Seminar on causal modelling and register data

After the evaluation of the sociology discipline in Norway a few years ago, the Research Council of Norway released a call for applications for funding of smaller projects that could improve doctoral education and increase the use of quantitative research methods. The project Kausalitet, Identifikasjon og Modellering was funded by the Council. This seminar is a part of that project.

The purpose of the seminar is to increase awareness of the potential register data among Norwegian sociologists. We want to inform participants about both the existence of various register data sources, how they can be accessed, and their strengths and weaknesses.

The seminar starts off with a general introduction to register data and its use, with an emphasis on causal inference. A major strength of register data is the possibilities therein to link different units of analysis, and to construct more powerful research designs that allow more credible estimation of causal effects. Current developments in the social sciences give increasingly more attention to biological factors. The seminar thus also includes several presentations on this topic. The final session cover register data sources and uses that are less known, such as conscript data, criminal records data and geocoded data.

The seminar is open to sociologists and researchers from related disciplines. If you want to attend, please register by e-mail to t.h.lyngstad@sosgeo.uio.no before October 24th. We can on a case-by-case basis provide a number of travel grants to graduate students. If there is a lot of interest, priority will be given to individuals from KIM-related institutions.

The updated program can be downloaded from here

Arrangør

Torkild Hovde Lyngstad
Publisert 3. okt. 2013 08:58