Charting the process of change: a primer on survival analysis.
Survival analysis is a powerful and useful technique for understanding qualitative change. This article provides a practical, nontechnical introduction to the use of survival analysis for social scientists. Important issues in using survival analysis are discussed, including research design, data preparation and management, and data analysis. Attendance data from a self-help organization are used to illustrate common survival analysis tasks such as describing the overall survival and hazard functions, examining covariate effects, and modeling the form of the hazard function over time. An appendix that discusses the strengths and weaknesses of current survival analysis computer programs is included.
Luke
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Michigan State University, Department of Psychology, East Lansing 48824.
D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D015987:Effect Modifier, Epidemiologic; D006801:Humans; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011586:Psychology, Clinical; D012107:Research Design; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012942:Social Sciences / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors