The first Summer School of LSCR...

The first Summer School of LSCR called «Multilevel Analysis in Comparative Studies» was held from August 22 to September 2 in Pushkin, a suburb of St. Petersburg. The participants of this school were master and postgraduate students and young researchers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Israel, Germany and USA.

The first Summer School of LSCR called «Multilevel Analysis in Comparative Studies» was held from August 22 to September 2 in Pushkin, a suburb of St. Petersburg. The participants of this school were master and postgraduate students and young researchers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Israel, Germany and USA.

The main goal of this Summer School was to familiarizethe audience with the multilevel data analysis. Three intensive courses covered this subject; they combined theory and practice and made it possible to go to the root of the matter. The classes were held in the morning, after them the working sessions were held, During those sessions the participants of international network of the Laboratory delivered reports about the new results of their projects in the framework of LCSR. In the evenings the audience had an opportunity to attend lectures by special guests of the Summer School.

Evgenia Bystrov, participant:  The Summer School in Pushkin was a great event for me. Friendly and informal atmosphere gave me a chance to get acquainted with many talented people and prominent scholars who I am happy to work with.

Hermann Duelmer from the University of Cologne (Germany), delivered the course “Introduction to multilevel analysis in HLM (Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling)”. His course was very instructive and at the same time apprehensible for young scholars who were unfamiliar with sophisticated analytical models. Professor combined the theory of statistics and its practical application in HLM. In addition, he paid much attention to the personal research projects of the participants, helped to prepare datasets for multilevel analysis and to choose the optimal way of modeling by means of HLM. Nevertheless, the audience had to work a lot on their own, e.g. to interpret the results of modeling, to give them intensional explanation and also to present them to other participants.

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Christian Welzel from the University of Leuphana (Germany), Vice President of the WVS (World Values Survey) and currently HSE visiting professor,explained to the audience how to use the databases of WVS, which covers 90 per cent of the world population. This database is the richest source of information about values and attitudes in the contemporary world, but as any vast dataset, it is rather complex. For this reason, this course helped a lot to understand the system of indices and variables that are used in WVS. As the Laboratory focuses on comparative cross-cultural research, WVS is one of the main databases used by most participants in their research projects, that is why the course was really helpful.

Vladimir Kozlov Vladimir Kozlov, participant:  The Summer School was a unique opportunity to meet the scholars who conduct research in the academic sphere, which is new for me. I would like to thank the lecturers for openness and sincere willingness to help;and the organizers of this event for choosing such a wonderful place. Also I would like to thank all the professors and participants for important advice on further development of my research project:because of their help I managed to finalize my hypotheses.

The third lecturer, Eduard Ponarin, the director of LCSR delivered the course “Introduction into R”, which is the software that gives powerful analytic instrument for data analysis. It should be noted that this program is available for free. This software is a computer language, it means that the amount of functions depends on researcher’s skills and fantasy. The main problem of R is that it has no convenient visual interface, such as that of SPSS. For this reason, one needs an introduction by an expert to start using it, which is exactly what Professor Ponarin provided during this Summer School.

The academic and working tasks were combined at the LCSR’s Summer Schools. Thus, 30 presentations of participants’ personal projects were submitted. They included nine new research projects by master and postgraduate students, who aspire to become the members of the international scholars network of LCSR. The total list of speakers and the topic variety of working sessions can be found here.

Roberto Foa Roberto Foa, guest-lecture:  I enjoyed having the chance to participate in the LSCR summer school, and to present during one of the sessions. Most of all, though, I enjoyed interacting with colleagues from across Russia and beyond, and the opportunities to socialise, exchange ideas, and add to my knowledge of Russian folk songs. If I were to change anything about the programme, I would probably change the venue to somewhere that feels less enclosed, and incorporate more time for smaller group discussions on academic themes (e.g. for offering feedback to students), rather than the big 'seminar hall' approach. Overall though, a great event!

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All the lectures by the invited scholars were united by the same topic: cross-country comparison using analytic statistical models. Thus, professor Jaap Dronkers from the Maastricht University (the Netherlands) delivered a lecture on educational performance of migrant children in 16 European countries. Using multilevel approach, he studied the influence of values and institutions in both countries of origin and destination on academic achievements of migrant children. One of his most stunning results was that religious tradition and affiliation of the child influences her/his academic performance significantly.

 

Mikhail Chernysh, professor of the Institute of Sociology of the RAS, made a report on perception of social justice in Russia. Rawls theory ranks high among the discussion about the social justice. According to this theory, this phenomenon represents a certain institutional mechanism, and the concept of justice itself means certain conditions in which all the actors have their life chances and rules equalized. At the same time social justice is impossible without public control. Marxist concept of inequality as a reflection of class boundaries can be an alternative to Rawls theory. Many researchers suggest that the Russians no longer hold Marxist view, The findings of professor Chernysh indicate that the Russians are ready to accept inequality, but they don’t want to compromise inequality that is due to violation of the rules of fair play.

Christian Welzel Christian Welzel, lector:    In my eyes this was a very intense summer school with a dense program.However, precisely because of that, I think the summer school was an extremely useful learningexperience for everyone involved, including the course instructors. I was particularly impressed by thestudents' level of dedication and attentiveness. They were indeed eager to learn and the interactionwith the students was intense. Still, for me as an instructor it was a pleasant experience to interact withsuch motivated, curious and open-minded young people. In the class room and beyond, I felt all thetime intellectually stimulated by the students' questions, comments, and discussions with them.

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The key lecture in the end of the Summer School was delivered by Professor Ronald Inglehart, the academic advisor of LCSR, who shared details of his recent investigations on human security and sociopolitical change. His lecture was about the influence economic and physical security perception on people’s values and behavior. The extent to which people feel secure or insecure, has a significant influence on values and behavior. Particularly, the high level of existential insecurity leads to xenophobia, and the feeling of security is conducive to increased interpersonal trust. In addition, in recent studies the correlation between the vulnerability to infectious diseases and socio-cultural attitudes was ascertained. In the societies with high vulnerability to infections there is a strong community spirit, but at the same time low level of support for gender equality and high level of xenophobia. If the society has relatively low vulnerability to diseases, it leads to economic growth, which is conducive to tolerance and democracy.

Hermann Duelmer, lector:  The LCSS Summer School in St. Petersburg has opened the participants the unique opportunity to learn multilevel analyses which has become a standard for cross-cultural analyses. Participants also presented their own empirical research and discussed it with a group of other young researchers with similar interests. The lectures of international leading researchers like Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel and other invited guest speakers provided the participants with valuable insights that will surely contribute to the further improvement of empirical research. Last but not least, the location in Pushkin close to the Catherine Palace and the accommodation in the Dacha Kochubeya contributed to a stimulating atmosphere.

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The 2011 Summer School has become the key event for the development of the Laboratory as a whole. All the participants lived in the same hotel for two weeks and had plenty of time to communicate, to find new academic partners, to discuss common projects and to share ideas. They have become one team that shares the goals and has a clear understanding of the means. Thus, although the 2011 Summer School was primarily meant to be an intensive statistical training, it was also a very efficient team-building event. The next Summer School of LSCR will be held next summer and will be dedicated to Structural Equation Modeling

Serban Tanasa, participant:  As guests, we were fortunate enough to witness the veritable whirlwindinformation showering the latest best practices of statistical methodology onto the participants.The lectures by professors Dulmer, Welzel and Ponarin were packed with useful practical advice forburgeoning social scientists. The lunches, dinners and late evening get-togethers in the hotel lobby werealso very enjoyable, and I am sure that many professional links and future partnerships were formedduring those days in Pushkin. I very much look forward to repeating the experience next year!

The resume of LCSR Summer School and the program, the presentations of individual projects and the lectures can be found here.