Important: please discuss your education and training needs with your supervisor
Graduate Programme in Cognitive and Brain Sciences
A compulsory seminar programme for first-year graduate students (except for SDP MPhil students) which has been jointly established by the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry. This consists of a weekly series of theoretical seminars presented by senior researchers during Michaelmas and Lent Terms.
Dates: Mondays during Michaelmas term 2012
Time: 4-5.30pm
Venue: Lectures are divided between the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit West Wing Seminar Room (first four lectures of each term) and the Department of Psychology main building 2nd floor Seminar Room (last four lectures of each term).
Credits: 1 credit per 2 seminars
There are 16 seminars in total. Each graduate student is expected to attend a minimum of 10 graduate seminars in their first year, and have attended 16 seminars by the end of their second year.
Details of the seminars can be found at http://www.talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/9469 and abstracts and suggested reading can be found at http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/research/seminars/mondaylectures.html.
Statistics courses
There are several statistics courses provided which will be of use to postgraduates. You should ask your supervisor for guidance as to which course(s) will be most appropriate for you.
a) Fundamentals of Statistical Analysis and Analysis of Variance (Mike Aitken)
Postgraduate students who wish to consolidate their study of statistics are welcome to attend the lecture courses provided for final year Psychology undergraduates by Mike Aitken.
The course runs over 5 weeks. Each week has 2 lectures (Thursday and Friday), with a 2 hour SPSS class the following Monday.
Fundamentals of Statistical Analysis
Lecture Dates: 11, 12, 18, 19, 25 & 26 October 2012
Time: 2pm-3pm
Venue: Psychology Lecture Theatre, Psychological Laboratory, Downing Site
Class Dates: 15, 22, 29 October 2012
Time: 2pm-4pm
Venue: Titan Teaching Rooms
Credits: 4
Introduction to Analysis of Variance
Lecture Dates: 15, 16, 22, 23 November 2012
Time: 2pm-3pm
Venue: Psychology Lecture Theatre, Psychological Laboratory, Downing Site
Class Dates: 19 & 26 November 2012
Time: 2pm-4pm
Venue: Titan Teaching Rooms
Credits: 3
More information and course materials are available at http://www.library.psychol.cam.ac.uk/
b) Statistical Methods for Cognitive Psychologists (Peter Watson)
Level: This is a course planned with the needs in mind of a graduate student starting as a PhD student at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences.
Style: The presentation will be as fairly formal lectures, each aiming
- to outline a particular class of methods,
- to give examples of it being applied to realistic situations,
- to indicate how to implement it using software available at CBU.
Time: 11am-12 noon
Venue: West Wing Lecture Theatre of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Chaucer Road
Credits: 1 credit per 3 lectures
Dates: Thursdays in Michaelmas as listed below (the schedule and lecture notes will also be posted on the MRC-CBU wiki).
|
Date |
Topic |
|
04-Oct-12 |
Exploratory Data Analysis |
|
11-Oct-12 |
Simple and multiple linear regression |
|
18-Oct-12 |
The General Linear Model and complex designs including Analysis of Covariance |
|
25-Oct-12 |
Categorical Data Analysis |
|
08-Nov-12 |
ANOVA of balanced multi-factorial designs: between subject designs, and single subject studies |
|
15-Nov-12 |
Repeated Measures and Mixed Model ANOVA |
|
22-Nov-12 |
Post-hoc tests, multiple comparisons, contrasts and handling interactions |
|
29-Nov-12 |
Power analysis |
|
06-Dec-12 |
Latent variable models: factor analysis and all that |
c) Statistics for Graduate Biologists
For those postgraduates starting in January, or those unable to attend the courses described above, a course with similar content is provided by the Graduate School of Life Sciences in January-February 2012 (‘Statistics for Graduate Biologists’ organised by Dr Brian McCabe). See the following website for details http://www.training.cam.ac.uk/gsls/course/gsls-statsgradbiol.
Other courses in transferable and general research skills are available from the Graduate School of Life Sciences. Further information can be found on their webpage.
d) Graduate Class in Methods (Professor Mark Haggard)
Three classes of 2 hours’ duration in Lent Term. Graduates in all years are welcome, and many re-attend in later years.
Understanding of methods is an important generic career skill for anyone in science, but one with which most graduates have traditionally been very inadequately supplied. For certain phenomena, very simple data, designs and particular statistical tests are adequate, or are all that can be done, and so are most appropriate. But it is unproductive to lock careers into these limited spaces. The ability to fully apply a range of more powerful techniques is best learned not by abstract coverage at the outset, but by fully applying them to data in which the learner has a stake. That is not offered in this course, although students are encouraged to bring problems along for a discussion section within the 2-hour format. Many errors of method result from ignorance or self-deception concerning pitfalls in method and the existence of techniques to address them. The classes convey awareness of these issues, of the reasoning behind the statistical solutions to research challenges, and a range of strategies and techniques for overcoming problems. Most of what you “know” (eg that ANCOVA requires a normal distribution of the dependent variable) is expressed in ways that make it at best misleading. Measurement, inference and generalisation are covered, not just statistical testing of hypotheses, which is a sometimes unproductive fetish. Specific topics include; trade-offs in design, power, adequacy of data, missing data, models, multivariable regression, up- and down-grading measurement level, transformations and interactions. The considerable need for methodological advice in the planning stage (Michaelmas Term) is covered by a consultancy service, which has also shaped the course: mph38@cam.ac.uk
Time: 4 pm
Dates: Wednesday 23 & 30 Jan, 6 Feb 2013
Venue: Psychology Main Lecture Room (Ground Floor)
Credits: 2
e) The Psychometrics Centre (Professor John Rust)
Psychometrics Courses
The Psychometrics Centre provides several courses on psychometric test development and use, ranging from simply putting a classical test online to designing and implementing your own adaptive test using our open-source test development platform, Concerto.
Lectures
Professor John Rust, Michal Kosinski and David Stillwell run a four-session programme during the Michaelmas term that covers the basis of both classical and modern psychometric methods.
Dates: Mondays 5, 12, 19 & 26 November 2012
Time: 4pm-6pm
Venue: Arts School B, New Museums Site
Credits: 2
Topics include
(i) Introduction to psychometrics and the psychometric principles,
(ii) Classical test development and testing via the internet,
(iii) Programming in R and Item Response Theory and
(iv) Getting the most out of your online test.
This course is compulsory for MPhil Social and Developmental Psychology students, but PhD students who are designing, developing and implementing ability, personality or any other kind of psychometric test as part of their project are encouraged to attend. The course is part of the Social Sciences Research Methods Programme, so booking is essential: http://www.training.cam.ac.uk/jsss/event-timetable (it is necessary to log in to the system via Raven authentication; booking starts after the 3rd October).
Workshop
For students and staff in the Department who want to use Concerto in their research project, a one day workshop will be held from 9.30am to 5pm on the 24th October 2012 in the 2nd floor Seminar Room, Psychology Building, Downing Site. The workshop will take you through the process of putting your test online. Concerto is remarkably flexible, enabling you to introduce graphics, flash, videos, sound etc. into you presentation page, to use the R programming language to choose which items to present (making the test adaptive) and to save your data and produce reports in any number of formats. This is a hands-on workshop with worked examples, so bring your own laptops and be prepared to work hard. Registration in advance is essential. To register please send an email to: contact@psychometrics.cam.ac.uk
Credits: 1 credit
Seminars
The Cambridge Psychometrics Centre Seminars, held fortnightly on Tuesdays in the 2nd Floor Seminar Room, Psychology Building, Downing Site at 4.00pm, provides a great opportunity for researchers at every stage to learn about advances in psychometrics and observe how modern techniques are applied in real life examples. For dates and details of seminars see http://www.psychometrics.cam.ac.uk/page/47/seminar-series.htm
If you wish to be kept informed, register here http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/21087
Credits:1 credit per 3 seminars
f) The Social Sciences Research Methods Centre
The Social Sciences Research Methods Centre (SSRMC) training programme of the University of Cambridge School of Humanities and Social Science provides training courses on statistical methods, primarily aimed at postgraduate students in psychology, sociology, economics, international relations and politics.
For details see the SSRMC timetable. Places are limited so book early. (it is necessary to log in to the system via Raven authentication; booking starts after the 3rd October).
g) Basic and Advanced Statistical Techniques Using R (Dr Alex Kogan)
Module 1: Basics of R
Topics include:
What is R, data objects, data manipulation, R-Studio, reading/writing CSV files, basic plotting of data (histograms, scatterplots).
Duration: 5 hours
Credits: 0.5
Module 2: Regressions in R
Topics include:
Correlations, single predictor regressions, multiple predictor regressions, interactions, simple slopes, categorical variables, interactions with categorical variables, mediations, power analysis.
Duration: 20 hours
Credits: 1.5
Module 3: Multilevel and Dyadic Analysis in R
Topics include:
Two-level models, three-level models, actor-partner interdependence modelling, dyadic daily diary analysis techniques.
Duration: 15 hours
Credits: 1
Programming courses
a) MATLAB (Professor John Mollon)
Professor John Mollon (Department of Psychology) runs a short course entitled 'Introduction to MatLab for experimental control', consisting of three 2-hour sessions. This course is intended for those who have never programmed before. The emphasis will be on using MatLab to control experiments, but the course will serve to introduce the basic concepts of computing. Much of the course will be spent in practical work, using the classroom computers. This course is truly for beginners: if you already have some experience of programming, please do not come along to this strictly introductory course.
Dates: Monday 22 October, Thursday 25 October, Monday 29 October 2012
Time: 9am-11am
Venue: Ground-floor Classroom, Department of Psychology, Downing Site
Credits: 2
b) University Programming Courses - Programming courses are also offered by the University Computing Service (see http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/courses).
Neuroimaging courses
SPM
Dr Rik Henson (MRC-CBU) will give 4 lectures in the Lent term on the basics of statistical parametric mapping (SPM), one of the main statistical tools for analyzing brain imaging data, both fMRI and EEG/MEG.
Dates: Thursdays: 21 Feb, 28 Feb, 7 March and 14 March 2013
Time: 11am-1pm
Venue: West Wing Lecture Theatre of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Chaucer Road
Credits: 3
Departmental seminars
The Department has a series of weekly colloquia, the Zangwill Club, every Friday during full term throughout the academic year. You should aim to attend at least 10 Zangwill Club talks each academic year.
Zangwill Club
Dates: Every Friday during full term
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Department of Psychology Lecture Theatre
Website: http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/6342
The Department also hosts Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars and Social and Developmental Psychology Seminars. The MRC-Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit hold weekly seminars, the Chaucer Club, at the MRC-CBU on Chaucer Road on Thursdays throughout the year. International and national speakers present current research on a wide range of topics in areas relating to brain and cognition at these colloquia. Students may choose to attend these seminars to supplement their graduate education, in discussion with their supervisors.
Chaucer Club
Dates: Every Thursday during full term
Time: 3.30pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
Website: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/research/seminars/chaucer.html
Social and Developmental Psychology Seminars
Dates: Alternating Tuesdays during full term
Time: 1.00pm
Venue: Seminar Room, Free School Lane
Website: http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/9110
Credits for the Zangwill Club, Chaucer Club and SDP Seminars: 1 credit per 3 seminars
You should also check http://talks.cam.ac.uk/ for other seminar series that may be of interest to you.
Other possible sources of training
In addition, credits can be earned by attendance at appropriate local seminars of the relevant research groups, attendance at relevant Part II or other teaching courses as recommended by the student’s supervisor on an individual basis, and any other relevant courses organised by the graduate school. Please see the website of the Graduate School of Life Sciences for credit values.