SE DTC Advanced Training 2014

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Real World Eye Tracking: The power of eye tracking to measure exactly where people are looking in realistic social situations makes it an ideal tool for studying many research questions in social science, such as the link between product viewing and purchase, or which part of a conversation captures our attention. This course will provide advanced hands-on training and relevant problem solving. It is also unique in providing a comparison across several systems based on suitability to research questions. Participants will learn to use and analyse the complex data from desk mounted eye trackers for viewing real-life scenes and wearable eye trackers for interacting in social situations outside of the lab.Application of Multilevel Analysis for Quantitative Social Science: The proposed course will focus primarily on the applications of multilevel modelling for hierarchically clustered data used in quantitative social science research. It will provide an overview of the theoretical and practical applications of linear multilevel models with random intercept and random slopes for data that is nested or structured within two-levels (e.g. individuals within schools) and three-levels (e.g. individuals in classes within schools), and two-level repeated measures designs (e.g. individuals with n observations). The course will be a mixture of lectures and practical parts, and will provide students with the opportunity to get expert feedback on their own data. Agent-Based Modelling for the Social Scientist: Agent-based modelling is a relatively young methodology, increasingly important in academia and applied research. The course will be a step to producing genuine "computational social scientists", i.e. scientists who see the social world through modelling eyes, able to approach social research questions with computational methods without losing awareness of the complexities and particularities of the social world. The growing demand for agent-based modelling in a range of social sciences, demands researchers with an advanced skill set for tackling complex problems with realistic models. This course will provide the theoretical foundations as well as the practical skills for social science models, including programming a model from scratch and developing an agent based model within their own research topic.Construct Measurement, Scale Development & Scale Validation: Proper measurement of constructs is of utmost significance in the behavioural and social sciences. A poorly conceived scale can lead to inaccurate results and inferences. This course will present a non-technical, practical overview of the principles and practices involved in scale construction, modification, use, evaluation and interpretation. Students will be exposed to relevant theoretical approaches, both classical and contemporary, guiding the development and evaluation of measurement scales. Specific topics concerning the development and evaluation of measures will be covered in detail.Methods and Techniques for combined EEG-MRI Brain Registration for the Social Sciences: the Social Brain: The University of Reading through its Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) has been at the forefront of the development of combined brain registration methods working with academic and commercial partners in developing and refining methods and technologies. This course will provide post-graduate students with a critical survey of the analytic approaches and provide advanced hands-on training in EEG/ERP, fMRI and combined EEG/fMRI techniques. Social Science applications will be built in to the training sessions and demonstration and training components will draw on existing social neuroscience data from emotional regulation, decision making and learning and memory paradigms. They will learn about practical issues involved in combining EEG/fMRI recordings and, in the hands on course, will acquire the competencies needed for using the techniques.