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Through the Department of Sociology, The University
of Iowa maintains membership in the Inter-University Consortium for Political
and Social Research (ICPSR), which is operated by the University
of Michigan. This membership enables members of the University community
to obtain a vast array of data for secondary data analysis regarding
economic, education, health, international, legal, legislative, political,
and other areas of social research.
- How to get data
Begin by browsing the ICPSR website to determine what
data are of interest to you. Data are organized into topic areas.
Also, the ICPSR site allows you to search the data by keywords. You
can contact us at this stage and we will be happy to help, but browsing
the holdings is generally the most efficient way to find the data
you seek.
Next, look at the codebooks to see if the data really are suitable
for your purposes. Codebooks are always available to the public, and
most are available for download. Many of the datasets are also available
for your immediate download along with command files for reading the
data into popular statistics packages. If you would like to try accessing
the data yourself, click here for additional
information.
If you have found an interesting dataset that is restricted to registered
users or you would like any assistance with the process, e-mail Ben
Earnhart (bearnhar@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu)
or call him at 319-335-2887. Our goal is to make the data acquisition
stage of your research as painless as possible.
You may wish to also consult with the Statistical
Consulting Center (SCC) at the University of Iowa provided by
the Department
of Statistics and Actuarial Science. "The SCC
provides consulting help in support of research that involves data
collection and analysis. Free consulting is available to UI students
for thesis and dissertation research, and (within limitations) for
other UI unsponsored research." That is, we can help you get
your data, but the experts at the SCC have the skills and knowledge
to really help you to understand your data and apply the appropriate
techniques to its analysis.
- ICPSR Summer Program
Each summer, the ICPSR hosts a series of workshops in quantitative
methods. These workshops range from one to eight weeks in length.
Most of the workshops are held at the University of Michigan. Some
of the them involve a competitive admissions process (i.e., a limited
number of applicants are accepted, based on interest, prior training,
and potential for research contributions) and carry a stipend to help
offset lodging and other costs. Other workshops are filled on a "first-come/first-served"
basis. Nearly all of the workshops require payment of tuition or fees
(many of the workshops can be taken for credit). Participation in
the ICPSR Summer Program is open to faculty, P & S staff, and
graduate students.
As a member institution, the University of Iowa receives a small amount
of funding to offset travel expenses for workshop participants affiliated
with the University of Iowa. For further information regarding travel
assistance, please contact Ben Earnhart.
Further information about the ICPSR Summer Program (including workshop
dates and locations, application procedures, deadlines, and detailed descriptions
of courses) is available at:
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog/
- Additional Resources
Below is a list of some of the more common non-ICPSR data sources
that researchers have found useful in the past. In many cases, you
can access the data directly without our assistance, but if we can
help in any way, please contact Ben
Earnhart.
- The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY)
and related National Longitudinal Surveys from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics. We have the NLSY-97, NLSY-79, and the original
cohorts available on CD ROM, as well as a full set of hard-copy
documentation. However, this is now moot, as the entire series (with
the exception of the geocodes) is now available for download from
the BLS.
- The
National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). We
have wave one available in whatever format you desire, and can assist
you with accessing wave two files as well.
- Census Data. Commonly used Census data
is available through the ICPSR. Additional data is available directly
from the Census
Bureau. A very user-friendly way to access Public Use Microdata
files, called the
I-PUMS, is provided by the Minnesota Population Center at the
University of Minnesota.
- General
Social Surveys (GSS). The complete GSS is available for
download from the ICPSR; however, many users find that it is more
convenient to browse the data on-line and download a subset, or
even to perform analyses (from frequencies to multiple regression)
on-line.
- The
UK Data Archive (also known to some users as the ESRC).
A service of The University of Essex, this archive is similar to
the ICPSR with a European focus. In order to access the data, you
will need to register, which is free for academic users.
© The University of Iowa 2003. All rights reserved.
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