Didactic Seminars

To help sociologists keep abreast of recent scholarly trends and developments, the Program Committee creates specialized seminars. Experts considered to be at the forefront of a given field are invited to conduct these sessions. Seminar topics and leaders are listed below. All sessions are run seminar-style; there will be NO hands-on computer work.

Attendance at each seminar is limited to 50 registrants. Prepaid registration is required; fees are $30. The schedule and description of each seminar is given in the online searchable program on the ASA website. Please check the posted schedule carefully to make sure that you don’t sign up for a seminar when you are scheduled to present your own paper.

Coding? Qualitative Software? Why? How?
Tuesday, August 14, 10:30 am - 12:10 pm [Details]

Raymond Maietta, ResearchTalk, Inc.

The primary goal of this session is to provide tools to encourage researchers to maintain their role as primary agents of their analysis. Coding and qualitative software are presented as resources available to assist analysis. Neither is lauded as central or necessary to analysis. Both are heuristic devices that assist the search for meaning in qualitative data. The session agenda is designed to use practical experience with real data, in the form of seminar discussion, to direct conversation of important principles that shape qualitative analysis. “Context” is explored from several angles as a way to emphasize the importance of movement from the particular to the holistic. Pre-code work can outline the context of data collection episodes. Code evolution should occur with conscious attention to the context of an entire research project. Memo writing is presented as a resource for considering context of real-life meaning to what we see in data. Qualitative software is presented as a useful tool to integrate into analysis, but not as a solution to analysis challenges.

Designing Web-based Surveys
Sunday, August 12, 10:30 am - 12:10 pm [Details]

Zeynep Kilic, Arizona State University
Laura Brewer, Collegis Online & Academic Services
Robert Mitchell, Arizona State University

The goal of this seminar is to highlight best practices and methodological issues surrounding the design of effective Web-based surveys. Selection criteria for choosing appropriate tools and technology for Web-based survey projects will be presented. In addition, we will discuss how choices about technology facilitate (or impede) the implementation of successful online survey projects. Standard Web-based survey instrument design principles will be described and guidelines for obtaining satisfactory response rates will be presented. Examples from existing online survey projects will be used to illustrate various Web-based software products and relevant design, data collection, and analysis issues.

Disentangling Age-Period-Cohort Effects
Sunday, August 12, 2:30 - 4:10 pm [Details]

Kenneth Land, Duke University
Yang Yang, University of Chicago

The objectives of this seminar are: 1) to review the nature, uses, and pitfalls of cohort analysis in sociology, and 2) to describe some recent contributions to statistical models for cohort analysis that may be quite useful for estimating the distinct contributions of age, period, and cohort effects in empirical applications. First, the concept of the cohort in the study of social change will be defined. Second, the algebra of the age-period-cohort (APC) accounting/multiple classification model will be described. Third, within this modeling framework, the APC identification problem will be defined. Fourth, the history of uses and disputes over the APC multiple classification model will be reviewed. Fifth, a general framework for describing a family of statistical models for APC analysis – known as the generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) family – will be introduced. Sixth, within this framework, new methods for APC analysis will be defined for three research designs. The first of these is the classical situation of an age-by-period table of rates or proportions for which the intrinsic estimator is defined and explained. The second is the repeated cross-section surveys design, for which the class of hierarchical APC models is defined and explained. The third is the accelerated longitudinal cohort design, to which hierarchical APC models are adapted. Empirical applications to real datasets from sociological studies are given throughout. Software for applications of each of the classes of models will be described.

How You Can Link Qualitative and Census Data: Learning from Our Complex Family Types Study
Monday, August 13, 10:30 am - 12:10 pm [Details]

Rae Lesser Blumberg, University of Virginia
Laurel Schwede, U.S. Census Bureau

Would you like a fast, free way to link qualitative study data with quantitative census data? This workshop shows how to link both data types, focusing on complex household/family structures. First, we explain how anyone can undertake research linking census public-use data (American FactFinder at www.census.gov) with ethnographic data about a geographically-specified population. Qualitative researchers can thereby custom-tailor geographically appropriate census/survey data that contextualize their small, purposive samples; quantitative researchers can link-up with ethnographers working in areas where they’ve been analyzing the census or Census Bureau survey data. We demonstrate with our 2006 book, Complex Ethnic Households in America. First, we explain the technique, then we illustrate how relevant census data on household/family types and characteristics (at national and local levels) that contextualize the qualitative information were generated. We do so for two of the six ethnic groups studied, thereby showing how census and ethnographic/qualitative data illuminate and enhance each other. Second, we discuss combining census and rapid appraisal (RA) data. RAs are more applicable to policy/applied research. They involve “triangulation” to establish validity, using at least two measures for each key issue/variable. RAs can link fast qualitative techniques with secondary analysis of census or other quantitative data, to give a more rounded picture. Third, we identify, describe, and compare Census Bureau census and survey databases accessible for these purposes. Throughout the session, we present examples interactively so participants can see how to create the “right size” geographic frame of census data for a qualitative ethnographic or rapid appraisal sample.

New Approaches to Survey Design and Sampling
Sunday, August 12, 8:30 am - 10:10 am [Details]

John Kennedy, Indiana University

In the past few years, survey methods, survey technologies, and sampling procedures have changed significantly. Survey design more often includes multiple and mixed modes. New technologies have been introduced that allow for more complex survey procedures and more rapid survey data collection. Survey researchers are adopting new sampling techniques that are designed to reduce costs and to improve survey contact and cooperation. At the same time, new technologies such as cell phones and VOIP introduce new challenges for survey data collection.

This seminar will provide an overview of new survey designs and sampling procedures. The seminar is designed for researchers who use survey data or conduct small-scale surveys. Some topics to be discussed include multi-method survey procedures, directory-assisted dual-frame sampling, recent advances in electronic data capture, and improvements in question design and testing.

Qualitative Methods and the Protection of Human Subjects
Saturday, August 11, 4:30 pm - 6:10 pm
(co-sponsored by the ASA Committee on Professional Ethics) [Details]


	Charles Bosk, University of Pennsylvania Raymond Devries, University of Minnesota

Using Ethnographic Methods
Saturday, August 11, 2:30 pm - 4:10 pm [Details]


	Annette Lareau, Temple University

Writing about Multivariate Analysis
Monday, August 13, 2:30 pm - 4:10 pm [Details]

Jane Miller, Rutgers University

Writing about results of linear and logistic regression is a common task for many sociologists, comprising an integral part of many academic papers and grant proposals. Too often, however, explanations of multivariate analyses become bogged down in statistical jargon and technical details. This workshop will cover how to use standard expository writing techniques in combination with principles and tools for quantitative communication to convey multivariate results clearly and effectively in both written and spoken form. The first portion of the workshop will show how to use tables, charts, examples, and analogies to write a clear, compelling argument about a research question, using multivariate results as evidence. We will then cover how to translate written results into slides and speaker’s notes for an oral presentation about an application of multivariate analysis. The textbook for the workshop is Miller’s recent book, The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis (University of Chicago, 2005), which can be ordered from the Press, amazon.com, or found in many bookstores.

Courses

This educational component provides an opportunity for attendees to get in-depth training in a special subject area. Courses are intensive sessions led by expert faculty who have prepared a comprehensive curriculum to engage participants on all levels. Registrants will receive certificates documenting their participation and completion of a course.

This year’s course is held prior to the first full day of program sessions. Attendance limits and fees are noted below, and prepaid registration is required. Reservations are accepted in order of receipt in the ASA Executive Office. Fees are non-refundable after July 11.

Funding Sources for Social Science Research
Friday, August 10, 1:30 – 5:30 p.m. [Details]

Fee: $50

Attendance Limit: 40

Leaders: Mercedes Rubio, National Institute of Mental Health
and Christine M. O'Brien, National Academies Fellowships Office

This four-hour course intends to provide the participants with greater working knowledge of the types of funding mechanisms, application process, review and decision making of federal training grants, in particular those sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The workshop will be interactive where participants are encouraged to ask questions and be prepared for hands-on activities.