ICPSR – Finding and Using Data for Research

Libbie Stephenson ISR Data Archives March 12, 2010

ICPSR – FINDING AND USING DATA FOR RESEARCH

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

GETTING TO KNOW ICPSR

What is ICPSR? From where do the data come?

Why do individuals use ICPSR?

Supporting Social Sciences Research

Enhancing undergraduate and graduate education

How do I get started using ICPSR?

Finding data http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/access/index.jsp

Creating a MyData account

Downloading data

2

https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ticketlogin

htt

p://

ww

w.ic

psr.u

mic

h.ed

u

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

IT’S ABOUT DATA! Seek out researchers, PIs, research agencies and collect data

files and pertinent documents related to the original research

Process the data and documents

Output data into multiple formats (ASCII, SAS, SPSS, STATA, SDA)

Preserve it for the future

Disseminate data directly to the desktops of students and researchers for secondary analysis

Provide education, training, & instructional resources

Summer Program in Quantitative Methods

Undergraduate and graduate student & teaching resources to support quantitative literacy

3

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

MORE ABOUT THE DATA ICPSR archives both U.S. and international data

Data Sources:

Government (census, government organizations)

Large data collection efforts (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Panel Study of Income Dynamics)

Polls (ABC and CBS news polls, voter polls)

Principal Investigators (Chitwan Valley Family Study, Marital Instability Over the Life Course)

Data repurposed (Integrated Fertility Survey Series, Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys)

Other organizations (NCAA)

4

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

DATA FOR MANY DISCIPLINES

Anthropology

Criminal Justice

Demography

Economics

Education

Foreign Policy

Gerontology

Health & Medical Policy

History

Law/Legal Services

Political Sciences

Psychology

Public Policy

Sociology

5

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

EXPLORING THE ICPSR WEB SITE

6

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

FINDING AND DOWNLOADING DATA

Many search tools found under the Find & Analyze Data link

MyData account – operates as authentication and like a shopping cart!

Data available in a variety of formats:

ASCII data with set-up files

SPSS, SAS, STATA, Online analysis

Includes documentation

Codebook – original and reformulated

Processing notes

User support available

7

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

SEARCHING FOR DATA - TIPS8

When you know what you want An acronym A survey name A series name An investigator or agency name

You sort of know what you want Keywords or themes Populations, time frame, geography Type of data

You have no idea what you want! Start with the Bibliography of Data-Related Literature

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

SPECIALTY ARCHIVES AND

THEMATIC COLLECTIONS Data grouped by substantive topic

Many archives (thematic collections), including:

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA)

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)

National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA)

Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR)

Resource Center for Minority Data (RCMD)

International Data Resource Center (IDRC)

General Archive

9

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

DATA EXPLORATION EXERCISE

Find the “Search” box on the front page (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu)

Enter a search term of your choice

Identify a study of interest

Read the description

Who were the survey participants?

Where & when was it collected?

What were the main subjects covered?

Find an article based on these data

Would you like to download?

Does this study have online analysis capability?

10

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

THE STUDY HOME PAGE11

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

ICPSR’S BIBLIOGRAPHY OF

DATA-RELATED LITERATURE

12

Publications based on data held at ICPSR

Growing the Data Bibliography

ICPSR staff continuously searching for data citations

Encouraging the use of data citations (included in all downloads & on the documentation page!)

Ability to see the article citation and click through for full-text through UC e-Links

Many use the Data Bibliography as a search tool!

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

Designed to teach quantitative research methods to undergraduates in a different way.

Integrates ICPSR bibliography of data related literature into teaching students how make their way from ideas to empirical work to literature and back.

Suitable for both research methods and other substantive courses requiring empirical research

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/EDRL/index.jsp

13 Exploring Data Through Research Literature

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

ONLINE ANALYSIS SOFTWARE

Survey Documentation & Analysis (SDA) developed at UC Berkeley

Web-based, requires no additional software or licensing

Over 500 datasets available for use with SDA

Just interested in online datasets?

Easy for students but sophisticated analyses available for researchers

Good for preliminary analyses to determine whether data will work for a particular research question

14

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

BRINGING DATA INTO THE CLASSROOM

In partnership with teaching faculty, ICPSR has developed:

Online tutorials

Online teaching modules

Online Learning Center (Introductory/Substantive Courses)

Student research opportunities

15

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

ADDITIONAL ICPSR RESOURCES

Summer Program in Quantitative Methods

Registration to open February 9, 2010

Subscribed Email Lists

ICPSR Help

FAQs (searchable)

Data User Help Center (w/ audio/video tutorials)

Local Support

ICPSR Social Networks

16

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

Tool to help learn simple data analysis techniques

Intended for introductory-level statistical analysis.

OLC addresses key concerns raised by teaching faculty in focus groups and in-depth interviews.

Requires no additional software.

www.icpsr.umich.edu/OLC

Webinar on using the OLC in class on ICPSR website

17 Online Learning Center

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR

STUDENTS Research paper competitions -- a research

journal experience & cash prizes!

Paid student internships focusing on investigating social sciences research

18

04/22/2023STEPHENSON - ATS

FOR MORE INFO: Explore the website - http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/

Sign up for email announcements - http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/org/lists/index.jsp

Attend or view webinars (open to the public!) - http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/help/datausers/index.jsp

Contact – netmail@icpsr.umich.edu

Also contact the Data Archive 310-825-07161120-H Rolfe Hall http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/da

Libbie Stephenson, Archivist libbie@ucla.edu

Jamie Jamison, Technology Specialist archivehelp@issr.ucla.edu

19