Social Statistics
JSM 2008: A
Program You Won’t
Want to Miss
Jana Asher, SSS Program Chair
T
his year, the Social Statistics of the “baby boom” generation.
Section will be the primary spon- After lunch, the invited panelists will
sor for an exciting and diverse set discuss how younger statisticians and
of sessions, including four invited, three nontraditional statisticians are increas-
topic-contributed, and six contributed—a ingly leading new initiatives within the
total of 13. That number may seem famil- profession. Finally, you won’t want to
iar. In fact, there are exactly 13 general miss our social hour and business meet-
session slots on the JSM program, and the ing, where you can voice your opinion
SSS is the primary sponsor for exactly one about SSS initiatives and activities while
session in each slot. enjoying delicious munchies.
for reference value
Sunday, August 3, the SSS will spon- If Monday doesn’t exhaust you, check
studies specific
sor two contributed sessions: “Linear out the SSS offerings on Tuesday. An
to different ethnic
Modeling Methods for Education invited session, titled “Statistics Can Help
groups for diagnosing
Statistics and Other Social Statistics” at 2 Reduce Child Mortality,” challenges us
lung disease. At 2:30
p.m. and “Confirmatory Factor Analysis to improve monitoring and evaluation of
p.m., the contributed session
and Principal Components Analysis” at 4 aid programs. This session is sponsored by
“Modeling of Migration and
p.m. The first session will look at specific eight committees and sections and prom-
Social Networks” will bring together
analysis projects related to a kindergarten ises to be a popular and important event.
papers that explore respondent-driven
Spanish immersion program, high-school At 10:30 a.m., the winners of the Joint
sampling, the relationship between home
coursework and university student reten- Student Paper Competition (sponsored by
ownership and neighborhood stability,
tion, self and peer evaluations in a medi- SSS, GSS, and SRMS) will receive their
modeling of migrations flows, and social
cal school student survey, and modeling awards and present their papers in a topic-
network models.
of infant survival rates. The second will contributed session. Topics discussed dur-
If you are still with us on Thursday,
cover such topics as multiple confirmato- ing this session will include an approach to
two excellent sessions are planned. The
ry factor analysis, Toeplitz structures, and dual system estimation for the census via
first, at 8:30 p.m., is the invited session
multitrait and multimethod models. local post-stratification and the calculation
“Statistical Measures Can Help Restore
The next day is full, with a topic- of cell bounds and disclosure risks in con-
Confidence in U.S. Elections.” That ses-
contributed session titled “Value-Added tingency tables. At 2 p.m., SSS will spon-
sion will include a look at the first poll
Models for Student Achievements” at sor a contributed session, titled “Bayesian
on the experience of voters during the
8:30 a.m., a contributed session called Methods for the Social Sciences,” which
voting process, as well as information
“Rethinking Established Practice” at 10:30 will focus on Bayesian methods for a
about how ASA members are helping the
a.m., a roundtable with lunch at 12:30 diverse set of data, from crop insurance
voting reform process. Finally, at 10:30
p.m., an invited session titled “To the Nth contracts to electoral vote totals.
a.m., a contributed session titled “Causal
Power: Younger Statisticians Taking the Our jam-packed schedule continues
Inference and Factor Analysis in the Social
Lead” at 2 p.m., and the section’s open on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. with a topic-
Sciences” will complete the SSS program.
business meeting and social at 5:30 p.m. contributed session, titled “Recent
As well as being the primary sponsor for
The first session will include both the Developments in Transportation
these activities, the Social Statistics Section
study of teacher effects on student learn- Statistics.” That session will be followed
is a secondary sponsor for many other
ing and test score ceiling effects on teacher by an invited session, “Measuring Health
exciting sessions. Chances are that the SSS
and school rankings. The second session Care Disparities,” at 10:30 a.m., which
is cosponsoring a session of interest to you,
will look at many problematic aspects of will explore the relationship between
so check out the entire JSM 2008 program
established statistical practice, from poten- geographic area, race/ethnicity and health
at
www.amstat.org/meetings/jsm/2008/
tial dependency issues in meta-analysis to care disparities, discrimination in cancer
onlineprogram, and we’ll see you in Denver
the use of physics-based models for social screening, weight-loss interventions for
in August. n
science applications to the real beginning African-American women, and the need
JULY 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80