Applied Forest Ecology & Silviculture Lab

PC-ORD

Multivariate Data Analysis Using PC-ORD^™

Short-courses on analyzing species community data with the PC-ORD software package

Upcoming Workshops

• Workshops are held annually in either Oregon or Pennsylvania, and additionally in other locations by request.
• One-day, tailored one-on-one sessions in Pennsylvania can also be scheduled.
• Please contact Jeri Peck to host a workshop or if you are interested in a workshop listed below.  Please indicate your country/state to receive announcements for future workshops in your area.

February 9-11, Salt Lake City, UT

June 16-18, 2010, Ljubljana, Slovenia

August 2010, Fairbanks, AK?

September 2010, Quebec, Canada?

Can't make these?  Host one!

The PC-ORD workshop can come to you, if you have the following:

• A core of ~10 willing participants

• One individual (the "host") responsible for logistics and contact

• A meeting room or classroom, set up in classroom style, with a computer projector and screen and sufficient electrical outlets and power strips for all participants.

Workshop Format & Content

PC-ORD was written with community ecologists in mind and includes a variety of procedures and options best suited for species data.  A proper analysis of community data requires more than the right tool, however; familiarity with a process for how to best use that tool is critical.  With that in mind, workshops for novices in the use of PC-ORD and in multivariate analyses in general have been developed to provide training in three areas:

1. multivariate community analyses, to know what tools are available and what they do

2. the PC-ORD software, to understand how to use these tools properly

3. operations ecology, to adopt a process for defensible data analysis and interpretation

Explanations of the tools are given and each is demonstrated.  When time permits, exercises reinforce demonstrations and participants have the opportunity to ask questions about their own datasets.

Maximum class size is 20.  The training sessions generally run 2.5 days, 8-5, 8-5, and 8-1, and focus on the following topics:

• importing, screening, and restructuring your data prior to analysis

• exploring and preparing the data for analysis and selecting the appropriate tools

• guided ordination tools (weighted averaging, polar ordination, CCA)

• free ordination tools (PCA, NMS)

• classification tools (cluster analysis, TWINSPAN)

• group-testing tools (MRPP, PerMANOVA, Mantel Test, Indicator Species Analysis)

• interpretation, manipulation, and communication of graphs

What to Bring

Participants must bring a laptop with the PC-ORD software already installed.  Remember to bring your power cord, bifocals if you need them, and a mouse is recommended unless you are very fast without one!  Please read the Advance Reading PDF prior to the workshop.  Update to the latest version of PC-ORD using the Fixes EXE file (execute in your PCORD5 subdirectory).  The Sample Datasets ZIP should be unzipped and stored in a convenient location on your hard drive.

PCORD Workshop Files:

Advance Reading PDF     Fixes ZIP    Sample Datasets ZIP

Instructors

Workshops are taught by Dr. JeriLynn Peck, who studied with and worked under the author of the software (Dr. Bruce McCune) at Oregon State University and has been offering workshops since 1997.  Dr. Eric K. Zenner, with a background in applied univariate statistics, sometimes provides additional assistance.

Fees & Credit

Registration fees for most workshops, depending on location, are in the $350-$400 range, with lower fees for students (typically $225) and hosts.  Continuing Forestry Education credit (10 cr) can be arranged through the Society of American Foresters.  Students can also arrange to receive 1 graduate credit from Penn State University at regular tuition rates instead of the workshop registration fee (tuition, however, is not cheap and requires advance notice).  Payment is accepted in the form of checks made out to "Penn State".  Certificates of completion are available upon request.

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