2. Introduction
• ICPSR’s Elevator Story
– What is an “ICPSR”
– Why do people use ICPSR
• ICPSR Website
– The Study Home Page
– Data Tools
• ICPSR in Education
• Other Data Services
3. What is ICPSR?
- Then and Now -
• One of the world’s oldest and largest social
science data archives, est. 1962
• Data distributed on punch cards, then reel-
to-reel tape, now:
– Data available on demand
– Over 8,200 studies with over 68,700 data sets
• Membership organization among 21
universities, now:
– Currently about 715 members world-wide
– Federal funding of public collections
4. What We Do – It’s About Data!
• Seek research data and
pertinent documents from
researchers (PIs, research
agencies, government)
• Process and preserve the
data and documents
• Disseminate data
• Provide
education, training, &
instructional resources
5. Why People Use ICPSR
• Write articles, papers, or theses using real
research data
• Conduct secondary research to support findings
of current research or to generate new findings
• Use as intro material in grant proposals
• Preserve/disseminate primary research data
– Fulfill data management plan (grant)
requirements
• Study or teach quantitative methods
6. Supporting a growing number of
disciplines
• Anthropology • Health & Medical Policy
• Business/Economics • History
• Communications • International Relations
• Criminal Justice • Law/Legal Services
• Demography • Political Sciences
• Education • Psychology
• Foreign Policy • Public Policy
• Gerontology • Sociology
7. We are Not Alone!
Another Acronym: CESSDA
Council of European Social Science Data Archives
8. Niche Archives
• ARDA – Association of Religion Data Archives:
http://www.thearda.com/
• The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research:
http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/
9. Back to ICPSR - Most Popular Downloads this Past Year:
• National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
• General Social Surveys (1972-2010 Cumulative)
• National Survey on Drug Use and Health
• World Handbook of Political & Social Indicators III
• National Survey of Midlife Development in the US
• Chinese Household Income Project
• American National Election Study: 2008 Pre- and Post-Election
Survey
• Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study
• Globalization Comparative Panel Dataset
• India Human Development Survey
10. What’s in a “Download?”
• Documentation files - pdfs • Data in many forms!
– Questionnaire – SPSS, SAS, Stata
– Codebook – ASCII
– Description & Citation
11. “Shopping” for Data: The MyData Account
• MyData account – operates as authentication and like a
shopping cart!
• Authenticate once every six months on campus and you
can carry it with you
12. Supporting the Data
• Free user support
• The HELP Page offers:
– User support (at ICPSR) email and phone contact
information
– Data User Help Center: Short Tutorials & Webinars
available 24/7
– Local Support: Who to contact at your local institution
– Glossary of Terms
– Social Networks: Where you can find us on YouTube,
Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare, and more
15. The Challenge – Hoards of Data & Metadata
How does one make sense of:
• 8,200 studies
• 68,700 datasets
• 585,000 files
• Millions of variables
• 62,500 bibliographic citations
18. The Bibliography of Data-related Literature
It’s really a searchable database . . .
containing over 62,500 citations of known published
and unpublished works resulting from analyses of
data archived at ICPSR
. . .that can generate study bibliographies
associating each study with the literature about it
. . . Included in the integrated search
on the ICPSR Web site
20. The Social Science Variables Database at ICPSR
Enables ICPSR users to:
• Search & Compare Variables across
datasets
• Assists in:
– Data discovery
– Comparison/harmonization projects
– Data harvesting & data analysis
– Question mining for designing new research
– Research methods & substantive courses
instruction
25. ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative
Methods
• Instruction on the tools and practices needed to analyze data
• For those with math phobia and those with advanced analysis
skills
• 3-5 day workshops and 4-8 week courses
• Primarily held in Ann Arbor, MI,
on the campus of The University
of Michigan, but some courses
on other campuses also
• http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog/
26. Bringing Data Into the Classroom
• Easy to use features of ICPSR’s Website in classes
– Social Science Variables Database
– Bibliography of Data-Related Literature
– SDA
• Additionally, in partnership with teaching faculty, ICPSR has
developed:
– Short Exercises – the DDLGs
– Online teaching modules
– Online tutorials
– Student research opportunities
29. Research Opportunities for Students
– Research paper
competitions -- a
research journal
experience & cash
prizes!
– Paid student internships
focusing on
investigating social
sciences research
31. ICPSR Data Hosting Services
From Full-Service Archives To Al a Carte Data
Management
• Data (website) hosting
• Preservation
• Data Sharing & Impact
• Data Outreach &
Engagement
• Data security & tracking
32. The Statement Heard Round the
Research World:
• The National Science Foundation has released a new
requirement for proposal submissions regarding the
management of data generated using NSF support. Starting in
January, 2011, all proposals must include a data management
plan (DMP).
• The plan should be short, no more than two pages, and will be
submitted as a supplementary document. The plan will need to
address two main topics:
– What data are generated by your research?
– What is your plan for managing the data?
36. Secure Data Services - Restricted-use Data
• Potential increase in demand for data
management services as a result of
grant/contract requirements
• Increase in demand for processing, analysis, and
distribution of sensitive data
• Resulted in improvements focused on secure
computing and data sharing environments at
ICPSR
37. Three Angles of Security
• Secure Ingest
• Secure Online Application & Tracking
• Secure Computing in the Cloud
39. For More Info:
• Explore the website - www.icpsr.umich.edu
• Sign up for our email announcements -
www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/membership/lists/index.jsp
• “Like” ICPSR on Facebook/follow ICPSR on Twitter
• Attend or view our webinars (open to the public!)
• Find our presentations on www.slideshare.net –
user: icpsr
• Contact user support – netmail@icpsr.umich.edu
Notes de l'éditeur
As of September 2012, over 68,700 datasets (over 585,000 files) available for download. As a sense of volume of downloads, total downloads for FY 2012 = over 1,172,304 datasets downloaded/accessed (4,765,641).Also in FY2012 – about 35,345 (19,600 members) MyData accounts downloaded/accessed something – were active.
ICPSR supports students, faculty, researchers, and policymakers.
Archiving and sharing data is a global activity.
There are a number of niche archives. These archives tend to focus on a substantive area or topic and put really cools tools around them.
Downloads for the period July 2011 - June 2012
We keep talking about “the download.” What’s in a download anyway?First: Many PDFsA copy of the actual questionnaire – it’s not pretty!A copy of the codebook – much more attractive & it contains frequencies!Description & Citation: essentially, the data about the data (metadata) as well as the data citation you are to use when citing the dataset as a source.Second: The actual data file(s)System files for SAS, SPSS, & StataASCII files – straight-up data file and/or Setups files for SAS, SPSS, Stata
As you seen, ICPSR doesn’t just deliver data. We surround that data with tools and services that support its use and interpretation.
This is the front office for ICPSR employees.
This is the front office for our customers!FIND & ANALYZE DATA: this is the page where you can find several tools to help you find/browse data (you can also use the search box in the center of the Find Data page). The Search/Compare Variables link enables you to examine and compare variables and questions across studies or series.Find publications enables you to search (or submit!) citations for works that use ICPSR data as part of analysis.Resources for students covers information on the research paper competition and our paid internships.You’ll find links to our thematic collections (also known as our special topic archives or projects) in the left-hand pane. MEMBERSHIP IN ICPSR: this page contains all the information about the consortium (history, mission, staff overview, careers, and contact information). This area contains the list of members and a list of partners. You’ll find our subscribed Email Lists here – important if you are interested in our webinars, summer program, or other news about the consortium. Need printed promotional materials on ICPSR or templates for workshops? – see the Promoting ICPSRlink.DEPOSIT DATA: this page is for those interested in depositing data at ICPSR or preparing data in good form for long term preservation. Also, links to discussion of protection of respondent confidentiality are found here.ICPSR Summer Program: contains information on the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods including course descriptions, fees, and registration.RESOURCES FOR INSTRUCTORS: contains short data-driven exercises and modules, resources for students (careers/internships information), and links to other data-related teaching resources.DATA MANAGEMENT: describes ICPSR's practices in selection and appraisal of data, ingest, access and dissemination, and disaster planning. Provides information on digital preservation, data management plans and data citations.CONTACT US: information on contacting various ICPSR staff is found by clicking on the “Contact” link at the bottom of each page.
The Study Home Page is also a great “search” strategy. Click into any study, and you will find all the information we have been able to gather about the study.Use the Summary for a quick review, then click into the “view details” to understand the full scope of the research – methodology, survey type, sampling, scope, geography, subject terms used to tag the dataset, PI, and much more. You’ll also find a link to all of the journal articles, reports, and presentations we’ve been able to link to the dataset (where the data was used as part of the analysis within the article). This is a great way to understand whether this data is for you.
What’s in the collection?Resources using data in the ICPSR holdings as the primary data sourceResources using ICPSR data in a comparison with the primary dataset investigatedResources "about" an ICPSR dataset or study series.
Know of reports, articles, publications connected to our data? Contact us!
Tool for teachingResearch Methods:Concept operationalizationEffect of question wording, context, and answer categories on variable distributionsSubstantive classes:Cultural / social changes reflected in different question wordings, or elicited answers (longitudinal or time series data)Current content:2,602 studies (48 percent of ICPSR holdings with data and setups)6,493 datasetsApprox. 1.7 million variablesContinues to grow by includingAll new releases, if suitableRetrofits as made available by small-scale projects
ICPSR is working with Berkeley to render SDA in a format that will allow us to customize the appearance of the interface and results.View SDA studies here: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/access/sda.jsp Over 725 as of Fall 2011.
Gender variable by occasions smoked marijuana variable
Instructional materials are another way to “share” research data – in addition to educating the next generation.
Exploring Data Through Research LiteratureDesigned to teach quantitative research methods to undergraduates in a different way. Integrates ICPSR bibliography of data related literatureinto 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 researchhttp://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/EDRL/index.jspInvestigating Community and Social CapitalUses 3 data sets including the General Social Survey, DDB Needham Life Style Surveys, and State-level data to reproduce findings from Robert Putnam’s Bowling AloneTeaches how to browse codebooks, devise and execute crosstabulations, and use summary statistics Helps teach replication of scientific evidence http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICSC/index.htmlSETUPSUses the 2008 National Election Study to understand voting behavior (2004 also available)Provides substantive background, terms and descriptions, and embedded exercises to allow users to get through simple exploratory analyses of political behavior. Builds crosstabular exercises based on various questions about the 2008 Presidential elections. www.icpsr.umich.edu/SETUPS2008
While most of our current archive ‘collections’ are full-service (onsite staff process and disseminate data onsite using our full infrastructure), and increasing number of projects are using ‘pieces’ of our services.
Explore live.Note that recording of DMP webinar is on this page.
22 pages of guidelines and references even including a sample plan (boilerplate!) available for download.
Ingest refers to improvements in our internal (staff) computing systems – ICPSR has implemented secure data environment ensuring data (and research subjects) are protective at the moment the data arrives to our system.Application (contracting) and monitoring of the progress of the research and status of the data – the restricted contracting system assists research teams in submitting contracts and updating as team members change over the course of several years as the research continues. No more lost documents, including IRB approvals, as all are housed online in our secure cloud.Computing in the cloud – our external (data user) computing systems for distribution of data – our virtual data enclaves ensure the sponsor of the research that research subjects are protected while easing the data protection plan requirements for data analysts.
We are in the development phase of technology for disseminating video research data!