Spring 2024 Workshops

Thank you for your interest in the workshops offered by the Social Sciences Quantitative Laboratory! This page lists all workshops planned for Spring 2024. Information about the times and registration for each workshop will be added throughout the semester. You can fill out the following form to be notified as we update information about the workshops being offered at http://tinyurl.com/ssql-interest.

Stata Series

• Stata is a statistical analysis software widely adopted by economists for empirical analysis. This workshop series is mainly designed for students enrolled in Econ 31, Introduction to Econometrics. The workshops align closely with the timing of the lectures, and will complement in-class illustration through real-time structured hands-on experience of using STATA to complete basic tasks required at various stages of the course. Students who are not enrolled in Econ 31, but have some understanding of statistics and are interested in learning to use Stata, are welcome to attend.
  • Week 2 (Jan 29/30)         Intro to Stata, wokshop files
    Week 3 (Feb 5/6)             Descriptive Statistics, workshop files
    Week 6 (Feb 26/27)         Probability Functions, workshop files
    Week 7 (Mar 4/5)             Sampling Simulation, workshop files
    Week 8 (Mar 21/22)         Hypothesis Testing, workshop files
    Week 11 (Apr 8/9)            Regression
    Week 13 (Apr 22/23)       Regression Diagnostics
• Time: 8 - 9:15 pm
• Location: Kohlberg 115

How to Read a Quantitative Paper (completed)

• Many books and papers present regression results to support their arguments. There are some simple ways to scan these tables that let you quickly understand the main points and common pitfalls. We cover how to read regression tables and graphs efficiently, what the numbers for coefficients and statistical significance mean, and common ways regressions are misused.
• Tuesday 2/27 4:15-5:15pm Kohlberg 116
• Preregistration is optional, at bit.ly/quant-paper-s24.

Introduction to R

• This introductory session is based on a survey conducted on workshop participants. We cover the basics of opening files, running commands, creating summary statistics and graphics, dealing with outliers, and manipulating variables.. We also work through how to deal with errors (which are inevitable, but manageable, in any statistical package). This will be hands on, practical experience: each participant will be using the program in real time.
• Sunday 3/3 2-4pm
• Monday 3/4 4:15-6:15pm
• Thursday 3/7 4:15-6:15pm
• Registration required at https://bit.ly/intro-r-s24.

Visualizing Data in R

• More information coming soon. Expected to be offered the week after Spring Break.

Preparing for a Quantitative Graduate Program

• Learn the skills you need, types of pre-doctoral programs and other ways to prepare, possible career tracks, and more!
• Expected to be offered April 7th to April 13th.

Manipulating and Visualizing Data in Excel (completed)

Excel provides an intuitive tool to create multiple numeric descriptions of data, as well as scatterplots, bar charts, maps, and more. 

• Beginners workshop: Wednesday 2/28 4:15-6:15pm. Information and registration is at bit.ly/excel1-s24.
• Intermediate workshop: Thursday 2/29 4:15-6:15pm. Information and registration is at bit.ly/excel2-s24.

Computer Hacks to Save You Time (completed)

• Knowing your keyboard and computer's file structure better saves a lot of time, possibly as much as 64 hours per year. Come to this workshop and you can spend that time (one and a half work weeks!) sleeping, hanging out with friends, or studying.

• Friday, January 26th 12:30-1:50pm (lunch provided) OR Sunday, January 28th 2-3:20pm (snacks provided).