This course will introduce students to three forms of growth curve analysis: latent growth curves, latent growth trajectory analysis, and growth mixture models. This class of statistical methods provides a powerful set of tools to describe changes in a population. Students will be taught the differences between types of models, when to apply the correct model, and how to interpret results. Simple simulations of analyses will be conducted in R.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the proper modeling technique for analytical questions regarding change
2. Describe how latent growth, latent growth trajectory analysis, and growth mixture models are related to, and different from, one another
3. Interpret results all three types of growth models
4. Clearly articulate the benefits, assumptions, and shortcomings of growth trajectory analysis

Experience with longitudinal data will be beneficial.

1. Bader, Michael D. M. and Siri Warkentien. 2014. 'The Fragmented Evolution of Racial Integration since the Civil Rights Movement.' Working Paper. Available at: http://mikebader.net/media/docs/cv/NeighborhoodTrajectories__.pdf.
2. Jung, Tony and K. a. S. Wickrama. 2008. “An Introduction to Latent Class Growth Analysis and Growth Mixture Modeling.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2(1):302–17.
3. Kreuter, Frauke and Bengt Muthén. 2008. “Analyzing Criminal Trajectory Profiles: Bridging Multilevel and Group-Based Approaches Using Growth Mixture Modeling.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 24(1):1–31.
4. Singer, Judith D., and John B. Willett. 2003. Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis?: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Part I, especially chapters 1-5. (This is the most important reading)

Michael Bader, PhD

Michael Bader studies how cities and neighborhoods have evolved since the height of the Civil Rights Movement, and how these changes affect racial health inequality. To accomplish this research Dr. Bader has developed methodological tools that combine survey data with “big data” to study neighborhood environments.

Dr. Bader is an associate professor of sociology and policy at American University where he is the Associate Director of the Metropolitan Policy Center and Director of the DC Area Survey. He is an investigator with the Built Environment and Health project. Before joining the faculty of American University, Dr. Bader was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania where he was also a senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan and his B.A. in architecture and art history from Rice University.