GRK 1644:  Scaling Problems in Statistics

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine ; Mathematics
• Term: from 2010 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 152112243

Scaling problems are omnipresent in many areas of applied research. The term scaling problem refers to the fact that units of observation behave differently when studying them on different scales. Therefore, the measurement scale has to be taken into account in statistical analyses. The most obvious examples refer to spatial and temporal scales. However, different levels of aggregation (e.g. from individuals over households to communities or states) or different levels of genetic information (e.g. in a functional scale from single base pairs over genes to pathways of genes) provide further examples considered in this RTG. Scaling will be treated as a particular type of contextual information that has to be taken into account appropriately to provide meaningful results for research questions, such as: How does the association of animal and plant abundance depend on ecological conditions?, What impact has the price of one product on that of another? or How does genetic variation impact susceptibility towards a specific disease or the prediction of a genetically affected trait?. In all these cases, the result crucially depends on the scale chosen for the statistical analysis. Therefore, the fundamental idea of this RTG is to develop, apply, and extend general statistical methodology that takes the measurement scale explicitly into account. As a consequence, statistics forms the core of the RTG, providing the interface between the considered areas of application (ecology, economics, genetics). This setup allows us to (i) stimulate methodological innovations based on challenging applications, (ii) transfer general methodological innovations to the applied areas, and (iii) foster the transfer of methods between the different areas of application. This highly interdisciplinary approach is reflected in the qualification program. It is designed to raise the awareness of scaling problems and their importance to both applied and methodological research. The qualification program starts with introductions to mixed models and spatial statistics, providing PhD students with advanced knowledge in statistical methods dealing with scaling problems. Building on this common ground, further subjects are introduced in the form of specialization courses, research colloquia, and research seminars. With its interdisciplinary collaboration and supervision concept, the RTG transcends the borders between classic discipline definitions.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Thomas Kneib
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Heike Bickeböller; Professor Dr. Bernhard Brümmer; Professor Dr. Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel; Dr. Malena Erbe; Professor Dr. Ingo Grass, since 1/2016; Professor Dr. Helmut Herwartz; Professor Dr. Christoph Kleinn; Professor Dr. Holger Kreft, since 1/2016; Professorin Dr. Tatyana Krivobokova; Dr. Katrin Meyer, from 4/2015 until 9/2016; Professor Dr. Christoph Scherber, from 4/2015 until 9/2015; Professor Dr. Henner Simianer; Dr. Egle Tafenau; Professor Dr. Teja Tscharntke; Professorin Dr. Kerstin Wiegand