CYFS’ MAP Academy hosted the Spring 2015 Nebraska Methodology Workshop Monday, April 13 at the Nebraska Innovation Campus. The workshop featured David Kaplan, the Patricia Busk Professor of Quantitative Methods in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The daylong workshop, titled “What’s All the Buzz about Bayes? An Overview of Bayesian Inference for the Social and Behavioral Sciences,” was followed by a Q&A and a public keynote address.
Kaplan’s visit concludes the MAP Academy’s 2014-15 Nebraska Methodology Workshop series. Michelle Howell Smith, research assistant professor, coordinates the workshops and looks forward to continuing them this fall. The workshops align with the MAP Academy’s interdisciplinary focus, she said, as they inform researchers on a wide range of methodology topics.
“We’ve received great feedback from participants representing departments across campus and researchers across the state,” Howell Smith said. “We want to provide a platform for applied learning opportunities.”
Ben Sievert, a graduate student in political science, attended the workshop to learn more about Bayesian theory. He plans to implement Bayesian methodology into a structural equation model, which will ultimately measure social anxiety as a predictor of political participation.
Other workshop participants included Shiyuan Wang, with the Department of Educational Psychology. Her research in literacy and learning motivation includes data analysis for multiple projects, and she is interested in learning new methodology for future application.
“Bayesian statistics are cutting edge, and it is an emerging field in the social sciences,” Wang said. “I’m interested in methodology from an applied perspective, because I want to be prepared for different data sets.”
The workshop was made possible with the support of the College of Education and Human Sciences; Departments of Statistics, Survey and Research Methodology, Educational Psychology and Sociology; and the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools.