Spring-Break School: Interpreting Statistical Results for Mobility Research

Even if you aren’t doing any statistical analysis yourself, it is highly important for researchers working with qualitative and quantitative methods to be able to interpret and critically evaluate published statistics to get the most out of journal articles and other literature. Many open source languages and statistical programs have found their way into transport planning. They are vast, in terms of features and their code-base (e.g. R), and can take months of dedicated practice to master. The course that we offer is focused on the understanding of statistical results rather than practical modeling.  

The openLab Urban Mobility provides this intensive course "Interpreting Statistical Results for Mobility Research" during the Spring Break 2022 (28 March - 1 April, 5 consecutive appointments, online) for MSc students (TUM) and PhD students (TUM and other universities). In the end, the participants will achieve a certificate of attendance.

Aim of the course: What we aim with this course is to showcase capabilities and demonstrate key functionalities to academics/students interested in having some basic understanding of statistics. The course aims at bringing together researchers/students from the mobility field, working with both quantitative and qualitative methods. It has been designed in a way that it can bring engineers and social scientists together, for these groups to cooperate and critically analyze information that is coming from both sides. That would enhance the understanding, interpretation, and analysis of scientific papers which make use of mathematical modeling.

Ultimate Goal: Interpreting statistical results from mobility research papers.

Course format: The course is designed to be an intensive course which will take place every day for one week (5 classes in total). The length of each session will be 3hrs, from 17:00-20:00 CET. The course will aim for an interactive format between the knowledge producer/s and the audience. It is divided into five key parts, based on the statistic concept that will be introduced. Each part is composed of one theoretical class and one practical class for group work.

Knowledge production tools: To facilitate the knowledge exchange among the participants, the course makes use of a set of elements to make this interaction possible:

  • Storytelling techniques - will be used for the opening class, where an introduction and guide to the interpretation of statistical results will be given.
  • MIRO Boards - Will be used for online workshops or group works among participants in the class
  • Gather.town - for the kick-off session

Date Content

Mon, March 28, 2022
(5PM-8PM CET)

Introduction / Understanding Basic Statistics
 

Tue, March 29, 2022
(5PM-8PM CET)   

Understanding Hypothesis Tests
 

Wed, March 30, 2022
(5PM-8PM CET)   

Understanding Regression

Thu, March 31, 2022
(5PM-8PM CET)  

Understanding Classification

Fri, April 1, 2022
(5PM-8PM CET)  

Understanding Clustering

 

 

Registration

If you are interested in joining the course, please fill out the following form by 28.02.2022, 12 pm:

Register here

If you have any question, feel free to contact us: openlab.svp@ed.tum.de

How the course is linked to the mission of the openLAB

The openLab Urban Mobility is a physical and virtual space where we engage professionals, scientists, students, society groups, etc., interested and working in the mobility field, to talk about the future of urban mobility. The openLab aims to exchange ideas among various groups of interest, in an informal setting.

 

As an integral part of the openLab, this course targets students/researchers and tries to open a discussion of the need of interpreting statistical data in order to understand more in-depth mobility research. Simultaneously, it will explore and test new tools and formats of interaction among participants - e.g. storytelling, gather.town - which can, later on, become part of the openLab knowledge exchange portfolio.