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Spring 2007 Tutorials

To register, please send email to researchservices@bc.edu with the names of the tutorials that you are interested in attending. 

Creating Web-based Surveys with SuveyMonkey

Survey Monkey offers a way to create surveys without complicated  programming or coding. Working within pre-defined templates, you can use several different types of questions, including text, multiple checkboxes, single-answer radio buttons, Likert scales. Once the survey is completed, data can be downloaded into a format that can be used with Excel, SPSS, or other analysis programs. The tutorial will cover:

  1. Getting started with Survey Monkey
  2. Creating and editing surveys
  3. Publishing the survey on the web
  4. Closing the survey and downloading data
  5. Online Survey analysis considerations

In addition to SurveyMonkey we will also briefly discuss other survey options.

2:00 - 3:00 Februry 1, 2007 Gasson 9

Intermediate Topics in Stata

This tutorial will 1) explore features of Stata, including how to record sequences of Stata commands and how to make simple modifications to the sequences of commands (ado and log files); and 2) discuss simple regression models and significance tests.

3:00 - 4:00 February 20, 200 7Gasson 9

Introduction to LATEX

Latex is a typesetting system that produces high-quality text, graphics, and mathematical formulae. This workshop provides a short introduction to creating articles and intended for users with no prior knowledge of Latex.  Topics include:

  1. What is Latex?
  2. Getting Started: free/shareware distributions for Windows and Mac
  3. Good references on Latex
  4. The layout of an article
  5. Commands, environments, and special characters
  6. Typesetting text and mathematical formulae
  7. Creating pdf documents

1:00 - 2:30 February 26, 2007 Gasson 9

Introduction to Linux

Linux is one of the most popular operating systems on supercomputers. This tutorial give an overview of Unix/Linux.  This tutorial will use Boston College's new Linux Cluster for specific examples of how to use Linux.  Topics covered include

  1. Remote login to the Linux Cluster
  2. Changing passwords
  3. An overview of basic Unix/Linux commands
  4. Editiors: vi and emacs

2:00 - 3:00 March 6, 2007 Gasson 9

Introduction to the Linux Cluster

The Linux cluster at Boston College consists of 26 compute nodes connected by a fast Ethernet. Each node has 2 dual core 2.6GHz AMD Opteron processors. This tutorial discusses the code development environment. It will introduce:

  1. The hardware
  2. The compilers
  3. How to run job
  4. How to Optimize code
  5. The parallel programming models: MPI and OpenMP
  6. Basic debugging

2:00 - 3:00 March 12, 2007 Gasson 9

Introduction to Stata

STATA is a powerful and yet easy to use statistical package. This hands-on tutorial is designed as an introduction for beginning users who are just getting started using STATA. No prior knowledge of STATA is required. The following topics will be covered:

  1. Overview of STATA, including how STATA compares to the other most popular statistical packages and special features of STATA.
  2. Getting started with STATA
  3. Working with Data in STATA:
  4. STATA graphs.

3:00 - 4:00 February 6, 2007  Gasson 9

Introduction to Qualitative Analysis Using NVIVO 7

This workshop provides an introductory demonstration of how to use NVIVO 7 for qualitative analysis. NVIVO 7 can be used to manage large amounts of qualitative data, to code and re-code qualitative data, to keep an audit trail of the analysis process, and to support both individual researchers and research teams in discussing coding and analysis issues. This course is intended for beginning and intermediate users who have had some exposure the methodologies and theories of qualitative analysis.

 This workshop will be given in a demonstration (non-hands on) format:

  1. Qualitative research design
  2. Source Preparation
  3. NVIVO 7 Project Views (List, Navigation, Detail)
  4. Nodes;
  5. Models;
  6. Queries;
  7. Journals;
  8. Starting a project in NVIVO 7.

Additional information on qualitative software and resources at Boston College will be presented as well.

2:00 - 3:00 February 15, 2007 Gasson 9

MATLAB 1 (Introduction)

MATLAB fundamentals provide a working introduction to the MATLAB technical computing environment. Matlab can be used with all aspects Mathematical computation, analysis, visualization, and algorithm development. This course is intended for beginning and intermediate users. No prior knowledge of MATLAB is required. Themes of vector  and matrix data analysis, graphical visualization, data modeling, and MATLAB programming are explored in the context of realistic examples.

This Matlab hands-on practice workshop will present:

  1. Getting started with Matlab;
  2. A description of some toolboxes;
  3. Use of Matlab help; basic commands; 
  4. Variable representation in Matlab and work with variables;
  5. Simple computations and how to build programs in Matlab (m files);
  6. Data importing and data analysis examples;
  7. Matlab graphics capabilities;

Additional information on Matlab software and resources at Boston College will be presented as well.

2:00 - 3:00 January 31, 2007 Gasson 9

MATLAB 2 (Graphs and Visualization)

The type of graph needed in a specific project depends on the nature of available data and  on what is intended to reveal about the data. MATLAB predefines many graph types,  such as line, bar, histogram, and pie graphs. There are also 3-D graphs, such as surfaces, slice planes, and streamlines.  There are two basic ways to create graphs in MATLAB: 1) Use plotting tools to create graphs interactively; 2) Use the command interface to enter commands in the Command Window or create plotting programs (m files).

This Matlab hands-on practice workshop will focus on m-files to produce graphics, data visualization, and animation. We will show:

  1. Samples of 2D plots;
  2. Subplots;
  3. Samples of 3D Plots;
  4. How to create animations

Examples presented (m files) can be easily modified and applied to your specific  experimental or model data.

2:00 - 3:00 February 7, 2007 Gasson 9

MATLAB 3 (Statistics)

This MATLAB hands-on practice workshop will focus on the statistical toolbox and illustrate some of the methods used in univariate, and bivariate statistics. The objective is to learn to work with data in the MATLAB environment, compute basic descriptive statistics, and visualize data in a variety of ways. Participants should have knowledge of  MATLAB at the level of previous two workshops and Applied Statistics.

  1. Descriptive statistics: Measures of center, spread, and shape, Statistical plotting. Histograms, scatter plots, and box plots
  2. Review the basics of probability and random variables and explore the variety of probability distributions available in the Statistics Toolbox, including  Random variables, Sampling distributions, and Bootstrapping
  3. Explore regression analysis for bivariate data: Regression concepts. Linear and nonlinear models. Scatter plots, and Correlation and covariance
  4. Linear least squares, Polynomial fitting, and  Graphical user interface tools for linear regression

2:00 - 3:00 February 14, 2007 Gasson 9

MATLAB 4 (Multivariate statistics)

This MATLAB hands-on practice workshop will focus on THE statistical toolbox and illustrate some of the methods used multivariate statistics. The objective is  to extend the concepts of the previous workshop (Statistics)  to data sets with many variables and introduce specialized techniques for multivariate analysis and visualization.  Participants should have knowledge of  MATLAB at the level of  previous three workshops, Applied Statistics, and Linear algebra.

One of the difficulties in multivariate statistics is the problem of visualizing data that has many variables. In data sets with many variables, groups of variables often move together, in the sense that more than one variable might be measuring the same driving principle governing the behavior of the system. In many systems there are only a few such driving forces, and you can take advantage of this redundancy of information. You can simplify the problem by replacing a group of variables with a single new
variable. Principal components analysis is a quantitatively rigorous method for achieving this simplification. We will illustrate this method using an example to address:

  1. Principal Components Analysis
  2. The Principal Component Coefficients
  3. The Component Scores
  4. The Component Variances
  5. Hotelling's T2
  6. Visualizing the Results of a Principal Components Analysis  -The Biplot

2:00 - 3:00 February 21, 2007 Gasson 9

Introduction to ArcGIS  9

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used today to analyze and represent data with  geographical reference on maps. It is widely used in academia, private industry and government agencies and the number of applications is increasing.  ArcGIS Desktop GIS software products from the Environmental Research Systems Institute (ESRI) are used to  compile, author, analyze, map, and publish geographic information and knowledge.  ArcGIS Desktop is a scalable suite of GIS products that starts with ArcReader and
extends to ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo -- one of the most powerful and widespread GIS product available today.

This session will introduce users to:

  1. GIS software, data and technical support at Boston College;
  2. Main ArcGIS features and capabilities (ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcTool, ArcGlobe);
  3. Extensions and capabilities (Spatial Analyst, Geostatistical Analyst, etc);

Demos using Census data and demos using Environmental data.

2:00 - 3:00 February 28, 2007 Gasson 9