HCS 7310 Advanced Research Methods:

Secondary Data Analysis Using Public Access Data Sets

Summer 2007
Instructor: Margaret Tresch Owen
Office: GR 4.826
Office Hours: by appointment this summer
Email: mowen@utdallas.edu
Phone: 972-883-6876

Course Description: In this course you will learn to how to utilize public data sets to address research questions in
psychological science. You will learn how various extant public data sets pertinent to developmental psychology can
be utilized to address a wide variety of important research questions. We will focus primarily on the use of
longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child
Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), becoming familiar with the data sets and formulating and implementing a
data analysis plan formulated to address an empirical question about development.

NICHD SECCYD data from 1,364 families have been collected since their infants’ birth in 1991. The study covers
demographic, family, maternal, paternal, and child care provider, teacher, school and classroom characteristics; child
social and emotional outcomes; language development; cognitive skills; school readiness; growth and health measures;
school achievement; and much more. It includes data collected by observation, testing, face-to-face and phone
interviews, and questionnaires. The data sets from Phases I, II, and III (birth through grade 6) of the SECCYD are
available for public use. (Data from Phase IV, extending through age 15 should become available within the next 2
years.) We will go through the process to acquire the data and use it throughout the course (and beyond if there is need
and interest). The data have been extensively documented. This course is designed to introduce the SECCYD study
and its available data sets so that you can independently use the NICHD SECCYD data bases for original scholarship
and publications.

Over the semester you will produce (1) a proposal for an original study focused on an aspect of child development
through secondary data analyses of the SECCYD data, (2) IRB approval for conducting your proposed study, (3) data
analyses of your study questions using the SECCYD data, and (4) a draft of a research paper prepared for submission
to a professional journal.

You will sign a security pledge for use of sensitive data from the NICHD SECCYD and receive CDs containing the
public data sets of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development and extensive data documentation.

Class Logistics:
We will work together from 9am to 2pm, May 7 - May 11 and May 15 - 17. On most days, a couple hours will be
devoted to lecture, but you will be working with the data—both individually and collaboratively—for a good portion
of each day. Plan to meet in my research lab. Bring a laptop if you have one. I have 2 laptops and 1 desktop computer
with SAS and SPSS PC statistical software and 1 additional desktop computer that can access SAS on the mainframe.

Course Requirements:
Course grades will be given based on (1) class participation (proposal presentation with analysis plan, contributions to
and discussion of proposal presentations)—20% and (2) completion of class exercises to build your skills in working
with the data sets—20%, and (3) research paper—60%, which will be submitted in stages with feedback provided. The
timeline for submission of the final research paper and early drafts of its components will be later this summer, after
May 17, and these deadlines will be finalized as our work progresses through the 2-week course of intensive work with
the data.

Recommended texts/readings:

1. The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Findings for children up to Age 4 ½. U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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2. McCartney, K., Burchinal, M.R., & Bub, K.LO. (2006). Best practices in quantitative methods for
developmentalists. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Serial No. 285, 7 (3). [online]

3. American Psychological Association Publication Manual and/or writer’s handbook

Easy guide for APA reference list: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPAReferences_Book.html

The following are useful, but we can share my copies:

4. Cody, R.P., & Smith, J.K. (2006). Applied statistics and the SAS programming language. Fifth edition. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

5. Aiken, L.S. & West, S.G. (1991). Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Newbury Park, NJ:
Sage.

AND: Review the literature related to your formulated research question.

Class Schedule:

May 7 Public access data sets for psychological research: pros and cons
Widely used public data sets
Data User Responsibilities

Introduction of the NICHD SECCYD:

Overview of the Study
Schedule of Data Collection
Orientation to using the Data and Documentation
Demographic Data
Family Data

Exercises: Becoming familiar with data documentation files (Instrument

Documentation, CCDRs, variable list pdfs)

Searching for variables and their documentation on the NICHD SECCYD Phase I,
Phase II, and Phase III CD-ROMs: measures of depression; measures of parenting; demographics,
changes in the household over time

Readings:
NICHD ECCRN. (2001). Nonmaternal care and family factors in early development: An overview of
the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Journal of Applied DevelopmentalPsychology, 22, 457-492.

May 8 NICHD SECCYD: Child Care Data

Child Social Data
Peer Data
Cognitive Data

Exercises: I. Creating an analysis data set from multiple data sets within and across study Phases
to address the question, “Are constructs stable over time?” e.g., externalizing behavior problems,
academic skills, social competence [pick one of these, work in pairs]

Readings:
McCartney, Burchinal, & Bub. Measurement issues and psychometric methods in
developmental research. (Chp. 2)

NICHD ECCRN (2005). Duration and developmental timing of poverty and children’s cognitive and
social development from birth through third grade. Child Development, 76, 795-810.

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May 9 NICHD SECCYD: Health data
Child care longitudinal data
Supplementary data sets
Raw data sets

Selection factors and controls

Documenting analysis programs and summarizing output
Working with longitudinal data

Exercises: Selection factors in naturalistic studies

Identify variables, formulate analysis data set, analyze data to answer one of the
questions below [We will discuss the steps to be taken in addressing the question and work in teams]:

(1) What family selection factors should be controlled for a study of the effects of early entry into
child care for school readiness at 4 ½ years?

(2) What family factors should be controlled for a study of associations between attending a high-risk
school and school achievement in grade 3?

or

II. Identifying subsets of the participants: (1) children whose parents separate or divorce by age 3 and
by age 5; (2) children who enter child care at different ages: before 3 months, 3-6 months, 7-12
months, 13-24 months, 25-36 months, 37-54 months; (3) children with unmarried parents

Readings:
NICHD ECCRN. (1999). Chronicity of maternal depressive symptoms, maternal sensitivity, and child
functioning at 36 months. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1297-1310.
Burchinal, M., & Nelson, L. (1000). Family selection and child care experiences: Implications for
studies of child outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15, 385-411.

May 10 Longitudinal data analysis: Growth trajectories

Exercises in a.m.: Julia Klausli will demonstrate and instruct in the use of SAS PROC MIXED for
analyzing longitudinal data and we will work to apply the analysis program to longitudinal analyses of different
longitudinally measured family factors and child outcomes: marital intimacy, maternal sensitivity, paternal sensitivity,
child victimization, social competence.

Readings:
McCartney, Burchinal, & Bub (2006). Chapter IV. Growth curve analysis: an introduction to various
methods for analyzing longitudinal data. Best practices in quantitative methods for developmentalists.
Monographs.

(opt.) Raudenbush, S.W. (2001). Comparing personal trajectories and drawing causal inferences
from longitudinal data. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 501-525.

Exercises in p.m.: Begin to form your project’s analysis data set.

May 11 Missing data

Due: Brief presentations of proposed empirical study: study aims and

justification
Class discussion of the proposed papers and analytic plans.

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 Exercises: I. IRB proposal (submit after class today)

II. Finish formulating your study data set and examine variable descriptives.

III. Attrition analyses:

(1) Identifying differences between families who drop out versus retained participants.
(2) Identifying differences between children with missing data (e.g., those who do not
have teacher reports, grade 3) and those without missing data (are the data “ignorably missing”?)

Readings:
McCartney, Burchinal, & Bub. Missing data: What to do with or without them.

May 15 Multiple regression analyses and testing interactions

Mediation and moderation

Exercises: finalize formation of data set for your research study and begin data analysis.

Readings:
McCartney, Burchinal, & Bub (2006) Chapter V. Contemporary advances and classic advice for
analyzing mediating and moderating variables.

Mediation of associations and tests of mediation: http://www.unc.edu/~preacher/sobel/sobel.htm

May 16 Effect size

Exercises: Data analysis for your study. Effect size determinations and comparisons.

Readings:
McCartney, Burchinal, & Bub (2006). Chapter VII. The practical importance of findings.

Kline, R.B. (2004). Parametric effect size indexes. Beyond significance testing. (pp. 95-143).
Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

McCartney, K. & Rosenthal, R. (2000). Effect size, practical importance, and social policy for
children. Child Development, 71, 173-180.

May 17 Wrapping up

Due: 500-word abstract of study purpose, analysis plan, and findings to date.

Presentation and discussion of your findings

Exercises: data analysis and refinements based on feedback from presentations

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