SC705: Advanced Statistics
Fall 2013
Monday/Wednesday 3:00 – 4:15 pm
O’Neill 245
Professor: Sara Moorman
Office: 404 McGuinn Hall
Office hours: 8:45-9:45 am Monday; 1:45-2:45 pm Wednesday
E-mail: moormans@bc.edu
About the Course
This applied course is designed for students in sociology, education, nursing, organizational
studies, political science, psychology, or social work with a prior background in statistics at the
level of SC 703: Multivariate Statistics. It assumes a strong grounding in multivariate regression
analysis. The major topics of the course will include hierarchical linear modeling and structural
equation modeling.
Required Textbooks
Acock, Alan C. 2013. Discovering Structural Equation Modeling Using Stata.
ISBN: 9781597181334
Hox, Joop. 2010. Multilevel Analysis: Techniques and Applications (2nd ed.).
ISBN: 9781848728462
Software
This course requires the use of the program Stata. It is available on the computers in McGuinn
410, the Sociology graduate student lounge. For use on your own computer, you have two
options: (1) access the program through remote connection to apps.bc.edu, or (2) purchase the
program through BC’s Research Services.
Assessment
Grading scale
A
93 – 100%
B
83 – 86%
F
0 – 59%
Task
SEM project
Presentation
HLM project
AB-
90 – 92%
80 – 82%
Due date
October 28
December 9/11
December 15
B+
C
87 – 89%
60 – 79%
Percentage of grade
40
20
40
Assignments (More detail to follow later in the semester)
I find that the best way to learn statistics is to practice them on real data that mean something to
you. Therefore, the major products of this course will be two sets of analyses, one using SEM
and one using HLM. For each, you’ll produce a chunk of a journal article, including methods,
results, tables, and any helpful figures. You will leave off introduction/lit review and discussion
sections, except for a paragraph or two to set up the research question and draw a conclusion
SC705 Advanced Statistics
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about it. At the end of the semester, you’ll give a conference-style presentation about one of your
projects (your choice).
Submitting Your Work
 You should e-mail me your projects as Word documents, and your presentation slides as
pdf documents.
 All materials are due by 11:59 pm on their due dates. I will not accept late work.
Academic Honesty
Cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and other academic offenses will result in (a) automatic failure
of the assignment, and (b) a report to the Dean and the Committee on Academic Integrity. For
further information, please review BC’s policies on academic integrity at: www.bc.edu/integrity
Schedule
Date
September 4
September 9
September 11
September 16
September 18
September 23
September 25
September 30
October 2
October 7
October 9
October 14
October 16
October 21
October 23
October 28
October 30
November 4
November 6
November 11
November 13
November 18
November 20
November 25
November 27
December 2
December 4
December 9
December 11
Topic
Using Stata
OLS regression: Review and diagnostics
Locating and using data for secondary research
Measurement models
Measurement models
Structural models
Structural models
Structural equation models
Structural equation models
Structural equation models
Structural equation models
*No class: Columbus Day*
Multigroup models
Multigroup models
Between- and within- group variance
Random intercept models
Random coefficient models
Random coefficient models
Binary outcomes
Three-level models
Repeated measures models
Repeated measures models
*To be determined*
Growth curve modeling
*No class: Thanksgiving*
Growth curve modeling
Growth curve modeling
*Presentations*
*Presentations*
Reading
Acock Chapter 1
Acock Chapter 2
Acock Chapter 3
Acock Chapter 5
Hox Chapter 1
Hox pp. 59-63; 68-69
Hox Chapter 2
Hox Chapters 3 and 4
Hox Chapter 6
Hox pp. 32-36
Hox Chapter 5
Acock Chapter 4
Hox Chapter 16