MAPSS

EITM: http://www.poli.duke.edu/eitm/application.htm

“The scientific study of politics requires empirical evaluation of theoretical models, but theories too often proliferate without adequate testing, and empirical work too frequently applies sketchy and oversimplified theory. In EITM, researchers use recent advances in game theory and mathematical modeling to develop theoretical models of politics. These models are then subjected to rigorous tests that meet the highest standards of empirical research, including statistical analysis, experiments, and case studies. In some instances, researchers create new estimators designed to closely test the assumptions and predictions of the theoretical models. By integrating models and data, EITM is creating a new standard for theoretically grounded empirical research that yields cumulative advances to our understanding of politics.

Recognizing that gaps between theory and empirical method seriously impair scientific progress, the Political Science Program of the National Science Foundation supports annual four-week summer institutes on Empirical Implications of Theoretical Models (EITM). Previous summer institutes have taken place at Harvard (2002), Michigan (2003 and 2006), Duke (2004), UC-Berkeley (2005) and UCLA (2006).

Funding to defray participants’ costs of travel, accommodation, and subsistence is available. EITM institutes are selective, with admission based significantly on the quality and potential of research presented. Institute training includes teaching and research components, providing students a highly individualized interaction with a far wider and deeper array of mentors than is available at any individual institution. Female and minority applications are strongly encouraged.”

Andrew Vickers, a biostatistician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, wrote in the NY Times lamenting the reluctance to share data.

”

Dr John Kirwan, a rheumatologist from the University of Bristol in England, has studied researchers’ attitudes on sharing data from clinical trials. He found that three-quarters of researchers he surveyed, as well as a major industry group, opposed making original trial data available. It is worth restating this finding: most scientists doing research on how best to help those in pain, or at risk of death, want to keep their data a secret.

Dr. Kirwan went on to ask his subjects why. Their reasons were entirely trivial: one cited the difficult of putting together a data set (wouldn’t this have to be done anyway in order to publish a paper?); another was concerned that the data might be analyzed using invalid methods (surely a judgment for the scientific community as a whole). This is something of a clue that the real issue here has more to do with status and career than with any loftier considerations. Scientists don’t want to be scooped by their own data, or have someone else challenge their conclusions with a new analysis.”

Today begins the 7-day period in which you can help us evaluate the many
new proposals that have been put forward for upcoming American National
Election Studies (ANES) surveys.

Between now and January 22, we ask that you make a small, but important
contribution to the quality of the 2008 ANES surveys by offering advice
that we and the proposals authors’ can use to increase the effectiveness
of our questionnaires. We are most interested in comments that can
increase the range of hypothesis tests in which particular questions can
be used.

At the end of this letter are the lists of the proposals we have
received. You can read the full proposals in the Online Commons at:
http://www.electionstudies.org

If you can comment on even one of these proposals, it will help future
users of the ANES a great deal.

Please note that at the conclusion of the one-week comment period,
proposal authors will then have an additional week to revise their
proposals in response to any comments that you offer. So this is a
moment where your advice can make a big difference. In addition, the
ANES PIs and Board of Overseers will make extensive use of your comments
when they select questions for inclusion on the survey.

All comments must be made through the Online Commons. If you would like
to make a comment and are not yet an OC member, signing up is easy. All
it takes is filling out a simple form at:
http://www.electionstudies.org/onlinecommons.htm

The new 2008 ANES Time Series Study has the potential to help scholars
examine electoral dynamics in an unprecedented way. Please take a moment
to help ANES make the most effective use of this great opportunity.

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to make a productive
contribution to the development of the ANES surveys.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Jon A. Krosnick and Arthur Lupia
Principal Investigators

2008 ANES TIME SERIES STUDY: NOT IN THE CORE PROPOSALS:

01. “Native Born or Naturalized Americans” by user “Jimbo”
02. “Monetary Recruitment and the Rise of Internet Fundraising” by users
“Wiley” and “pollock”
03. “Interviewer-coded items” by user “clawson”
04. “From Online Newspapers to YouTube: Examining Exposure to Internet
Sources”" by users “ttowner” and “ddulio”
05. “Religion and Electoral Behavior” by users “mockabee”, “kenwald” and
and “dleege”
06. “Three ideas: titles, turnout modeling, cell phone users” by user
“spinkus01″
07. “General Incentives Models of Turnout: ANES & BES” by user
“hclarke01″
08. “Political Alienation” by users “javeline” and “bairdv”
09. “The Role of Collective Political Efficacy” by users “Markmann”,
“Constanzebeierlein”, “Preiser” and “Wermuth”
10. “Internet Blog Usage and Political Participation” by user “rlreed”
11. “Why Do Parties Distribute Particularistic Goods?” by users
“jordangansmorse”, “sebastian.mazzuca” and “nichters”
12. “Character Judgments and Voting Behavior” by user “dcm23″
13. “Threat Perceptions and Charisma” by users “merolla” and “ejzech”
14. “A Better Way to Measure Prospective Economic Evaluations” by users
“KMichelitch”, “marco_morales”, “andrewowen” and “jtucker”
15. “Measuring Knowledge and Attitudes about the Electoral College” by
users “ShaunBowler”, “ToddDonovan” and “karpjeffrey”
16. “Independents, Leaners and Partisanship” by users “ShaunBowler”,
“ToddDonovan”, “karpjeffrey” and “DavidLanoue”
17. “Including ‘Propensity to vote’ questions in the ANES time series”
by users “Franklin” and “SamAbrams”
18. “Wealth and Electoral Behavior” by user “tdeluca”
19. “Issue Scales in the 2008 Election Study” by users “stuart” and
“rabinowitz”
20. “Understanding Trust in Government” by users “nes user” and
“dlplane”
21. “Systematic Misrepresentation of Political Polarization” by users
“andrewgelman”, “david.chungpark” and “ejuliast”
22. “Gender and Race in American Elections” by users “kdolan” and “Kira
Sanbonmatsu”
23. “Election Integrity” by user “HeleniT”
24. “Civic Skills and Contacting” by users “Verba”, “Schlozman” and
“nburns”
25. “Institutional Legitimacy in the United States” by users
“legitimacy”, “MargaretLevi” and “audreysacks”
26. “Effects of decision to vote on other household members” by user
“cfinn”
27. “Measuring Commitment to Economic Equality” by user “suhay”

2008 ANES TIME SERIES STUDY: CHANGES IN THE CORE PROPOSALS:

01. “Cognitive and Affective Partisanship” by user “klofstad”
02. “Media Use Measures for the ANES 2008 Time Series Study” by users
“salthaus” and “tewksbur”
03. “Moral Foundations Questions” by users “aperrin” and “vaisey”
04. “Internet User Definitions and New Communications Channels” by user
“EvansWitt”
05. “Measuring Issues with Open-Ended Questions” by user “RePass”
06. “Measuring Attitudes toward Candidates” by user “RePass”
07. “Gender and Race in American Elections” by users “kdolan” and “Kira
Sanbonmatsu”
08. “Method of Registration and Its Impact on Turnout” by users
“ReneeParadis” and “kahlilw”
09. “Proposal to Modify ANES 2008 Items” by user “Prysby”

2008 ANES TIME SERIES STUDY: BONUS MINUTES PROPOSALS

01. “Religious Identity” by users “bphillips” and “Saxe”
02. “Race, Gender, and Policy” by users “nburns” and “DRK”

TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY PROPOSALS:

01. “Items used in TESS survey and/or Palestinian survey for
consideration for ANES” by users “Moskalenko” and “cmccaule”
02. “Collective Memory of 9/11 and Public Opinion of Counter-Terrorism:”
by user “cbail”
03. “Public attitudes about terrorism, natural disasters, risk
perception and preparedness” by user “Bill8008″
04. “Fear of crime and terrorism as it relates to political affiliation
and voter turnout” by users “fayewachs” and “stacymcgoldrick”
05. “Emotional Responses to Potential Threats” by user “hlench”
06. “Public attitudes towards technology and perception of terrorist
attacks” by users “hbalyssa” and “kbuerkle”
07. “Individual and Government/Emergency Preparedness” by user “Keith”
08. “Proposed National Survey Question” by user “rejali01″
09. “Political views and funding homeland security policy” by users
“carolm” and “Kerry Smith”

There is only one week left to propose questions for inclusion on
upcoming American National Election Studies (ANES) surveys!

1) The 2008 ANES Time Series
You may submit a proposal for questions to be included in the 2008 ANES
Time Series face-to-face presidential election study. The time series
continues a string of interviews that began in 1948. We are accepting
two kinds of proposals: changes to the ANES “core” questions (the set of
questions that the ANES Time Series asks repeatedly over time) and
changes to the rest of the survey (including proposals to capture
opinions and attitudes that are especially relevant to the November 2008
presidential and congressional elections).

2) Terrorism and Homeland Security
We are also running a special competition in cooperation with the
Department of Homeland Security. For that competition, we are accepting
proposals pertinent to the intersection between elections and DHS
emphases on terrorism, natural disasters, risk perception, and
preparedness. Questions from successful proposals in this competition
can be included on the 2008-2009 ANES Panel Study and/or the 2008 ANES
Time Series study.

We accept proposals through the ANES Online Commons. Please go to its
website to get more information about these opportunities:
http://www.electionstudies.org/onlinecommons.htm

The ANES Online Commons will continue to accept these proposals until
3:00pm Eastern Time (noon Pacific Time) on January 15, 2008.

The Online Commons will remain open for two additional weeks thereafter
to allow commentary and revision of the proposals.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Jon Krosnick and Arthur Lupia
Principal Investigators
American National Election Studies (ANES)

From Torsten Neilands

Dear Colleagues,

A project on which I’m working recently received continuation funding to collect cohort data for another five year funding cycle. The project’s PI, Elise Riley, and its project director, Jennifer Cohen, are looking to hire a statistician at 50% effort. The job description appears below. Please feel free to forward this job announcement on to interested individuals or groups and please direct all inquiries about the position to Jennifer Cohen (her e-mail address appears in the job description).

With best wishes for a happy 2008,

Tor Neilands

We are seeking a statistician for 50% employment with our UCSF research study regarding the longitudinal effects of HIV, housing, drug use and social support on the victimization and risk behavior of unstably housed women.  Strong organizational skills and an ability to communicate well will be necessary in this position.  Three to five years of statistical experience are preferred and no supervisory responsibility is involved with this position.

In collaboration with the PI and the senior statistician, the incumbent will choose appropriate statistical techniques, which will guide study development as well as determine the interpretation of study results.  Prior experience with complex data sets will prepare the incumbent to develop the analyses and protocols needed in this study.  Job duties will include the following:  documenting all procedures; assessing survey question validity and reliability; performing descriptive statistics;  performing time to event and adjusted analyses such as logistic, linear and Poisson regression, Kaplan-Meier estimation, and Cox proportional hazards survival analysis; performing longitudinal analyses that adjust for correlated data such as random effects and GEE modeling techniques; conducting power analyses for all projects and grant proposals; writing the first draft of results sections for manuscripts and analytic methods sections for grant proposals.

The incumbent must be proficient with SAS or equivalent statistical software that has the capacity to analyze longitudinal data with time-varying repeated measures (e.g., R, S+ or STATA).  In addition, the incumbent must be adept with database systems such as ACCESS.  Experience with computer-based interview systems is preferred; if the incumbent has none, s/he must be willing to become acquainted with the Questionnaire Development System (QDS) package.  Weekly check-in and/or meetings with the PI, monthly all-staff meetings, and periodic briefings will provide the incumbent multiple opportunities to assess progress, prioritize work, explore new ideas and discuss problems.

Interested applicants should contact Ms. Jennifer Cohen for more information (jcohen@epi-center.ucsf.edu) and apply through the UCSF Career website: http://www.ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/careers/ Please apply for the Statistician position, Requisition number: 24552BR.