Managing statistical research: the workflow of data analysis

August 3-7, 2015
Scott Long, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Statistics, Indiana University

Course Description:
This workshop teaches you how to plan, organize, document, and execute sophisticated quantitative analyses with any type of statistical methods. The goal is to help you create a workflow that is efficient and accurate while generating reproducible results. Topics include:

  • Planning your research
  • Documenting your work
  • Organizing materials
  • Writing robust programs for data analysis
  • Using automation to work accurately and efficiently
  • Preparing data for analysis
  • Conducting statistical analyses
  • Incorporating results into papers while maintaining provenance
  • Backing up files
  • Collaboration

While the examples used to illustrate an effective workflow use Stata, the ideas can be translated into other statistical packages. The most important things you will learn are not Stata commands, but the principles and strategies that apply to any software.