using quantitative data in teaching: icpsr resources
DESCRIPTION
These slides are from a presentation given at the 2010 American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences meetings (Las Vegas, NV). It is an introduction to how and why instructors might want to use real data in their undergraduate social science courses and what resources ICPSR provides to assist them in doing so.TRANSCRIPT
Using Quantitative Data in Teaching: ICPSR Resources
Linda M. Detterman & Lynette F. Hoelter University of Michigan
AABSS Annual Meeting February 4-5, 2010
Overview of the Presentation
• Advantages of data in the classroom• Brief introduction to ICPSR• Tools available at ICPSR
– Specifically for the classroom– Research and teaching
• Social Science Variables Database• Datasets by topic• Data formats• Downloading data
• Opportunities for students
Why Bother with Data?
• Including research/data analysis– Piques student interest– Engages students with the discipline
more fully • prevents some of the feeling of
“disconnect” between substantive and technical courses
– Fosters quantitative literacy skills
Potential Obstacles
• Large classes• Finding appropriate data and
creating exercises• Examples that don’t “work” in class• Student access to/knowledge of
statistical software
ICPSR can help!!
What is ICPSR?
• One of the world’s oldest and largest social science data archives– Established in 1962 (as ICPR) so that social scientists could
share data
• Data distributed on punch cards, then magnetic reel-to-reel tape, and now: – Data available instantaneously– Over 7,700 studies with over 64,000 data sets
• Membership organization that started as a partnership among 21 universities, now:– Currently over 700 members world-wide– Federal funding allows parts of the collection to be available to
all
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)
– Principle Investigators (Chitwan Valley Family Study, Marital Instability Over the Life Course)
– Data repurposed (Integrated Fertility Survey Series, Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys)
– Other organizations (NCAA)
7
ICPSR’s Attention to Undergrad Education
• Fairly recent– Response to faculty– Undergrad users are fastest growing
segment
• NSF funded projects– TeachingWithData.org (NSDL)– Course, Curriculum, & Laboratory
Improvement– Under review: REU proposal for internship
Teaching Tools
• Exploring Data Through Research Literature (EDRL)
• Investigating Community and Social Capital (ICSC)
• Supplementary Empirical Teaching Units in Political Science (SETUPS2008)
• Online Learning Center (OLC)• TeachingWithData.org
Exploring Data Through Research Literature
Investigating Community and Social Capital
SETUPS 2008
Online Learning Center
Frequency Distribution
Cells contain:-Column percent-Weighted N
INCOME
1LESS THAN $24,000
2$24,000-$49,999
3$50,000-$99,999
4MORE THAN $100,000
ROWTOTAL
YEARGAMB
0: Didn't gamble in past year
32.415,759,745
25.113,001,616
19.68,868,472
24.54,030,466
25.741,660,300
1: Gambled in past year
67.632,885,485
74.938,713,040
80.436,491,643
75.512,402,378
74.3120,492,546
COL TOTAL100.0
48,645,230100.0
51,714,657100.0
45,360,115100.0
16,432,844100.0
162,152,846
TeachingWithData.org
Research and Teaching
• Bibliography of Related Literature• Topical archives• Social Science Variables Database• Online analysis package (SDA)• Other file formats (SPSS, SAS, Stata)• Finding and downloading data
Data by Topic
• Many archives, including:– Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive
(SAMHDA)*– National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)*– National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA)*– National Archive of the Drug Abuse and HIV Data Program*– Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR)*– Resource Center for Minority Data (RCMD)– International Data Resource Center (IDRC)– NCAA– General Archive
*These archives are federally funded
Thematic Collections/ Specialty Archives
Social Science Variables Database
Online Analysis Software
(Other) File Formats
Finding & Downloading Data
Student Opportunities
•Summer internship program•Student paper competitions•Undergraduate•Master’s•RCMD
