AmStat Section News,
June 2007

Devin S. Johnson, Publications Chair

ENVR/SRMS Co-sponsored Short Course at JSM

Sunday, July 29 

Modeling and Data Analysis for Complex Surveys

Jay Breidt (Colorado State University) and Jean Opsomer (Iowa State University) will offer a 1-day short course entitled “Modeling and Data Analysis for Complex Surveys” on Sunday July 29 at the JSM in Salt Lake City.

Survey data often arise from the efforts of institutions (like government agencies) to describe characteristics of a heterogeneous population in a cost-effective way.  Because of operational constraints and for efficiency reasons, institutions use complex surveys, with stratification, clustering, and unequal probabilities, and those surveys suffer from different rates of nonresponse among different subgroups.  When the survey data are released by the institution, they are then often accompanied by survey weights that account for the complex sampling design and other adjustments for nonresponse and calibration.

Statisticians and environmental scientists working with complex survey data may be tempted to use the variety of statistical methods at their disposal to answer research questions, but those methods are often not appropriate unless the complexities of the survey are explicitly taken into account.  The purpose of the short course is to describe and explain the different approaches that are available for correctly analyzing survey data.

This course is aimed at researchers with a basic background in statistical theory and methods.  No previous background in survey sampling is assumed.  We review the features that make survey data complex, including design properties and post-sampling adjustments.  We describe and compare model-based and design-based approaches to estimation and inference with complex survey data, review available software, and illustrate with example data sets.

 

Also of interest at JSM 2007…

Roundtables

7/30 7-8:15a Hierarchical Spatial Models Bridging Ecology and Public Health with Lance Waller, Emory University

7/30 7-8:15a What’s the Future for Point Process Modeling in Ecology with Philip Dixon, Iowa State University

8/1 7-8:15a Multivariate Environmental Health Surveillance with Andrew Lawson, University of South Carolina

8/1 7-8:15a Bayesian Disease Mapping Methods and Applications: Past, Present, and Future with Ying MacNab, University of British Columbia

 

ENVR Mixer

Come and mix with other ENVR members at the Business meeting and social Tuesday evening July 31, 2007 at 6pm.

 

Don’t Forget…

JSM 2008 is not that far off.  Proposals for ENVR sponsored invited sessions and continuing education courses will be due shortly after JSM 2007. Session proposals for ENAR 2008 are due by June 11, 2007 to Vicki Hertzberg (vhertzb@sph.emory.edu).