October

Statistical Advocate of the Year award winner Steven Levitt and his Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics co-author Stephen Dubner are coming to Chicago on November 3rd to speak at WBBM's Newsmaker Series! The CCASA has reserved 20 seats - and you have the opportunity to be in one of them!

Tickets are $45 and include a 3-course plated lunch, the Freakonomics presentation, a Q&A and book signing. This is also an excellent opportunity to network with your peers!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010
11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Navy Pier Grand Ball Room
600 E Grand Ave, Chicago IL 60611

Register here!

Remember, there are only 20 reserved tickets to sit at one of our CCASA tables! If you do not get one of the 20 reserved tickets, you may still pay to attend the luncheon, but must go through the LinkedIn event page.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Noon to 1:30PM
The East Bank Club
500 N. Kingsbury, Chicago 60610

Please join us for another exciting talk in the CCASA's 2010-2011 Luncheon program!

This month's presenter, David Henry, Ph.D., is Professor of Health Policy and Administration at University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Health Research and Policy. Quoting from the institutes web site: "Dr. Henry studies contextual processes that influence individual behavior, child and adolescent development and psychopathology, and prevention." He has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics and has been the principal investigator/co-investigator grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others.

Abstract

Norms of social settings are typically measured by using the mean of individual reports. Investigating norms for nonviolent problem solving, this study assessed the added value of calculating two additional characteristics: the range of acceptable behaviors and the degree of consensus among individuals in each school setting. Using data from 5,386 participants in a violence prevention project (74 classes), this paper illustrates construction of measures based on the Return Potential Model of Norms. In addition, it will report the cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of the range of acceptable behavior and consensus on aggression, beliefs about aggression, self-efficacy for nonviolence, and beliefs about nonviolence. Each aspect of norms measured showed acceptable school-level reliability. Mean approval predicted beliefs about aggression, self efficacy, and beliefs about nonviolence. With school means already in the model, the range of acceptable behaviors predicted additional cross-sectional variance in all four outcomes. Consensus predicted aggression and beliefs about nonviolence beyond other characteristics. Mean approval and consensus had effects on growth in at least one outcome. Discussion focuses on the importance of setting-level measurement and implications for intervention.

Lunch is $30 for CCASA members, $35 for non-members. Non-members, join the chapter for a year for only $15 and get the discount plus all of the other benefits of membership! As usual, the Lucile Derrick Fund will purchase a limited number of tickets for students who wish to attend. If you are a student and would like to take advantage of this offer, please register online below, and contact Gerald Funk, expressing your interest.

Please e-mail Gerald Funk at gfunk@luc.edu or call at 773-508-3561 for more information.

Register online now at http://www.123signup.com/calendar?Org=chicagoasa

The Northeastern Illinois Chapter of the American Statistical Association (NIC-ASA) is hosting its Fall Meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. TOMORROW, Wednesday, October 20, 2010, which happens to be the first ever World Statistics Day. Join your fellow statisticians for talks presented by Professor Don Hedeker of UIC, Professor James Dignam of University of Chicago, and Professor Dulal K. Bhaumik of UIC.

The meeting will be held TOMORROW Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Northbrook, IL. Pre-registration has closed, but tickets are still available at the registration table. For registration information, click here or e-mail Serena Chan at schan@tgrd.com.

The program schedule is as follows:

11:00 - 11:30 - Registration
11:30 - 12:30 - Luncheon
12:30 - 12:45 - Opening Remarks and 2011 Elections
12:45 - 1:45 - "Mixed Models For Longitudinal Ordinal And Nominal Data" (Don Hedeker, Professor of Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago)
1:45 - 2:45 - "Analysis of Competing Risks" (James Dignam, Associate Professor of Biostatistics, University of Chicago)
2:45 - 3:00 - Break
3:00 - 4:00 - "Meta Analysis for Rare Event Studies" (Dulal K Bhaumik, Professor of Biostatistics and Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago)

If you wish to attend the sessions (and not the luncheon), members pay $30 and non-members pay $40. Student members have free admission and student non-members pay $1.

For attendance at the luncheon as well as the sessions, members pay $55 and non-members pay $65; student members pay $15 and student non-members pay $16. The NIC-ASA will now send announcements, such as save-the-date memos, registration information, and Statfax newsletters via a new email address (nic.amstat@gmail.com), effective September 2010. If you would like to join our mailing list, please subscribe by sending an email to nic.amstat@gmail.com. Note that if you had previously subscribed to the NIC-ASA listserv, then you should be on the new mailing list. Look out for a message soon. NIC-ASA news also is available on the Chapter's website.

The United Nations Statistics Division is pleased to support the first-ever World Statistics Day on 10.20.2010.

Why a World Statistics Day?
The celebration of the World Statistics Day will acknowledge the service provided by the global statistical system at national and international level, and hope to help strengthen the awareness and trust of the public in official statistics. It serves as an advocacy tool to further support the work of statisticians across different settings, cultures, and domains.

What Should I Expect?
On World Statistics Day, activities at national level will highlight the role of official statistics and the many achievements of the national statistical system. International, regional and sub-regional organizations will complement national activities with additional events.

Please click here for more information on World Statistics Day.

The National Statistics Month (NSM) originated in the Phillipines. It was first observed in 1990 pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 647 signed by then President Corazon C. Aquino on September 20, 1990, Declaring the Month of October of Every Year as the National Statistics Month.

The theme for the 21st National Statistics Month:

"Towards a Philippine Statistical System Responsive to Emerging National and Global Challenges"

The STATMAN (pictured above) is the official mascot of NSM. It represents a statistical symbol that is commonly used in statistical theory and its applications.

The Head symbolizes the sign 'Sigma' which is used to denote standard deviation or variations in human endeavors.

The Right Arm symbolizes the sign 'Sigma' which is used to denote summation of society's dreams and aspirations.

The Left Arm and Torso, taken altogether, symbolizes the sign 'Chi Square' and is used to denote independence and objectivity of one's views and decisions while maintaining harmony with the government.

The use of the symbols as the body parts of STATMAN signifies coherence and unity between statistical theory and their various applications which include, among others, the generation, analysis and interpretation of data.

*source: http://www.nscb.gov.ph/nsm/21stNSM/statman.asp

PARAMETER, newsletter of the Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association, is published 10 times a year as a service to its members. To submit material for publication, contact the Editor, Linda Burtch, email: lburtch@burtchworks.com

PARAMETER provides a job listing service by publishing Positions Available and Positions Wanted, the latter being free to Chapter members. Companies may list positions for $75. Contact the Editor for more information.

For additional information about Chicago Chapter ASA, please visit us on the web at: www.ChicagoASA.org.

Also, visit the National ASA web site www.amstat.org.

Email change of address to: smileyr@georgetown.edu

©CCASA 2009