Volume 19: No. 10, November 2005

Announcing the 2006 APA Advanced Training Institutes!

by Nicolle Singer

Sponsored by the Science Directorate, the Advanced Training Institutes (ATIs) expose new and established faculty, researchers, and advanced graduate students to state of the art psychological research methods. The Board of Scientific Affairs guides the course selection every year, focusing on technologies and tools that are increasingly important to psychological research. ATIs tackle the big issues confronting researchers who use (or want to use) these innovative methodologies through discussion, lecture, and lab experiences. Most workshops cover the diverse ways emerging technologies are being applied across psychology, as well as the more specific ways attendees can incorporate these methods into their research areas. More information about the 2006 programs will follow in the next few weeks. Keep tuned to http://www.apa.org/science/ati.html for updates on these exciting programs and to apply!

Nonlinear Methods for Psychological Science, July 17-21, 2005, at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH. Organized by Guy Van Orden, covering methods of nonlinear analysis. Participants will generate data at the workshop and learn to ways to analyze it for nonlinear structure. Each participant will leave with the experience of having analyzed data for nonlinear structure, and with access to software that will enable them to perform further nonlinear analyses.

Structural Equation Modeling in Longitudinal Research, June 5-9, 2006, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. John McArdle will lead this ATI, designed to highlight recent methodological advances in the analysis of longitudinal psychological data using structural equation modeling (SEM). A range of topics will be covered, including fundamental measurement problems, dealing with incomplete data, and new techniques for dynamic analyses.

New Tools in fMRI Data Analysis, May 21-26, 2006, Charlestown, Massachusetts. This ATI explores the use of fMRI in psychological research, and is led by Robert Savoy, of the Harvard Medical School Department of Radiology. The program covers a broad range of topics in fMRI use and data analysis, with an emphasis on the analysis of data collected in fMRI research.

Using Large-Scale Datasets with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, June 5-9, 2006, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. This workshop on mining large-scale datasets uses the NICHD-sponsored longitudinal Study of Early Child Care (SECC) database as the exemplar.

Web-Based Research, July 10-14, 2006, at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA. This workshop will be led by John Eustis Williams, and sessions will cover web-based research, web-based data collection, shared databases, and Authorware, a type of software used to create interactive webpages for experiments. Applications of this technology will also be discussed.

Past Participants Tell All

Feedback from past ATI participants has been overwhelmingly positive. Faculty and graduate students report using their ATI-honed skills regularly. One 2005 participant exclaimed “Without the training I believe that my dissertation would have taken at least another 6 months to a year.”

One valuable aspect of the ATI experience that the opportunity to study alongside some of the foremost researchers in your chosen area. Dr. Susan Colligan of the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System Neurosciences Institute recalls that “this opportunity has provided a focal point for the next stage of our Neurosciences Institute program.”

Similarly, NICHD Large-Scale Dataset ATI attendee Jessica Emick, a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland, commented that “the training provided an unprecedented opportunity to explore a valuable database under the guidance of more experienced and knowledgeable researchers. Their insight about the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the research design as well as the nuances of the data was truly invaluable.”