February 13, 2017

Interested in a dynamic, hands-on experience studying quantitative methods and statistics over the summer in Ann Arbor, Michigan?

Drexel University Libraries and the Office of Research are pleased to announce that Drexel faculty and students are once again eligible for discounted tuition rates to attend the ICPSR's 2017 Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research. Discounted rates are available as a benefit of the University's membership in the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

The ICPSR Summer Program provides rigorous, hands-on training in statistical techniques, research methodologies and data analysis and is designed to fulfill the needs of researchers throughout their careers. Each year, the program attracts university faculty and researchers, graduate students and nonacademic research scientists from more than 350 colleges, universities, and organizations around the world.  

Trainings are provided in either four-week sessions or three- and five-day workshops and are held primarily at the University of Michigan campus. The four-week sessions are offered June 26 through July 21, 2017 (Session 1) and July 24 through August 18, 2017 (Session 2). The three- and five-day workshops are offered May through August and will be held in various cities, including Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, Boulder, Toronto and Berkeley. Registration is required for all sessions and workshops.

The ICPSR is dedicated to advancing and expanding social and behavioral research and acts as a global leader in data stewardship. The organization provides rich data resources and educational and training resources to help users understand and analyze research data, a mission that clearly aligns with the Drexel University Libraries' own strategic plan.

'One of the most attractive benefits of Drexel's membership in ICPSR is the opportunity for students and faculty to attend its superb training programs,' said Danuta A. Nitecki, Dean of Libraries at Drexel University. 'The Libraries includes these educational programs as resources it promotes to build awareness and skills among our research community in data management best practices.'

Last year, two members of the Drexel community -Michael Haslip, Assistant Professor for Teaching, Learning and Curriculum with the School of Education, and Hallie Espel, a Doctoral Student in Psychology -attended the ICPSR's 2016 Summer Program

'I appreciated the opportunity to share my existing research projects and proposals with the faculty at the ICPSR Summer Program and to receive valuable advice on how to further develop my research agenda,' said Professor Haslip. 'It's rare to have access to so many statisticians who also have experience across a range of methods all in one place. In terms of training, the Summer Program provided courses in different levels of both mathematics for statistics and statistical methods themselves. These sessions were complimented by evening lectures on research-related topics ranging from publication to grant writing.'

 Competitive scholarships for graduate students and professors are also available to help defray the costs of attending the Summer Program. Scholarships are available in specified fields and areas of research, including political science, sociology, quantitative history, education, developmental psychology and public administration. All scholarships cover registration fees for one or both four-week sessions of the 2017 ICPSR Summer Program.

To take advantage of the discounted registration rates for the 2017 Summer Program or for help using ICPSR resources for research and teaching, contact Chris Badurek, Data Services Librarian, at cab484@drexel.edu.

About ICPSR

ICPSR is an international consortium of more than 700 academic institutions and research organizations that provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for the social science research community. ICPSR maintains adata archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences, including 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. ICPSR is a unit within the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and maintains its office in Ann Arbor, Michigan.