Summer School "Analysis of Panel Data in Education" results
International Summer School "Analysis of Panel Data in Education", organized by the International Laboratory for Educational Policy of Institute of Institute of Education HSE has finalized in Moscow.
Under the guidance of professors from the University of Texas (Austin), students mastered the methods of working with longitudinal data.
Summer School of Panel Data Analysis in Education was held in HSE for the first time. The participants were 20 students and young researchers from different regions of Russia, as well as researchers from India and Mexico, interested in modern methods of statistical analysis. Under the direction of Chandra Muller and Jennifer Glass, both Professors of the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas (Austin) during the week different courses on methods of multilevel modeling were held, the formulation of research problems , data analysis and interpretation of the results were practised. The training included the implementation of the audience group projects, using data of a longitudinal study in the United States National Educational longitudinal study (NELS).
"Today, the management of decision-making in education all over the world increasingly uses the results of studies that identify the relationship between different variables, such as school resources and educational outcomes - commented one of the organizers Zakharov Andrei Borisovich - Deputy Head of the International Laboratory analysis of educational policy - Longitudinal studies suggest that the same respondents are interviewed several times over a sufficiently long period of time, measured in years, and sometimes decades. This makes a possibility to trace the effects of a change in the relationship to various factors, unlike, say, the sectional studies that capture the state of the object under study at a particular moment. In the future we plan to expand the scope of our summer schools, focusing on the latest trends in the application of statistical research in education".
"If we want to change a school, it is necessary to understand what changes must occur not only in the school, but in everything it interacts with, - says Professor Muller. - And panel data helps to understand this. I have studied the connection of school education policy with the efficiency of learning for a few decades , especially older youth and the beginning of the professional activities of college graduates. There is no one particular answer, how to increase the effectiveness of school education. Talent of manager, the level of teaching staff, the level of activity of school work with the family, curriculum design, the State financial support - all that matters. Although, if I were asked to choose one factor, I would "put" the talented leader of the school on the first place. "
Professor Glass drew attention to the fact that in the recent years in the United States, most of the academic research shifted to the side of the longitudina research. The latter allow "follow the people" not only in time, but in the context of the school, community, state or a nation. "For example, we are now looking at the way how government programs in the field of family and employment affect mental and physical health of the parents. In particular, consider the differences in tax policy (in some countries, parents are exempt from paying taxes), flexible connection of parents with their wages and other issues. I think, for the researcher is important to distinguish phenomena that are related causal relationships with other phenomena, and those that can be categorized as individual situations "- she said.
Among the participants of the Summer School there were people who are already involved in longitudinal studies, as well as those who are planning to start new projects or to teach methods of working with panel data to their colleagues. What are their impressions of the school? What has helped them?
Valery Malik, leading expert of cultural sociology and anthropology of education HSE:
"In a number of projects of the Institute of Education, we study the relationship between various factors (such as f.e. school, family, academic success and others) - the relationship of these factors with educational and professional paths of students. In 2009 the research on trajectories of pupils and students was launched in two regions of Russia, and in 2012 was launched a national panel based on a sample of eighth graders international study TIMSS-2011. Five thousand students from 42 regions of one or two times a year participate in the testing and questioning, also interviewed their parents and teachers. We are interested in, say, what the objective circumstances and personal aspirations influence the decision to move the children to another school, go to college or get vocational education, how they make decisions about their profession and other important issues. "
Marianne Lyubimova, assistant professor of economics and business activities of the Nizhny Novgorod State University named after NI Lobachevsky:"Summer School of the Institute of Education on panel data has interested me in connection with a project that me and my colleagues at the Department of Economics and Business activities do at our university. We use and study the effectiveness of the so-called cooperative learning (teaching method - involving the cooperation of students in groups). We plan to spend a few interviews to trace the dynamics of changes taking place in the course participants. In particular, we want to determine the level of social responsibility and competence and the ability to adequately assess their own contribution to the group. "
Shraboni Patra, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Population Activities (India, Mumbai):
"In our institute me and my colleagues, one of whom is Rakesh Kumar, who also came to this school, study demographic processes in India. In particular, I'm interested in the problem of forced infertility in West Bengal. Our previous projects were based on the analysis of cross-sectional data, and now I plan to use longitudinal data. I'm glad that I was able to get to class of such specialists as Chandra Muller and Jennifer Glass and now I have new tools for the job. "
Ludmila Mezentseva, HSE News Service
Photo by Mikhail Dmitriev