Oliver Lipps is head of the methodological research programme at FORS and lecturer at the University of Basel. He has been working on methodological issues in social science panel surveys since 1995.
Ursina Kuhn is a member of the Swiss Household Panel team since 2005. She is involved in data management and has published on political behaviour and income using panel data.
This course introduces the structure, data management, and analysis of panel data in general and the SHP in particular. Participants will learn to understand the structure of (household) panel data, to prepare the data for panel analyses, and to apply descriptive statistics and analytical models. After a detailed presentation of the SHP, we will learn how to organise data for different types of research questions which are specific to that type of data. This includes for example creating longitudinal data files, partner or parent-children data files, and spells and transitions. We will address issues of nonresponse and weighting. Analysis techniques include cross-tabulations, regressions (pooled, fixed effects, random effect, multilevel) and, if time allows, event history analysis. In the afternoon sessions, participants will work on practical exercises either with the SHP data or with their own data. There will be time to solve individual problems arising.
(Kind of material covered during class)
Experience in statistical analysis of cross-sectional (survey) data is required. This includes experience with statistical software (such as R, SPSS, Stata, SAS) and a basic knowledge of cross tabulations and regressions. In the course, Stata will be used. Experience with Stata is useful but not required.