Social Science Data Bases CSU Fresno October 30, 2009

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Workshop Agenda  Overview of the SSRIC  Data Archives ICPSR ICPSR Field Field Roper Roper  Other Workshops

SSRIC

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

The Council  Annual student research conference at Sacramento in 2009 at Sacramento in 2009 at Pomona in 2010 at Pomona in 2010  Sponsors travel to ICPSR summer workshops in Ann Arbor, Michigan  Works with Field Research Question credits Question credits Faculty fellow Faculty fellow

Social Science Databases  The California State University subscribes to social science databases to support teaching teaching research research administration administration  Available to campuses by annual subscription

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 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

 Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)  Field Poll  Roper Center for Public Opinion Research Social Science Databases

Accessing the data bases  On-campus access to data bases is IP authenticated  Off-campus access Field: not available Field: not available Roper: uses library as proxy server -- works just like other library data bases Roper: uses library as proxy server -- works just like other library data bases ICPSR: ICPSR: first time, uses library proxy server first time, uses library proxy server after that, you can access from anywhere but you must reauthenticate every 6 months after that, you can access from anywhere but you must reauthenticate every 6 months

ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

ICPSR  Primary social science data archive for the U.S.  Founded in 1962; CSU joined in 1972 Over 600 member institutions worldwide Over 600 member institutions worldwide600 member institutions 600 member institutions  Services Vast data archive accessible via the web (ICPSR Direct) Vast data archive accessible via the web (ICPSR Direct) Summer program Summer program Instructional resources Instructional resources

Find data Teaching

Using ICPSR Direct  Locate the study  Select the data for download  Download the data  Import the data for statistical analysis

Find and Analyze Data Find data Analyze data online Topical archives

Searching for Data Type in key words (e.g., gun control) Click search Search terms are not case sensitive if all lower case

Search Results Sort by time period (newest) Click on link

Downloading the data View study description Download all files

Agree to the Terms of Use

Saving the Files

Select Folder Where you Want to Save it

Unzip the File   The file has been saved as a zip file   Unzip it by double clicking on the file name (xxxxx.zip)   Extract all the files

What’s in the File?   Look in the layers of subfolders until you find the DS0001 folder   It will include the: Codebook (pdf file) Questionnaire (pdf file) SPSS file (in this case, it’s a.sav file) Other files

Open the File in SPSS

Other Types of Files you Might Encounter  SPSS portable (.por) files Will work on all platforms Will work on all platforms Tell SPSS to look for a.por file 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 You’ll have to create your own.sav file See next slide See next slide  Raw data file with only a codebook You’ll have to create your own syntax file You’ll have to create your own syntax file SPSS Intro workshop discusses how to do this SPSS Intro workshop discusses how to do this

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:

Other ICPSR Resources  SSRIC ICPSR Guide SSRIC ICPSR Guide SSRIC ICPSR Guide  ICPSR Data Use Tutorial ICPSR Data Use Tutorial ICPSR Data Use Tutorial  Social Science Variables Database Social Science Variables Database Social Science Variables Database

The Field Poll

The Field (California) Poll  Established in 1947  Independent, non-partisan survey of California public opinion  Wide range of political and social topics  Multiple polls each year Mervin Field

Accessing Field Data  Set up your browser  Find polls and data sets  Download data sets

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:  You will only need to do this once for your browser and user account

Finding Polls  Find the poll number News Releases ( News Releases ( American Public Opinion Index American Public Opinion Index Check with your library for printed and/or microfiche versions Check with your library for printed and/or microfiche versions The CALPOLL window The CALPOLL window Accessible via UCData Accessible via UCData  You will be using the poll number to select the data set for download.

Searching Polls with UCDATA  Uses SDA  Does not include last couple of years  Gives you the frequency distributions of the variables you select

UC Data Click on Field Polls

Field Polls on UCDATA Click on search

Searching I selected 2000’s

Keywords Enter gun control

Search Results Click View

Results from SDA

Downloading the Data Click Download

Choosing the File Double click cal0003 since you want to download that folder Note that this is directory view

Saving the Files

Select the Folder

Open the Data in SPSS 1 2

Other Field Resources  SSRIC Field Poll Guide SSRIC Field Poll Guide SSRIC Field Poll Guide  Field News Releases and California Opinion Indexes Field News Releases and California Opinion Indexes Field News Releases and California Opinion Indexes

The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

Access to iPOLL Access to Roper Express Data

Searching for Data Sets Click Quick Links Then click search for datasets

Searching for Data Sets  Specify Keywords Keywords Date range Date range Country Country

Searching for Data Sets Enter keywords (gun control)

Search Results Clicking here brings up study description Study available on Roper Express

Study Description

Downloading the Files Study documentation Download SPSS Portable (.por) file Frequencies

What if nothing is available?  Some documentation and/or data sets are not available on-line. If you are interested in one of these, the survey number and the title to: Ed Nelson at

Saving the File

Where to Save it

Opening the.por file in SPSS Note that I have told SPSS to look for a.por file

SPSS File

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 on- campus, since the CSU will be IP authenticated. You will be prompted for your address

Login to iPOLL Your address is your login

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

Search

Results Click for question wording and frequencies

Reviewing iPOLL Results

Polls and Polling Resources Polling resources

Polling 101

Other Roper Resources  SSRIC Roper Guide SSRIC Roper Guide SSRIC Roper Guide

Other Workshops

Workshops on SPSS   SPSS – introductory workshop Creating SPSS data file Transforming data Descriptive statistics   SPSS – intermediate workshop Crosstabulations Using means Correlation and regression Charts

Workshop on Online Statistical Analysis   SDA (Survey Documentation and Analysis) Requires no site license Extremely easy to learn Excellent for classes where you want to introduce students to statistical analysis Tools available – frequencies, crosstabulations, correlation and regression

Workshop on Data in the Classroom   Statistical literacy – issues and examples Causality Experimental and survey design Unintentional consequences Sampling and statistical inference Change over time   Where do we get the data?

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