This course provides an overview of Longitudinal Data Analysis. As well as the statistical theory, an overview of the many applications and capabilities of LDA is given.
This is designed as an introductory course for applied researchers and as such, is suitable for participants who want to develop a fundamental knowledge of LDA techniques.
This course is being held in-person at the University of Melbourne.
An online version of this course has been scheduled for 20-24 January
Dr Mark Griffin is the Director of Insight Social Research & Statistics (https://www.insightrsa.com/industry-social-research). Insight focuses on research methodologies (including survey design and statistics) for public health, monitoring and evaluation for government and non-government organizations, and academic research. Insight has a secondary interest in providing IT services (as a Microsoft Business Partner).
Insight is based at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct. The Precinct contains Griffith University Gold Coast, the Gold Coast University Hospital, the Gold Coast Private Hospital, and the Cohort and Lumina tech parks. Insight provides research, consulting, training, and IT support services for clients across the Precinct and for the broader international community.
To date he has presented over 100 two-day and 40 five-day workshops in statistics around Australia
Longitudinal Data Analysis is a very popular statistical method in a range of fields including medicine, natural resource management, business and economics.
As well as allowing a researcher to elicit the changes in a subject (person, business, etc) over time, longitudinal data is also exceedingly powerful as it allows the within-subject and between-subject variance to be estimated independently (generally allowing the parameters in the statistical model to be estimated with a much tighter accuracy than traditional models).
This course provides an overview of Longitudinal Data Analysis. As well as the statistical theory, an overview of the many applications and capabilities of LDA is given. The course is not particularly mathematical, but instead places emphasis on the fundamental concepts of LDA and how it is used by applied researchers.
The workshop will focus on linear mixed effects models, however we will also go through generalized linear mixed effects models and any new material a participant will need to understand in order to successfully use generalized LME’s. There will be exercises using both types of models.
The computer exercises for this workshop will be conducted in Stata. Stata has been chosen as it provides both basic and advanced functionality for conducting longitudinal data analyses. A full set of exercises and solutions in Stata will be provided in this workshop, where they include the Stata syntax required to perform each individual exercise. In addition the workshop presenter will demonstrate how to use Stata for the first exercise in each session prior to workshop participants individually working though the exercises for that session. While this workshop is primarily designed for participants using Stata, an alternative set of exercises can be provided for participants who would like to use R instead.
General aims of the course are for students to develop a readiness for using LDA software and to develop the requisite knowledge for applying LDA methods and models in an intelligent way. Note that participants may be invited to briefly present their own research on the last day of class. This exercise, along with the formal lecture material, might help participants to chart a direction forward in their study and application of LDA.
This course has also been developed in consultation with staff from the National Centre for Longitudinal Data, Dept of Social Services. As such students will have access to a number of datasets through this workshop including:
- The Housing, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey
- The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)
- The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC)
- Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA) – a longitudinal study of humanitarian migrants
These studies have followed around 10,000 participants for approximately 10 years (further details, including precise study characteristics, can be found at https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/national-centre-for-longitud...).
In addition, this workshop will also use the following data from the Department of Education and Training:
- The Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth (LSAY)
Participants will be asked to register with the Australian Data Archive (ADA) before the start of the course in order to access data from the above datasets. Please allow enough time to do this, as your application will have to be approved by the ADA. You will be sent instructions on how to do this before the start of the course. You won't need to download any data, that will be provided for you.
Day 1
- Revision of linear, logistic and Poisson regression
Day 2 and Day 3
- Mixed effects models
- Fixed and random effects
- Random intercept and random slope
- Goodness of fit measures (including Likelihood and AIC)
- Model choice
- Having more than one clustering level
- Generalized Estimating Equations
Day 4
- Survival or time-to-event analysis
- Kaplan-Meier curves
- Survival and hazard functions
- Missing Data
- Multiple Imputation
- Heckmann Selection models
Day 5
- Regression Diagnostics
- Linear
- Normality
- Constant Variance
- Outliers
- Collinearity
You will need to bring your own laptop with pre-installed software (Stata).
If you don't have a copy of Stata, please let us know in advance and we will organise a (full) trial version for you
While this workshop is primarily designed for participants using Stata, an alternative set of exercises can be provided for participants who would like to use R instead.
As part of this course you will be using data from the Australian Data Archive (ADA). These datasets are restricted, so you will need to apply to the ADA for access as a prerequisite for the course. In the weeks leading up to the course, ACSPRI will contact you with detailed instructions on how to do this.
Approximately half of the time during this course will be spent in PowerPoint presentations, and half of the time in computer demonstrations and self-paced computer exercises (conducted in Stata).
It would be beneficial if students have had some previous exposure to regression, though the topic of regression will be taught at the start of the workshop, assuming that students are seeing regression for the first time.
Participants do not need to be familiar with Stata. The workshop presenter will demonstrate how to use Stata for the first exercise in each session, prior to workshop participants individually working though the exercises for that session.
If you don't have a copy of Stata, a trial version can be sourced for you to use during the course.
The instructor's bound, book length course notes will serve as the course texts.
Other references include:
- Singer J.D., Willett J.B. (2003). Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence
- Hedeker D., Gibbons R.D. (2006). Longitudinal Data Analysis
- Diggle P., Heagerty P. (2013). Analysis of Longitudinal Data
Q: Do I need to know Stata to do this course?
A: No. The workshop presenter will demonstrate how to use Stata for the first exercise in each session, prior to workshop participants individually working though the exercises for that session. If you don't have a copy of Stata, a trial version can be sourced for you to use during the course.
Q: Do I have to apply to the Australian Data Archive to use their datasets?
A: Yes. Participants will be asked to register with the Australian Data Archive (ADA) before the start of the course in order to access the datasets used in the course. Please allow enough time to do this, as your application will have to be approved by the ADA. You will be sent instructions on how to do this before the start of the course. You won't need to download any data, that will be provided for you.
I learned so much from this course. I would definitely recommend it to my colleagues.
It was a perfect combination of lecture and hands-on STATA exercise.
I learnt so much more than I thought I would. A colleague recommended this course to me and I'm very glad I did it.
The detailed course notes are very helpful and I will be referring back to these a lot in future.
Everything worked very well. I liked a lot the structure of alternative exercises and theory.
Excellent mix of lectures, examples, discussion/questions for hands on practice.
I have learned a substantial amount in a week! Very logical & systematic presentation particularly given the complexity of material really practical.
The course deals specifically with the data and methods, using my PHD and I envision using the course content frequently & extensively in the future.
I can definitely see myself making use of the modelling techniques now that I have better understanding of the intentions behind them.
The instructor's bound, book length course notes will serve as the course texts.
Stata is distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Survey Design and Analysis Services.