Kevin Ralston, SLS-DSU

Yesterday (27^th March) I attended the Advanced Methods Taster Event hosted by AQMeN, in the Grosvenor Hilton in Glasgow, where the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS) had a stand. The event was highly popular with around 100 delegates subscribed to attend.

Sessions included introductory talks from experts on subjects such as: Longitudinal Data Analysis (Prof Vernon Gayle), Multiple Imputation (Dr Markus Klein), Structural Equation Modelling (Dr Jan Eichhorn) and Statistical Models for Count Data (Dr Leslie Humphreys).

This meeting represented a great opportunity to raise awareness of the SLS amongst potential users from all kinds of background. During the day I managed to have conversations with people typical to the research community such as PhD students, academic researchers and local government workers, as well as people with more varied interests in data such as a corporate lawyer. It is one of the great strengths of AQMeN that the network incorporates people from different circumstances but who share an interest in cutting edge methods and ground-breaking research. This enabled me to discuss the merits of the SLS as a resource with potential users interested in all kinds of substantive subject areas, from a health researcher looking at cervical cancer, to another interested in relating business start-up rates to individual level factors.

Kev Ralston