The Summer Program in Data Analysis (SPIDA) 2005, an eight-day series of workshops and lectures organized by York University's Institute for Social Research, will wrap up its activities with a unique one-day symposium on "bootstrapping".
Far from being a loop of leather on a pair of boots, in modern data analysis bootstrapping refers to a widely applicable statistical tool used to measure the precision of "estimates" made from a sample, such as the range of true values when it is found, for example, that in a survey of 1000 people, 70 per cent of Canadians do not want an election now. The value of the bootstrap is that it is applicable to a very wide range of statistical measures and can be used with complex samples, such as samples of housing units selected in a sample of neighbourhoods in a city. Bootstrapping is now part of the modern data analyst's toolbox.
Sponsored by York’s Institute for Social Research and its Statistical Consulting Service, the symposium will take place in the Robert McEwen Auditorium, W141 Seymour Schulich Bldg., on the Keele campus. This one-day public event features a morning presentation by Robert Stine, from the University of Pennsylvania, who will present a strategic overview of bootstrapping. In the afternoon, a panel discussion and presentations will feature methodological research and examples of bootstrapping.
The Friday, June 3, symposium is open to the public. It will run from 9-4pm and while there are no fees to attend, registration is requested to help organizers plan the event.
For more information on this symposium, visit the SPIDA 2005 Web site.