intervals calculus for a simple proportion and differences of proportions are presented and a discussion about their careful use in the context of research design is developed. Particularly, confidence intervals appear to be
one of the most useful forms to express the uncertainty in research findings, since the necessity to design studies using a limited sample from the population, makes that the appropriate interpretation of the intervals becomes a point of learning and agreement that the authors put in relevance.
Finally, the reader must have in mind that the estimation of the intervals does not give information in absolute terms, because it likewise offers a probability of containing the population value of interest (proportion). On the other hand, trying to reach the exact results is only one part of the problem. There are other important aspects as the choice of the statistical analysis and the study design, and within this last one, the sampling process, that continues being a prevalent source of weakness in research literature. If the specific sample is biased towards the population that we are trying to study (for example, certain population segment can be more motivated to fill in questionnaires or to participate in studies, in which case we are in front of a self-selected sample) or towards our expectations, every calculus that will be done will be biased. We hope that the readers of this article are aware and benefit of the usefulness of this old wine in new bottle method.

Multi-Campus Studies of College Impact: Which Statistical Method is Appropriate?

by Nida Denson

Astin, A. W., & Denson, N. (2009). Multi-Campus Studies of College Impact: Which Statistical Method is Appropriate? Research in Higher Education, 50, 354-367.

In most multi-campus studies of college impact that have been conducted over the past four decades, investigators have... more In most multi-campus studies of college impact that have been conducted over the past four decades, investigators have relied on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression as the analytic method of choice. Recently, however, some investigators have advocated the use of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), a method specifically designed for analyses that involve both individual (student) and aggregate (institutional) level measures.
Cross-validation analyses using a national database show that the two methods yield an equally good ‘‘fit’’ with empirical data. Existing OLS software has the advantage of enabling one to perform path analytical causal modeling; HLM has the advantage of yielding a more conservative estimate of the significance of institution-level effects.

Child and Adolescent Information System (SIPIA) Evaluation: content and methodology

by santiago varella

The article analyses Sipia’s (Child and Adolescent Information System) data and methodology, evaluating children... more The article analyses Sipia’s (Child and Adolescent Information System) data and methodology, evaluating children rights violation classification, and children rights violators and requestors information, by its data collection and presentation methods. Sipia is the only data source based on administrative registers in Brazil. The possibility of identifying reincidence cases from Sipia data is tested in order to see if there were adjustments to be done so that it becomes measurable. Besides the evaluation, alternatives to improve data quality are proposed. The article concludes that Sipia has unreliable data but great intentions and innovative strategies with great potential.

Este trabalho analisa o conteúdo e a metodologia do Sistema de Informações para aInfância e Adolescência (Sipia), avaliando o sistema de classificação dos direitos violadose das principais informações adjacentes a partir das inconsistências na definição dosconceitos e nos métodos de coleta das informações. O Sipia é a única fonte deinformações sobre a infância baseada em ocorrências e nunca havia tido seus resultadosanalisados ou avaliados. Além disso, testa-se a possibilidade que o sistema apresenta deidentificar casos de ?reincidência? constatando-se a necessidade de que sejam efetuadosalguns ajustes. Além de avaliar, o texto demonstra quais caminhos poderiam serpercorridos para efetuar aperfeiçoamentos do sistema. Conclui-se demonstrando autilidade social e as características inovadoras que o Sipia possui, como, por exemplo,o fato de servir de instrumento agilizador das relações da juventude com a sociedade,a família e o Estado no Brasil.

Evaluation of Skills Coaching trials and Skills Passports A synthesis of qualitative and quantitative evidence

by Richard White

Research Report No. 391
by Chris Hasluck, Jenny Bimrose, Sally-Anne Barnes, Jamie Brown, Lucy Marris, Gerry McGivern, Michael Orton and Richard White


The Institute for Employment Research (IER), University of Warwick, was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), on behalf of its partners the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the national Learning and Skills Council (LSC), to undertake the evaluation of the Skills Coaching trials. The key aims of the evaluation were to assess the costs and demand for Skills Coaching, to assess the effectiveness of Skills Coaching in raising individual levels of employability and to inform the design of any possible future national roll-out of the Skills Coaching service.

Uprichard, E ., Burrows, R. and Byrne, D. (2008) ‘SPSS as an ‘Inscription Device’: From causality to description?’ Sociological Review: Anniversary Issue – From causality to description, 56(4): 606 – 622.

by Emma Uprichard

This paper examines the development of SPSS from 1968 to 2008, and the manner in which it has been used in teaching... more This paper examines the development of SPSS from 1968 to 2008, and the manner in which it has been used in teaching and research in British Sociology. We do this in order to reveal some of the changes that have taken place in statistical reasoning as an inscription device in the discipline over this period. We conclude that to characterise these changes as a shift from ‘causal’ to more ‘descriptive’ modes of analysis is too simplistic. Such a shift is certainly apparent, but it meshes in complex ways with a range of other – just as important – changes, that together mark a phase-shift in the functioning of sociological quantification.

Four Techniques for Dealing with Missing Data

by Joshua Hill

Under Review

Abstract

Dealing with missing data has been a continuous problem within the context of the social sciences... more Abstract

Dealing with missing data has been a continuous problem within the context of the social sciences and more specifically, criminal justice. While rarely talked about, missing data can bias results as well as influence model efficiency. Currently, there is only a very small literature of criminal justice specific research on missing data. The goal of this article is to remedy, in part, this lack of attention to an important topic. The analysis within examines the use of three commonly used imputation techniques, listwise deletion, pairwise deletion and the EM algorithm, in comparison with a newer, machine-learning technique for imputation, Random Forests, which has the advantage of suffering few of the statistical limitations of the older techniques. While thoroughly exploratory in nature, the results of this analysis are suggestive and provide the impetus for continuing examination of the utilization of machine-learning techniques for missing data imputation in criminal justice.

Survey design recommendations

by William Fisher

Fisher, W. P., Jr. (2006). Survey design recommendations. Rasch Measurement Transactions, 20(3), 1072-4.

Local authority progress on climate change

by Andrew Wallace

MSc dissertation 2002

This report relates to research as to the progress that local authorities in England and Wales are making on climate... more This report relates to research as to the progress that local authorities in England and Wales are making on climate change. It begins with an examination of the available academic and other publications on the subject of local authorities and climate change, and to some extent related environmental and sustainability issues where these can provide insight for the ‘greenhouse’ situation. Literature on the subject of surveys and questionnaires is also reviewed.

A survey has been conducted in 2002 to support the research. A survey which preceded it, in 2000, is examined, beginning with a critique of the questionnaire, followed by an analysis of the results (by local authority type).

An account is then given of how the 2002 survey questions was generated as a cooperative effort between the Local Government Association (LGA), the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD) and the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).The generation of the paper (postal) and web (internet) version is described.

Results from the 2002 survey are examined in two ways. Firstly the results are compared with those from the 2000 survey, where questions are common to both, in order to measure progress. Bearing in mind the limitations of the samples, this gives a mixed but overall somewhat positive picture. Secondly, the 2002 responses are examined on their own, with particular attention given to the potential barriers that prevent local authorities from making progress on climate protection.

Analysis of the results leads to observations relating to cooperation between departments within councils and between councils within regions, the level at which most barriers manifest themselves, the need for expansion of training programmes such as the CCP (Councils for Climate Protection) Pilot, and the need for general information to help the public and small businesses understand the climate change issue more.

Reducing Carbon Emissions by Households: The Effects of Footprinting and Personal Allowances

by Andrew Wallace

PhD thesis, May 2009, De Montfort University. Socio-technical research. There's lots of interest for those interested in household energy efficiency.

[Also available at: https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/2086/2402 ( the university's website). On the bottom right of the university's webpage, there is a link called 'View / Open'. If you click it, it will download a PDF version of the document].
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Nearly half of Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions result from the activity of households, both within the home and... more Nearly half of Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions result from the activity of households, both within the home and from personal transport. This research examines how the carbon dioxide emissions of households can be reduced, particularly through the calculation of carbon footprints and testing the public’s reaction to the concept of personal carbon allowances (PCAs). Two data collection stages were used - a postal survey providing quantitative data, followed by semi-structured interviews producing mainly qualitative data. The research was carried out in a largely rural district which is run by a council noted for its work on sustainable energy, Newark and Sherwood. The survey looked at PCAs as well as a variety of contemporary issues that might influence household footprints such as energy efficiency grants and information, as well as relationships with gas and electricity suppliers. Each interview involved the calculation of a household carbon footprint, the identification of measures to reduce it, and the gathering of attitudes about personal carbon allowances, in order to identify challenges and opportunities with respect to reducing household carbon emissions. Support for PCAs was higher than anticipated, and tended to be associated with those who were prepared to use public transport or cycle more, or were supportive of renewable energy in homes. Interviewees had much to say about individual carbon reducing measures. Opposition was associated with those who envisaged that they would be unlikely to sell carbon units. Regarding personal transport, long commutes were common, and the cost of public transport was of concern. Specific findings were made about domestic heating, insulation, lighting, refrigeration, water use, commuting, public transport, and rail as an alternative to short-haul flights. There was more interest in monetary savings than carbon savings. Recommendations about policy and regarding further research are made.

Climate change - a survey of local authorities

by Andrew Wallace

Local Government Association - Research briefing 19 - November 2002

This research project was carried out in partnership by the Local Government Association (LGA), Improvement and... more This research project was carried out in partnership by the Local Government Association (LGA), Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and De Montfort University. The aim of the survey was to get a comprehensive picture of how local authorities are making progress on climate change work. A postal questionnaire was sent out to all 410 local authorities in England and Wales in June 2002. Subsequent reminders were sent out during the autumn of 2002. By the end of the fieldwork, 207 local authorities in England and Wales had responded - a response rate of 51 per cent. • The survey showed that only seven per cent of local authorities in the UK and Wales have developed a climate change strategy. However, nearly half of the respondents stated that their strategy was under consideration (Table 3); • the majority of councils (68 per cent) had not considered the effects climate change will have on them or how to address them (Table 5); • only 34 per cent of councils had set an emissions reduction target for their emissions and only 25 per cent had set a target for reduction of community-wide emissions (Table 7); • one-third of councils had produced their community strategy and the remaining two-thirds planned to have their strategies published by 31 March 2003 (Table 4). Only nine per cent had considered measures to tackle greenhouse gas emissions to a considerable extent in their community strategy, but the majority (45 per cent) had considered them to some extent (Table 15); • nearly four-fifths of councils say that insufficient staff or staff time is the major barrier to them making progress on climate change issues, nearly as many authorities (71 per cent) mention 'other priorities taking higher priority in the council', and the third most significant barrier cited by more than half of all councils was 'lack of funding' (Table 16); • nearly three-quarters of councils say they need extra help, support and training to enable them to produce a climate change strategy (Table 17); • only two-fifths of councils (41 per cent) have an up-to-date energy policy (Table 20a); • over half of councils (55 per cent) buy a proportion of green electricity which exceeds the current three per cent level of the generation mix set out by the government. With 12 per cent obtaining more than 80 per cent of their electricity from green sources (Table 22); • less than a fifth of councils have access to energy consumption data for their areas, from utility companies (Table 28); and • four-fifths of local authority chief executives (82 per cent) feel that they are informed about climate change, at least to some extent. Only five per cent of local authority chief executives consider that their authority is not tackling climate change at all. However the majority (54 per cent) felt they were tackling climate change to a small extent (Table 30).

Time series prediction using supervised learning and tools from chaos theory

by Andrew Edmonds

Nov. 1996 Ph.D. thesis at the University of Bedfordshire (Previously Luton)

In this work methods for performing time series prediction on complex real
world time series are examined. In... more In this work methods for performing time series prediction on complex real
world time series are examined. In particular series exhibiting non-linear or
chaotic behaviour are selected for analysis. A range of methodologies based
on Takens’ embedding theorem are considered and compared with more
conventional methods. A novel combination of methods for determining the
optimal embedding parameters are employed and tried out with multivariate
financial time series data and with a complex series derived from an
experiment in biotechnology. The results show that this combination of
techniques provide accurate results while improving dramatically the time
required to produce predictions and analyses, and eliminating a range of
parameters that had hitherto been fixed empirically. The architecture and
methodology of the prediction software developed is described along with
design decisions and their justification. Sensitivity analyses are employed to
justify the use of this combination of methods, and comparisons are made
with more conventional predictive techniques and trivial predictors showing
the superiority of the results generated by the work detailed in this thesis.

Modern Paganism as a legitimating framework for post-materialist values

by Mika Lassander

Published in Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, Vol 11, No 1 (2009)

The emergence of new religious movements may be a result of an adaptation of world- views to the changing needs of... more The emergence of new religious movements may be a result of an adaptation of world- views to the changing needs of individuals in post-industrial societies. I explore the relation of the emergence of new religious movements and changes in social values. I compare value priorities of people who identify themselves as Pagans and those of a sample of Open University students, to represent the UK mainstream population. The Pagans were found to emphasise post-materialist values significantly more than the OU students. Indi- vidualsʼ values were also found to be related to their view of interpersonal relations. Peo- ple who have an egalitarian view of others endorse post-materialist values with emphasis on universalism, while people with a competitive view of interpersonal relations endorse post-materialist values with emphasis on achievement. Furthermore, while the majority of Pagans have similar value priorities, minority sub-groups were found with significantly dif- ferent priorities.