Social Science
Data Bases
Humboldt State University
May 7, 2010
May 7, 2010
Humboldt State University
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Sponsored by
http://www.ssric.org
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Presenters

Lori M. Weber, Political Science, Chico
State University,
lweber@csuchico.edu

Stephanie Burkhalter, Political
Science, Humboldt State University,
Stephanie.Burkhalter@humboldt.edu

Josh Meisel, Sociology, Humboldt
State University,
Joshua.Meisel@humboldt.edu
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Workshop Agenda

Overview of the SSRIC
 Data Archives
 ICPSR
 Field
 Roper
 Online Analysis and Data in the
Classroom
 Your Feedback
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SSRIC
http://www.ssric.org
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The Council


Oldest CSU affinity group (since 1972)
Representatives from CSU campuses meet
three times per year
 Negotiates with data providers for access to
data
 Promotes use of data analysis in research
and teaching
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The Council

Annual student research conference
 April 30, Cal Poly Pomona
http://www.ssric.org/participate/src
 Sponsors travel to ICPSR summer workshops
in Ann Arbor, Michigan


http://www.ssric.org/participate/icpsr_summer
Works with Field Research
 Question credits
 Faculty fellow
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Social Science Databases

The California State University subscribes to
social science databases to support
 teaching
 research
 administration
 Available to campuses by annual subscription
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Social Science Databases

Assistance from the SSRIC


Note: SSRIC members are not staff data
consultants or technical assistance
providers, but we will do what we can to
help students, faculty, and staff to access
data
Campus representatives
http://www.ssric.org/reps
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Social Science Databases

Inter-university Consortium for Political
and Social Research (ICPSR)
 Field Poll
 Census Data
 Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
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Accessing the data bases

On-campus access to data bases is IP
authenticated
 Off-campus access
 Field: not available, but older than 2 years
available for online analysis
 Roper: uses library as proxy server -works just like other library data bases
 ICPSR: first time, uses library proxy server
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ICPSR

Primary social science data archive for the U.S.
 Founded in 1962; CSU joined in 1972
 Over 600 member institutions worldwide
 Services
 Vast data archive accessible via the web
(ICPSR Direct)
 Summer program
 Instructional resources
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http://www.icpsr.org
Find data
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Teaching
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Using ICPSR Direct

Locate the study
 Select the data for download
 Download the data
 Import the data for statistical analysis
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Find and Analyze Data
Find data
Analyze data online
Topical archives
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Searching for Data
•Type in key words
(e.g., gun control)
•Click search
Search terms are not
case sensitive if all
lower case
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Other Types of Files you
Might Encounter



SPSS portable (.por) files
 Will work on all platforms
 Tell SPSS to look for a .por file
Raw data (ASCII) file with SPSS syntax (.sps) file
 You’ll have to create your own .sav file
 See next slide
Raw data file with only a codebook
 You’ll have to create your own syntax file
 SPSS Intro workshop discusses how to do this
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What’s a Syntax File?

A syntax file is a set of commands to convert a raw
ASCII data file into an SPSS system file
 ASCII + SPSS syntax file = SPSS system file
 For More Information:
http://www.ssric.org/data/icpsr_direct#syntax
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Other ICPSR Resources

SSRIC ICPSR Guide

ICPSR Data Use Tutorial

Social Science Variables Database

Bibliography of Data-Related Literature
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The Field (California) Poll

Mervin Field
Established in 1947
 Independent, non-partisan survey
of California public opinion
 Wide range of political and social
topics
 Multiple polls each year
http://www.field.com
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Accessing Field Data

Set up your browser
 Find polls and data sets
 Download data sets
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Setting up your browser

Requires setting passive FTP access

Can set up browser for folder view or FTP
directory view

See the instructions for details:
http://www.ssric.org/data/field_polls

You will only need to do this once for your
browser and user account
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UC Data
http://ucdata.berkeley.edu
Click on Field Polls
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Other Field Resources

SSRIC Field Poll Guide
 Field News Releases, American Public
Opinion Index, and California Opinion
Indexes
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http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu
Access to iPOLL
Access to Roper
Express Data
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Searching for Data Sets
Click Quick Links
Then click search
for datasets
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Searching for Data Sets
Enter keywords
(gun control)
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Search Results
Clicking here brings up
study description
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Study available on
Roper Express
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Downloading the Files
Study documentation
Download SPSS
Portable (.por) file
Frequencies
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What if nothing is available?

Some documentation and/or data sets are not available
on-line. If you are interested in one of these, email the
survey number and the title to:
Ed Nelson at ednelson@csufresno.edu
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iPOLL

Data base of over 500,000 questions

Includes frequency distributions allowing students
to do trend analysis online

You will not need a user name or password from oncampus, since the CSU will be IP authenticated.
You will be prompted for your email address
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Login to iPOLL
Your email address
is your login
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Searching iPOLL

Search for keyword

Click on Boolean or Wildcard for help

Let’s search for relig% (note: % is the
wildcard)

Select the topic of religion

Use date from 1/1/2000 to today’s date
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Search
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Polls and Polling Resources
Polling resources
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Other Roper Resources

SSRIC Roper Guide
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Online Analysis &
Data in the Classroom
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What is Online Analysis?

“Online data analysis" refers to the ability to
perform statistical analysis using special
Web-based software as an alternative to
downloading data into a standalone
statistical package on your computer.

The software we’re using is called Survey
Documentation and Analysis (SDA), which
was developed at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Alternative Statistical
Packages

You can get a complete list of available
online statistical packages at
http://statpages.org/
 Some of these include:
 OpenStat
 ViSta
 Statext
 SISA
Advantages
Many like SDA are free – don’t require a site
license
 Only require a computer with an internet
connection
 Some like SDA are easy to learn
 Can show students how to use some of them
in 30 minutes or less

Disadvantages

Some online statistical packages (certainly
not all) are limited in what they can do
statistically
 Documentation is not very good for some
 Some (like SDA) can only be used with data
sets that have already been created in a
format that can be read by that package
SDA Data Sets

While SDA is an extremely easy statistical
package to learn to use, it’s difficult to create
SDA data sets.
 You have to purchase a SDA site license to
create a data set and then learn how to use it.
 So we typically use SDA data sets that have
been created for us.
Sources for SDA Data Sets

SDA Archive located at UC Berkeley
(http://sda.berkeley.edu/archive.htm)
 ICPSR Topical Archives
(http://www.icpsr.org/cocoon/ICPSR/all/archives.xml)
 Field data located at UC Berkeley
(http://ucdata.berkeley.edu/data_record.php?
recid=3#analyze)
 List of SDA data sets at CSU Long Beach
(http://www.csulb.edu/library/eref/datasets.html)
 University of Denver’s IDEA project
(http://www.du.edu/idea/data.htm
Data in the Classroom:
Teaching Resources
Teaching Resources

ICPSR Courses and Learning Tools:
http://www.icpsr.org/ICPSR/training/index.ht
ml

SSRIC Teaching Resources:
http://www.ssric.org/tr

Pathway to Quantitative Literacy in the Social
Sciences
http://www.teachingwithdata.org/qssdl/welco
me.action
Teaching Resources
ICPSR Online Learning Center
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/OLC/
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Other ICPSR Teaching Resources
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/training/index.html#instructional
Investigating Community & Social Capital
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICSC/index.html
Voting Behavior: the 2004 Election
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SETUPS/index.html
ICPSR Student Paper Competition
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrwe
b/ICPSR/prize/index.jsp
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Feedback?
Please fill out an evaluation form.
Thanks!
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