Laboratory
Statistical Demography
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Detailed Description
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Rich and extensive data are the lifeblood of demography. However, the full explanatory potential of data is realized only when they are diligently analyzed using adequate techniques. This is especially true of data that are complex, incomplete, or sparse. Demographic research thus rests on well-conceived statistical methodology. The members of the Laboratory of Statistical Demography develop innovative statistical methods to address novel research questions. They advise fellow scientists in their data analyses and provide software to facilitate the application of innovative techniques.
Research questions in demography revolve around the life courses of individuals and how these individual trajectories shape and change populations. Thus, many studies investigate changes over time, such as individual pathways through education and family formation, changes in health and behavior with age, and changes in people’s migration-related mobility over their working careers.
Studying such changes requires longitudinal data, which come with particular complications. These include the selective dropout of individuals from a study, incomplete observations due to censoring and truncation, and the dependence between different processes that therefore need to be analyzed jointly.
The members of the Laboratory of Statistical Demography develop and apply new approaches and techniques to address problems such as those outlined above. Research topics include multistate models, the joint analysis of dependent longitudinal processes, the simultaneous consideration of several time scales in event-history models, and the correct handling of complex longitudinal observation schemes. Subsequent projections based on longitudinal models is another area of research.
The Laboratory’s researchers also contribute to the educational programs the Institute is involved in (the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science; International Advanced Studies in Demography; and the European Doctoral School for Demography), and thus promote the use of up-to-date statistical methods in demographic research.
Common to all of these examples is that they require longitudinal data, but they come with particular complications. These include the selective dropout of individuals from a study, incomplete observations due to censoring and truncation, or the dependence between different processes, which consequently need to be analyzed jointly.
The members of the Laboratory of Statistical Demography develop and apply new approaches and techniques to address problems such as the ones outlined above. Research topics include multistate models, the joint analysis of dependent longitudinal processes, the simultaneous consideration of several time scales in event-history models, and the correct handling of complex longitudinal observation schemes. Subsequent projections based on longitudinal models is another area of research.
Researchers of the Laboratory also contribute to the educational programs the Institute is involved in (the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science; International Advanced Studies in Demography; and the European Doctoral School for Demography) and thus promote the use of up-to-date statistical methods in demographic research.