Essex in summer: Anna Nemirovskaya, Anna Shirokanova, Darya Oreshina and Tatyana Karabchuk
Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis is the largest Summer school in Europe with more than 60 courses on contemporary quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis in social sciences. The school is famous for its teachers: the “stars” of statistics, sociology, psychology. The authors of world famous textbooks on data analysis methods teach there. Some LCSR researchers came to Essex this summer and participated in its famous summer school.
 |
| Essex in summer: Anna Nemirovskaya, Anna Shirokanova, Darya Oreshina and Tatyana Karabchuk |
Anna Nemirovskaya: The First time when I participated in summer school was there, in the University of Essex, Great Britain, and it became possible because of LSCR support. I took the courses “Applying Regression” and “Mathematics for Social Scientists”.
The course on regression analysis was created and taught by Dr. Jeremy Miles from the RAND Corporation. He is a specialist in statistics, quantitative research in psychology and psychometrics. The participants were expected to be well prepared: they should have had some experience in regression analysis and sufficient knowledge of descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and matrix algebra.
Dr. Jeremy Miles advised everyone to read an article by Philip Schrodt “Seven deadly sins of contemporary quantitative political analysis”, where it is told about the basic problems and errors in quantitative analysis and the ways of overcoming them. This recommendation will be useful for all students and researchers in the field of social sciences who reading this page right now.
The course was organized in a contemporary computer laboratory in 3,5 sessions with short breaks. The lectures were accompanied by examples on the blackboard and work with the STATA software. Three assistants were helping the teachers and tried to solve the participants’ problems.
The course made me more confident in applying different types of regression analysis. It was the first time in my life when I could have listened to lectures which covered not only the practice, but also the theoretical basis of regression analysis. This helped me to think of statistical analysis from the new side: there were some stories about inventing different tests (e.g. “The Lady Tasting Tea”), a lot of examples of different mistakes in data analysis and ways to avoid them.
Apart from that, trips to such schools give not only professional, but also cultural experience. The University of Essex is situated at Colchester, the first city in Great Britain. Each inch of earth here keeps the centuries-old history of ancient tribes, wars, victories and defeats, formation of the English state.
 |
| Anna Shirokanova |
 |
| Anna Nemirovskaya and Daria Oreshina |
The course was organized in a contemporary computer laboratory in 3,5 sessions with short breaks. The lectures were accompanied by examples on the blackboard and work with the STATA software. Three assistants were helping the teachers and tried to solve the participants’ problems.
The course made me more confident in applying different types of regression analysis. It was the first time in my life when I could have listened to lectures which covered not only the practice, but also the theoretical basis of regression analysis. This helped me to think of statistical analysis from the new side: there were some stories about inventing different tests (e.g. “The Lady Tasting Tea”), a lot of examples of different mistakes in data analysis and ways to avoid them.
Darya Oreshina: summer schools are a very smart idea for several reasons. First of all, it is a great opportunity for specialists involved into research and teaching to upgrade their professional skills in specific areas. Secondly, such intense diving into an international professional environment for a pretty short period of time (2 weeks) makes it possible to meet colleagues, get the sense of methods and approaches used in different schools and research groups, and estimate your own work in a broader context. Both factors help to broaden one’s scientific and professional horizons, to view your own scientific achievements critically.
Daria Oreshina
 |
| Essex in summer: Anna Nemirovskaya, Anna Shirokanova, Darya Oreshina and Tatyana Karabchuk |
Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis has the both traits. The organization of learning process, selection of lecturers, supply with materials, technics and software and the environment of the university campus all ensured that the participants would spend their time with maximum productivity.
I haven’t taken into account that the classes at the Summer school are very intense and chose 2 courses. I would recommend to the future participants of this school to take 1 course and work on it thoroughly. I was surprised by openness of the professors: one could discuss project with them in class and outside of it, get recommendations and critics.
Tatyana Karabchuk: the trip to this Summer school was a big event for me, because I have never had an opportunity to participate in such Schools abroad before. Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis is the largest summer school in Europe with more than 300 participants and 60 courses on contemporary quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis in social sciences. This school has an excellent reputation in the scientific community. It is very well-known and of the highest quality. If a specialist has a certificate of this school, his or her CV will be very attractive. Only the best teachers of statistics, sociology, psychology and political science, the authors of world-known books on data analysis methods and articles in international journals work for this school.
Tatiana Karabchuk