Little, an educational psychology professor, started Stats Camp because of a dearth of statistical methodology experts at universities throughout the nation.
There are no campfires, s'mores, snipe hunting or tents at Todd Little's camp.
There are statistics – lots and lots of statistics.
Stats Camp, which Little founded, is sponsored by Texas Tech University and supported by the
Institute for Measurement, Methodology, Analysis & Policy, of which Little is director, and the College of Education. It came about because many colleges nationwide lack experts in the advanced statistical
techniques that social and behavioral science researchers should be using.
But don't worry, it's fun too. So fun, in fact, that many people come back year after
year.
“I joke that this is the one time when recidivism is a good thing,” Little, a professor
of educational psychology, said.
Stats Camp, which just finished its 14th year in early June, is an opportunity for
researchers from throughout the world to get a crash course on the methodological
programs and techniques needed to ensure the most accurate, most effective results
in social science research. It's held annually, this year at the Grapevine Courtyard/TownePlace
Suites complex outside of Dallas. It's a much needed and increasingly popular event
aimed at educating researchers on the newest statistical methods.
The need
When Little was working on his doctorate in the late 1980s, reviewers asked why he
used structural equation modeling instead of more “tried and true” methods like ANOVA
or Regression. He responded to those reviewers and journal editors explaining the
advantages of the techniques he used and the problems associated with the techniques
reviewers requested.
He converted them to his way of thinking, but found himself writing similar letters
frequently. Over and over again, he explained the mistaken assumptions on which the
old techniques were based and how these new techniques not only corrected those errors
but also opened new avenues of discovery.
“There's a lot of fear of uncertainty and risk aversion,” he said. “If researches
aren't trained in these best-practice techniques, they're going to use what they were
trained to use – what their advisers taught them. Their advisers are using what they
were trained to use. There's a fear of moving onto new techniques, particularly because
they require advanced training to learn and understand.”
The mistaken assumptions include accepting all data as equally relevant and assuming
a piece of data, once collected, is pristine. Especially in social sciences, where
Little works, this assumed quality of data frequently is not the case. Anytime questions
are being asked, there will be errors.
The danger of outdated, ineffective statistical methodology is researchers and others
base their findings on those results, and if the results are wrong, well, so is everything
built on top of the results.
“All the relationships you're looking for are going to be kind of masked by that
measurement error,” he said.
Not all of this is the result of intentionally holding onto bad methodology, he said.
Not every university has a professor who's an expert in advanced statistical techniques
like structural equation modeling and those universities that do may not have enough
experts to teach all of the graduate students who need it.
That lack makes Stats Camp, which gathers several experts as well as helps students
build relationships with those experts, a necessity for many researchers. For Kristy
Soloski, an assistant professor of marriage and family therapy at Texas Tech, Stats
Camp was important enough to write into her starting budget.
“As a professor and researcher, it's important to me to stay appraised of the current
statistical methods in the field,” she said. “With best practice methodologies constantly
changing and improving, I wanted to be sure I was up to date.”
The camp
The first Stats Camp was in 2003, when Little was a professor at the University of
Kansas. He put out a notice on various websites to see if anyone would be interested
in an intensive one-week course that would cover a semester's worth of statistical
methodology. At the end of the week he had the entire camp – all 13 of them – over
to his house for a barbecue.
About five years in he had to nix the backyard barbecue.
“We got to the point that we had so many people we had to rent a bus and bus them
to my house for this massive barbecue,” Little said. “I got really good at flipping
burgers.”
This year's camp had 285 campers, including some who stayed for both weeks. Most
are in academia, with a fairly even split between graduate students who are learning
how to do methodology and professors who have been using less effective methodology
throughout their careers. Depending on the subject, they get a few industry people,
but it's mostly academics.
Little teaches a course each week and brings in professors from throughout the world
to teach others. Courses include structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling,
psychometrics, meta-analysis, missing data, causal inference, program evaluation and
cost-benefit analysis and other programs and methods.
“If people come to Stats Camp, they're not going to get yesterday's understanding
of these modern statistics,” Little said. “They're going to get tomorrow's understanding,
because these are the people who are publishing the articles, who are moving the field
of statistics forward.”
He keeps the ratio of experts to participants low, as many of the participants bring
their data and get help during the camp. Students and faculty members from Texas Tech's
research evaluation measurement and statistics (REMS) program are on hand to help
people, as are all of the world-renowned professors who are teaching courses.
The evaluations are always good, Little said, with which first-time attendee Martin
Goetz, a doctoral student at the University of Switzerland, agreed.
“I highly enjoyed and greatly profited from both courses I took due to their breadth
as well as their depth,” he said. “Although the pace and level of the courses were
quite demanding, the instructors managed to keep everybody on board and, probably
more importantly, keep everybody motivated.
“I especially enjoyed all instructors grappling with each question from the audience
and providing valuable answers.”
Plus, it's camp, so it's fun – really! Little works hard to make camp fun. He and
the other teachers wear scout camp uniforms, complete with sashes decorated with patches
like the Stats Camp logo. Starting next year, participants get a patch for each course
they complete.
Plus, Stats Camp is a great way to meet other people in similar fields, put together
collaborative projects or find a like-minded spouse. With no small amount of pride,
Little said he's had a couple of bachelor and bachelorette parties during Stats Camp,
and one couple went on their honeymoon there.
The future
Soloski said she would recommend the camp to any researcher or consumer of research
because it helped her not only in her research but also in advising students.
“I mentor many graduate students who are in the process of conducting their own research,
and I am now able to counsel them on additional ways to conceptualize and model their
research questions and the best practice methods in the field,” she said. “In my research,
Stats Camp has helped me consider new means of examining my data and inspired me to
continue to pursue complex methods.
“Overall, it has provided me with the confidence to continue with and improve my
current line of research.”
Little hopes other researchers will listen to Stats Camp alumni. For the next few
years, at least, it likely will grow incrementally. He's adding three more courses
to the second week of camp next year, and he would like to see participation increase
by about 10 percent each year. If that happens by 2018, the last year he has the Grapevine
Courtyard/Townplace Suites reserved, the hotel and conference space will be about
maxed out. If he wants to keep growing, he'll have to find another space.
He's also looking into additional Stats Camp dates. Since many of his attendees come
from Europe, he may plan a smaller camp there in 2016. It may be somewhere warm and
sunny so he can hold the camp in January, or it may be a castle available for rent
near Konstanz, Germany.
Wherever students participate, it's a valuable resource. Goetz said when he met Little
he thought Little was just talking up his own program, but he only needed a few conversations
to realize this was an experience that would significantly move his research forward.
Despite all the intensity, participants have a good time on top of benefiting their
research.
“The energy in the classroom when people have traveled far and wide to be there is
different from the energy of somebody who's a student and has other concerns,” Little
said.