UNCG's Dataland

Saying goodbye to legacy American FactFinder

2011-12-16T09:24:00.002-05:00

We finally have a due date for the legacy American FactFinder's retirment: January 20, 2012. We will miss the old gal!

We need to get to know AFF2, which will have current and previous year data from the American Community Survey, Puerto Rico Community Survey, Annual Population Estimates, Economic Census, and Annual Economic Surveys all available at http://factfinder2.census.gov.

For more links and information about using the new AFF, please see UNCG University Libraries' data services libguide. You can also contact Lynda to schedule consulations or in-house/virtual training sessions.

THE 1967 CENSUS OF THE WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP: A DIGITIZED VERSION

2011-11-18T10:58:00.001-05:00

From the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College:

In the summer of 1967, just after the Six-Day War brought the WestBank and Gaza Strip under Israel’s control, the Israeli Central Bureauof Statistics conducted a census of the occupied territories. The resulting seven volumes of reports provide the earliest detailed description of this population, including crucial data aboutrespondents’ 1948 refugee status.

In recent decades, these volumes of tables -- over 300 tables in all-- have received little or no attention from historians of the occupation, not least because it is not easy to use the reports inprint form and in any case the volumes are not widely available even in good research libraries.

The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College is making the contents of these volumes available in machine-readable form for the first time, free of charge to anyone with access to the internet. The tables canbe downloaded in Excel format for intensive research.

Many tables provide information cross-tabulated with several social characteristics at once (for example, education or occupationcross-tabulated with age, gender and refugee status) and presented for small geographic locales as well sub-totaled for regions.

Also, in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority's censuses of 1997 and 2007 these tables help provide an understanding of trends over 40 years. We hope that the data can be exploited by researchers interested in a fuller understanding of the social history of thePalestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

For an overview of our project and to access the hundreds of tablescontained in the 1967 Census database, go to http://www.levyinstitute.org/palestinian-census/

From ICPSR: Real Students, Real-World Experiences

2011-11-15T10:56:00.000-05:00

From ICPSR: Real Students, Real-World Experiences

Join us for a Webinar on November 29

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/183991746

Do your students seek opportunities to get involved in social science research? (And add relevant content to their resumes?) ICPSR can help! We have opportunities that give students hands-on experience with data and the research process and opportunities to reward the research work you encourage them to complete. This Webinar will introduce you to the ins and outs of the Student Paper Competitions – did you know we actually have four separate competitions for undergraduates and Master's students? – and the Summer Internship Program. ICPSR’s Internship Program has been the recipient of the “Best Employer” award for the state of Michigan and was recently funded by the National Science Foundation as a Research Experience for Undergraduates. Tune in to see amazing work done by previous paper competition winners and interns, hear about “lessons learned” that translate into tips for interviews or graduate school applications, and more!

Please share this webinar invitation with other faculty and students!

Title:	From ICPSR: Real Students, Real-World Experiences
Date:	Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Time:	1:30 PM - 2:30 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

A whole new world.... The new American FactFinder

2011-09-22T11:29:00.003-04:00

The Census Bureau released the first round of data from the 2010 American Community Survey today. And it is available in the NEW American FactFinder! Check it out!

For assistance using the new AFF, here are some resources:

AFF quick start tutorials: Good series of video tutorials for using the new AFF

Tip sheet from the Census Bureau

Recording of a presentation on the new AFF: From Michele Hayslett at UNC

Classroom workbook with exercises

And don't worry, AFF won't go all Facebook on you. This new interface should be good for at least a year or two ;-)

Data from Roper Center on 9/11

2011-09-19T10:15:00.002-04:00

What were Americans thinking & feeling immediately following 9/11?

FREE data on the tenth anniversary of 9/11— NBC News Terrorism Poll and NBC News & The Wall Street Journal New York City/Pentagon Terrorist Attacks Poll. Download datasets in SPSS/PASW along with their codebooks to get a more in-depth analysis of what Americans were thinking and feeling on the days immediately following 9/11 at Surveys from the days following September 11, 2001.

Members can access toplines for this data using the links below:

NBC Poll # 6018: Terrorism (United States) [USNBC2001-6018]
Survey by NBC News. Conducted by Hart-Teeter Research Companies, field dates: September 12, 2001, sample: National adult.
NBC/WSJ Poll # 6019: New York City/Pentagon Terrorist Attacks (United States) [USNBCWSJ2001-6019]
Survey by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal. Conducted by Hart-Teeter Research Companies, field dates: September 15-16, 2001, sample: National adult. RoperExplorer is also available for online analysis of this dataset (Off-campus access for UNCG faculty, students, and staff only).

get your country data here!

2011-08-25T10:19:00.003-04:00

Featured Data Source: World dataBank and World Development Indicators Online

World dataBank is UNCG's primary database for statistics on individual countries compiling development data for over 800 indicators and 200 countries. The purpose of this compilation is to provide a statistical benchmark for the progress of development in individual countries and regions. The data is wide ranging from economic indicators, such as balance of payments data, to social indicators, such as the literacy rate.

World Development Indicators and all other World Bank data products are freely available to anyone through World dataBank. Below is a tutorial for getting started with WDI.

Census Summary File 1 for NC released

2011-06-30T12:00:00.001-04:00

Exciting news for data nerds!

The US Census Bureau has released the 2010 Census Summary File 1 (SF1) data for North Carolina. This is the full release of data collected on the 2010 Census to the block level. The 2010 Census Summary File 1 data for North Carolina is available through the new American Factfinder.

And look! It's the UNCG block. And look at all of those gals! Could you tell UNCG is historically a women's college?

Which do I use? Try the HUD data set reference guide

2011-06-29T11:12:00.004-04:00

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has created a helpful reference guide on HUD USER. It shows which datasets would have most to least relevance in a particular topic area (such as disabilities or demographics).

As reported by APDU: "The Data Set Reference Guide provides convenient, one-stop access to the original data sets generated by the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R), including data from the American Housing Survey, HUD median family income limits, microdata on housing discrimination, the HUD-insured multifamily housing stock, HUD’s assisted housing population, and other housing-related topics. Access the PD&R guide here and a guide to other HUD data sources here."

Here is a screenshot of the PD&R guide:

Updates to IPUMS-International

2011-06-15T11:16:00.001-04:00

News for you from the Minnesota Population Center:

The Minnesota Population Center is pleased to announce the latest expansion of the IPUMS-International data series. We recently added 26 new samples. The data release includes 7 new countries -- Germany, Iran, Ireland, Jamaica, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Sudan -- as well as additional samples for 5 countries already in the database: Cambodia, Egypt, France, Palestine and Vietnam. The data series now contains 397 million person records from 185 censuses in 62 countries.

You can get more detail about the latest data release at https://international.ipums.org/international/news.shtml#new_data_june2011 or go directly to the variable list to see the content of the new samples at https://international.ipums.org/international-action/variables/group. The data series can be accessed at https://international.ipums.org/international/index.shtml.

We recently changed the way that users browse variables and make data extracts on our site. We welcome your feedback on this and any other aspect of IPUMS-International.

Waiting for the Census deluge...

2011-05-19T10:32:00.001-04:00

But for now we have a trickle. Just in from the NC Governor’s Census Liaison:

"Demographic Profiles from the 2010 Census for North Carolina areas were released through the new American FactFinder (http://factfinder2.census.gov) at 12:01 this morning. These profiles are similar to the Summary File 1 profiles from the 2000 Census and contain detailed age, household type and relationship, and housing unit data. "

Yay data!

NC State Data Center and Census 2010

2011-05-05T15:18:00.002-04:00

The NC State Data Center held its annual meeting this week. You can see presentation documents online at http://sdc.state.nc.us/meeting/ . You will find great information about the Census in NC and more.

You can also check out NC Census related information at http://www.osbm.state.nc.us/ncosbm/facts_and_figures/socioeconomic_data/census_home.shtm

Roper brings us cross-tabs!

2011-04-24T15:12:00.008-04:00

Roper Center has added a sweet new feature to iPoll.

"You can look at demographic cross-tabulations for over 50,000 questions asked in the US since 2000. The group data is integrated directly into iPOLL and is presented automatically with the question results wherever available. Access to results by gender, age, education, region and more, has never been easier! Just click on the group tab!"

From the iPoll search results screen, look for poll questions with a Question Detail icon that has a green plus sign (see image below).

This indicates you can access the cross-tabs. You will get results like this.

Pretty nifty!

SimplyMap's looking new and pretty!

2011-03-10T11:23:00.002-05:00

On Monday a favorite database at UNCG will get a radical update. SimplyMap is changing its interface to be more intuitive. In addition to being more user-friendly it will also have some great ranking features. I encourage you to use the Map Wizard to help guide you through your initial use. I will also be creating some video tutorials showing you how to do common or basic tasks. Please let us know if you have any questions!

ICPSR Webinar Series: Beyond the Brackets: Analyzing Data on NCAA Student Athletes

2011-03-07T10:39:00.001-05:00

ICPSR Webinar Series: Beyond the Brackets: Analyzing Data on NCAA Student Athletes

Join us for a Webinar on March 22
Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT

Space is limited.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/229015219

This webinar will introduce the NCAA Student-Athlete Experiences Data Archive. The webinar will present the purpose and goals of this NCAA-funded project with a focus on the data collections currently available and how to access them. We will also preview upcoming data releases. This webinar is free and open to the public.

Not receiving these webinar invitations directly? Subscribe here: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/org/lists/icpsr-announce.jsp

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Greensboro's growth: Census 2010 data for North Carolina

2011-03-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

North Carolina has received its Census 2010 redistricting data and you can check out the basics using this widget. NC is growing so much!

Take a look at other states using the United States widget (just click on individual states for more information). Finally, if you want to see a bit more information from the 2010 Census, check out the summary files for select states using the new American FactFinder or FTP download.

Exciting times in dataland! More to come soon!

Stats portraits of the Hispanic & Foreign-Born Pops

2011-03-03T13:35:00.002-05:00

From the Association of Public Data Users:

The Pew Hispanic Center recently released its Statistical Portraits of U.S. Hispanic and Foreign-Born Populations. The portraits, based on 2009 American Community Survey Data, are national in scope, covering racial self-identification, age, geographic dispersion, nativity, citizenship, origin, language proficiency, living arrangements, marital status, fertility, schooling, health insurance coverage, earnings, poverty, and other labor market outcomes. Comparisons to white, black, and total populations are also included.

Check out the 2009 American Community Survey data!

Bureau of Justice Stats: Prisoner Recidivism Analysis Tool

2011-02-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

From the Association of Public Data Users:

"The Bureau of Justice Statistics recently released its online Prisoner Recidivism Analysis Tool. The Tool is the first in a series of data analysis tools that will enable the public to explore the recidivism patterns of persons involved with the criminal justice system. Users can conduct customized analyses of the database, which includes the recidivism of prisoners released in 1994 and followed for a three-year period after release. Other attributes include gender, age at release, race, Hispanic origin, commitment offense, sentence length, prior arrests, and prior commitments. The Bureau of Justice Statistics will update the tool in 2012 with new recidivism data on prisoners released in 2005."

Data can be downloaded into Excel or PDF.

Hot Times in Ann Arbor: ICPSR's Summer Program

2011-02-09T15:22:00.002-05:00

Straight from ICPSR:

The Inter‑university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is pleased to announce the 2011 Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research.

Most courses for the ICPSR Summer Program are held on the campus of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Lectures and workshops on a wide variety of topics in research design, quantitative reasoning, statistical methods, and data processing are presented in two four‑week sessions. The first session runs from June 20, 2011 until July 15, 2011. The second session runs from July 18, 2011 until August 12, 2011. The contents of the two sessions are largely independent of each other, although some second‑session workshops do assume that participants are familiar with material from first‑session courses.

The 2011 ICPSR Summer Program will also offer a number of three‑ to five‑day workshops on both statistical and substantive topics throughout the summer. Most of these shorter workshops take place in Ann Arbor, but there are several that will be held in other locations: Amherst, MA; Bloomington, IN; Chapel Hill, NC; and (for the first time) Berkeley, CA.

Registration is now open for all of our statistical courses and for several of the substantive workshops. The application form, registration instructions, fee structure, and further information about the ICPSR Summer Program are all available on our web site: http://icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog/

Please feel free to e‑mail us with any further questions at: sumprog@icpsr.umich.edu

data viz and the face of segregation

2011-02-03T10:43:00.005-05:00

Check out this interesting post on mapping America from Remapping Debate, an online public policy journal. They've teamed with Social Explorer (a data visualization database) to create maps using data from the recently released 2005-2009 American Community Survey.

Here is the face of Greensboro:

At UNCG we have access to another mapping database called SimplyMap that does similar mapping. These are great tools for visualizing your community!

Upcoming ICPSR Webinar: Guidance on Preparing a Data Management Plan

2011-02-01T11:25:00.003-05:00

ICPSR has a webinar on data management plans coming up on February 17. I encourage all researchers to "stop in". It is an excellent presentation!

Join us for a Webinar on February 17
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/210595795

Back by popular demand:
Many federal funding agencies, including NIH and most recently NSF, are requiring that grant applications contain data management plans for projects involving data collection. To support researchers in meeting this requirement, ICPSR is providing a set of tools and resources for creating data management plans. This webinar will cover:

• ICPSR’s Data Management Plan Website
• Suggested Elements of a Data Management Plan
• Example Data Management Plan Language
• Designating ICPSR as an Archive in a Data Management Plan
• Additional Resources for a Preparing Your Data Management Plan

This webinar is a repeat of the January 12, 2011 session. The same topics and discussion will be covered. The webinar is free and open to the public - please forward this invitation to any who may be interested.

Not receiving these webinar invitations directly? Opt-in to ICPSR's email list here: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/org/lists/icpsr-announce.jsp

Title: ICPSR Webinar: Guidance on Preparing a Data Management Plan
Date: Thursday, February 17, 2011
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

More new goodies!: DataFerrett update

2011-01-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

Announcement from the Census Bureau:

We are happy to announce a new release of DataFerrett on January 27th,
2011.

It is now available via a webpage applet at: http://dataferrett.census.gov/

This release is largely being done in support of the American Community
Survey (ACS) Summary Files for the 5-Year data which will be available on
January 31st (with 1 and 3 year data forthcoming), and will include
numerous detailed geographies down to the block-group level.

This release includes many new features as well as datasets, and is easier
to update for security purposes, bug fixes and new feature additions. The
new system has enhanced security in place - it is a signed applet meaning
users will have to accept a VeriSign Certificate to use the software.

Note, the old DataFerrett Application accessed via your desktop will no
longer be supported. However, any saved DataFerrett databaskets (.fsf
files) or tables (.ftf files) created using the application or beta version
of the applet will still be accessible for use.

Please direct any inquiries, feedback, or requests for new features to our
team by replying to this email announcement, or you can email us directly
at dsd_ferrett@census.gov or call us at 1-866-437-0171.

Where have all the Southern Baptists gone?: The ARDA

2011-01-25T15:48:00.008-05:00

I recently realized that this blog has never featured The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)! What an oversight. So, if you have not checked out this free resource, you must do so ... soon. The ARDA provides access to major data resources focused on religion in America and other countries. Some of the most popular data studies include the Baylor Religion Survey, the General Social Surveys, the National Congregations Study. Check out the Data Archive for additional studies.

ARDA has much more than data sets though. Through the National Profiles, US Congregational Membership, Denominations, and QuickStats areas you can explore many kinds of questions.

For example, here is a question from the General Social Survey about views of the Bible.
They've also recently added some basic mapping capabilities in partnership with Social Explorer. Want to know the distribution of Southern Baptists in North Carolina? The ARDA knows.

ARDA is an invaluable tool for research and instruction in a wide range of religious studies topics. If you are an instructor, check out this webinar on using the ARDA in the classroom. And did I mention it is free?

What do you really know about the Tea Party?

2011-01-18T09:28:00.004-05:00

Roper Center just added the CBS/NY Times Tea Party Movement Poll dataset: "From April 5-12, 2010, CBS News and New York Times interviewed a sample of national adults including an oversample of Tea Party supporters about their views on the current state of government and the economy. The study includes a series of questions about the respondents involvement with the Tea Party, as well as views of the movement."

You can also generate crosstabs on this dataset before downloading by using RoperExplorer, the new online data analysis system. Want to see the percentage of tea party supporters by gender, age, or race? Simple enough. Questions about using the dataset or RoperExplorer? Just ask Lynda!

It's like Christmas all over again! New American FactFinder

2011-01-12T13:27:00.001-05:00

Next Tuesday, January 18 at 2pm the Census Bureau will be unveiling the new and improved American FactFinder. Take a look at the upcoming changes: http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/aff2.html.

And you know where I'll be at 2pm!

Coming soon from the roper center!

2010-12-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

The Roper Center recently announced it will begin to use an online analysis system called SDA (also used by IPUMS and ICPSR). This system allows users to conduct secondary analysis on about 1,500 surveys without having SPSS, SAS, or STATA. The system will be launched soon. Check The Roper Center for more information.

The future is an amazing place!

Get Census 2010 data under your holiday tree

2010-12-16T15:14:00.007-05:00

So much data, so little time... Next week on December 21 we will have our first peek at Census 2010 data. While you won't be able to access the data through American FactFinder until February 2011, on December 21 the Census Bureau will release the state population totals for House of Rep apportionment. Did NC lose? Will Utah win? Be the first to know!

You can also view apportionment data through the past century using the widget below. Census 2010 data will be added on December 21.

OMG! Can't wait! It's like Christmas!

IFRAMES not supported

all our little monsters...

2010-12-14T11:12:00.004-05:00

The American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates are now available from American FactFinder. For the first time, you can discover ACS data at the tract and census block level. Amazing!

Here is the census tract for UNCG. You can see all of our little monsters....

More ACS headed your way...

2010-12-11T15:47:00.004-05:00

More information about the ACS 5-year estimates being released on Tuesday from the ACS website:

The 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates include estimates on most (but not all) topics included in the survey. Several topics that were added or modified in 2008 and 2009 are not included in these 5-year estimates. These include Bachelor's field of degree, disability, marital history, health insurance coverage, and service-connected disability status and ratings. The first 5-year estimates for these topics will be available in the 2013 release of the 2008-2012 5-year estimates (except for Bachelor's field of degree, which will be available in the 2014 release of the 2009-2013 estimates). For a complete list of topics covered on the ACS questionnaire, browse Subjects included in the American Community Survey.

For the advanced dataland geeks, you can even compare tables between the 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates and Census 2000 SF3! Geek-a-rama!

New ACS data coming to a tract near you!

2010-12-08T14:59:00.002-05:00

At 9am on December 14th, the Census Bureau will release its American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. You will be able to use ACS data for geographies with fewer than 20,000 people (like tracts, block groups, and blocks). More info on the American Community Survey website.

We here in dataland can't wait and will have champagne corks at the ready! See you next week on American FactFinder!

Yummy data just for you! ACS 2009 1-year estimate

2010-09-28T15:53:00.002-04:00

The U.S Census Bureau is pleased to announce the release of the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates on American FactFinder. There you will find tables with social, demographic, housing, and economic data for areas with populations of 65,000 or more.

You can access the newly-released data on American FactFinder at:2009 ACS 1-year data

If you would like more information and supporting documentation for this data release please visit the ACS web site at:www.census.gov/acs

New data from the Current Population Survey

2010-09-14T21:06:00.001-04:00

Message from the State Data Center:

The Current Population Survey (CPS) will release data on poverty, median household income, and health insurance coverage on Thursday, September 16, at 10am. Visit the US Census Bureau home page at http://www.census.gov and look for an icon in the upper left corner of the page. You will be able to access the data and media kit to go with the data.

CPS is a small sample survey that produces annual data for state comparisons. This is NOT the American Community Survey (ACS) release. The ACS income and poverty release is scheduled for September 28 and will include data for sub-state areas with populations over 65,000. Additional ACS data for areas with populations below 65,000 will follow later this year.

OECD iLibrary: Not your daddy's OECD

2010-07-27T13:58:00.005-04:00

The OECD is an intergovernmental organization devoted to enhancing economic cooperation and the promotion of democracy created in 1961 out of the Marshall plan. A list of OECD member countries is available here. Accession candidate countries are ones that want to be members of the OECD. Enhanced engagement countries are ones that haven't joined but are key players. Brazil and South Africa may become candidates for accession. The organization publishes a huge amount of research and data available to UNCG researchers and students through OECD ilibrary. We have had SourceOECD, but this new product is ten times better.

Here are some highlights of the new product:

On the main page of the OECD ilibrary, you can look up information by theme or country. This includes themes like Education and Health that people may not associate with the OECD.
iLibrary includes book, journal/papers, working papers (which are unofficial reports by researchers associated with the OECD), the well-known fact books, and, your favorite, STATISTICS!
iLibrary still includes tons of the OECD books, so check there often. We hope to have the books available through the Library Catalog by December. If you think we might have an OECD publication, just ask our librarians!
Pretty much everything seems to have an RSS feed now, which is really helpful. You could do a RSS for a journal, the main economic indicators, the latest releases in a particular theme, your favorite table, pretty much whatevs. They also provide citations for each individual piece.
OECD.stat within iLibrary is the statistical warehouse. It provides access to wide range of OECD data sets from economic indicators to health issues stats. Metadata are available for all datasets and provide source information. Keep in mind that OECD's role is to aggregate and harmonize data, so they are getting most of it from the country's source agency.
And speaking of health, OECD Health Data 2010 is out and is still quite comprehensive. It is linked on the front page and no longer requires downloading an application.

Those are just some highlights. I encourage you to consult OECD iLibrary for any international or comparative work with a social focus. Next month I will do a short tutorial demonstrating some of these features. In the meantime, have fun! Great stuff!

Cool tools from Roper Center

2010-07-02T09:27:00.002-04:00

Interested in polling data and learning more about polling techniques? The Roper Center is just the resource for you! Check out their recent blog post on Education Tools and more.

Education Tools Available

Roper Center offers a series of tutorials on some of the fundamentals of public opinion polling, including definitions, examples, and explanations that serve to introduce interested students to the field of public opinion research, also covers the basics of analysis and interpretation of the results.

Hot Topic - Immigration

Amend constitution so children of illegal immigrants born in US do not get citizenship?

Survey by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Interviewing conducted by Abt SRBI, June 16-June 20, 2010. [USSRBI.062410P.R60]

Related information can be found by searching the Center's iPOLL Databank or by visiting Topics At A Glance--Immigration on the Roper Center website.

IPUMS-International rocks the world

2010-06-18T14:51:00.002-04:00

World Cup style...OK, that was gratuitous, but IPUMS is almost as wonderful as the World Cup.

The Minnesota Population Center has loads of new goodies for all the data peeps out there. IPUMS-International recently announced the availability of 28 more census microdata samples, bringing the total to 158 (55 countries). They also have boundary files for many countries.

All is available to researchers and students at no cost from https://international.ipums.org/international Registration is required.

ICPSR Summer Program Workshop on “Health Care Change in the U.S."

2010-05-24T13:24:00.002-04:00

New Details on the ICPSR Summer Program Workshop on “Health Care Change in the U.S.”

Application deadline extended (June 9, 2010)
Courses fees waived
Limited number of travel stipends ($500) available

The ICPSR Summer Program is pleased to announce new details on the 5-day (August 2-6, 2010) workshop titled

“Health Care Change in the United States: Working With The Community Tracking Study and Health Tracking Surveys”

– sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

A description of the workshop follows and also can be found – along with information on how to register – at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/sumprog/courses/0121.

HEALTH CARE CHANGE IN THE UNITED STATES: WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY TRACKING STUDY AND HEALTH TRACKING SURVEYS

With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) has periodically conducted national surveys of households and physicians and conducted comprehensive site visits in a set of local health care markets since 1996. The Community Tracking Study (CTS) is a large-scale longitudinal investigation of the evolution of the U.S. health system change and its effects on people and providers. This workshop will focus on the household and physician surveys conducted by HSC and available through ICPSR. The first four rounds of these surveys, called the CTS Household and Physician surveys, had complex samples primarily clustered in 60 nationally representative local healthcare markets, allowing both national and market estimates. Beginning in 2007, with round 5, surveys adopted simpler national samples and were renamed the HSC Health Tracking Household and Physician surveys.

The household surveys contain detailed information on people’s healthcare access, satisfaction, use of services and insurance coverage. Information about health status, sociodemographic characteristics and employment is also collected. Physician surveys ask about source of practice revenue, problems respondents face in practicing medicine, quality of care, access to services, information technology, sources of practice revenue and compensation, as well as questions about their practice arrangements and care practices.

This workshop will meet August 2-6 and cover key features of the CTS and Health Tracking Household and Physician surveys, while also providing instruction on their use and on the analysis of survey data in general. It will begin with presentations by HSC staff, who will describe study design, sampling procedures, questionnaire content, complex survey variance estimation, weighting, and other topics. Participants will be asked to familiarize themselves with the content of the either the 2007 household or 2008 physician surveys and formulate research projects. HSC and ICPSR staff will assist participants in developing and pursuing their research projects. During the last two days of the workshop, participants will hear from researchers who have used the CTS and HT surveys, continue working on their research projects, and explore other HSC surveys.

Application: Applicants need to include a one-page statement of their research interests and their curriculum vitae. Graduate students require a letter of support from their faculty adviser. All supporting materials can be submitted electronically through the Summer Program registration portal on each applicant's Summer Program account page.

Deadline: EXTENDED -- the new deadline for application is Wednesday June 9, 2010.

Fee: There will be no tuition fees for accepted participants.

Stipend: Robert Wood Johnson will offer travel stipends ($500 maximum) for a limited number of participants to attend the workshop.

Announcement of 2010 ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research

2010-04-19T13:25:00.001-04:00

The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is pleased to announce the 2010 Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research.

As many subscribers to this list already know, the main component of the Summer Program is held on the campus of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Lectures and workshops on a wide variety of topics in research design, quantitative reasoning, statistical methods, and data processing are presented in two four-week sessions.

The first session runs from June 21, 2010 until July 16, 2010. The second session runs from July 19, 2010 until August 13, 2010.

The contents of the two sessions are largely independent of each other, although some second-session workshops do assume that participants are familiar with material from first-session courses.

The 2010 ICPSR Summer Program will also offer a number of three- to five-day workshops on both statistical and substantive topics throughout the summer. These shorter workshops are held in a variety of locations: Amherst, MA; Ann Arbor, MI; Bloomington, IN; Chapel Hill, NC; and New Haven, CT.

We are currently accepting applications for our four-week sessions and for all of our statistical short courses. The roster of substantive workshops is still being put together; a complete list of all courses will be sent out in the near future.

The 2010 application form, registration instructions, fee structure, and further information about the ICPSR Summer Program are all available on our web site:

http://icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog/

Please feel free to contact us with any questions at: sumprog@icpsr.umich.edu

Guilford County is schooling LA County!

2010-04-08T07:46:00.006-04:00

Check out the US Census Bureau's Take 10 Map.

Wanna take bets on whose city will have the highest census participation rate? You can compare participation rates in your home state or county to others in the United States using the Take 10 Map. Currently the northern Midwest states are winning, but the rest of the country is close behind!

And don't forget to fill out and mail back your form. For more information, visit http://2010.census.gov/ and check out the information below from the NC Census office.

Making Sure You Are Counted

by NC Census April 06, 2010

April 1 – Census Day – has come and gone, and it is important that everyone be a part of the 2010 Census count.

What do you do if you have misplaced your Census questionnaire?

First, remember that April 1 is NOT a deadline or a due date. You can still participate in the Census.

The 2010 Census is a count of everyone where they reside. While most addresses were mailed questionnaires in mid-March, “group quarters” such as college dorms, military barracks, residential homes, prisons, etc. are counted by the US Census Bureau in a slightly different process that began on April 1 and runs through mid-May. If you reside in a group quarters situation, the Census is coming to you.

If you live in a traditional residence such as a house or apartment and need a replacement 2010 Census questionnaire, you can participate in the Census through different options.

You can wait. The US Census Bureau is mailing replacement forms to some areas, and you may receive a replacement form in your mailbox. Census workers will also begin visiting addresses that did not return a Census questionnaire in May, and you can participate in the 2010 Census by answering the questions with the Census worker.

You can call. If you do not want to wait, Questionnaire Assistance Centers and Be Counted sites can also provide you with replacement forms. Currently the Telephone Questionnaire Assistance Center can answer questions about completing your Census form, but beginning on April 12 the TQAC can have replacement forms mailed to your home. You can reach the telephone Questionnaire Assistance Center at the following numbers:

English 1-866-872-6868
Chinese 1-866-935-2010
Korean 1-866-955-2010
Russian 1-866-965-2010
Spanish 1-866-928-2010
Vietnamese 1-866-945-2010
TDD 1-866-783-2010 (for hearing impaired)

You can visit. There are over 1,000 Questionnaire Assistance Centers located in public areas such as public libraries and community centers across North Carolina. You may stop by your nearest QAC to pick up a replacement form. Visit the Take 10 Map to locate the nearest Questionnaire Assistance Center in your neighborhood.

UNCG's 2010 Census Page

2010-02-16T12:50:00.002-05:00

Check out our new 2010 Census page! It brings together links of interest to the UNCG community including information about the Census in NC. And don't forget to mail back your form!

Cool reports from Euromonitor's GMID!

2010-02-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Check out these new reports from GMID:

Top 10 consumer trends for 2009

All expectations are that this will be a year of guarded consumption for credit-crunched consumers globally – but consumption is more resilient than people might think and many commentators point out that the global consumer mindset is tuned to recession-spending. CLICK HERE to read more

Mapping global pollution: The world's biggest polluters

The United Nations Climate Change Summit is taking place in December 2009 in Copenhagen with the aim of coming up with a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol for global emissions targets, which are due to expire in 2012. 192 countries are involved but a divide exists between emerging markets and advanced economies on where responsibility lies for reducing emissions. China is the world's largest polluter followed by the USA but emerging markets generally lag behind in terms of per capita emissions. CLICK HERE to read more

Indian consumers in 2020: A look into the future

A fast growing economy and a rising number of affluent consumers have pushed India into the league of most brand conscious countries globally. Many Indian consumers today are savvy shoppers who are educated, know their brands and are ready to spend more on premium lifestyle products and entertainment. CLICK HERE to read more

For more reports, check out Euromonitor's Global Market Information Database.

NCAA data available @ ICPSR

2010-01-27T09:00:00.001-05:00

ICPSR has released a new thematic archive called NCAA Student-Athlete Experiences Data Archive. It will serve as a repository for publicly available NCAA data on a variety of topics, such as graduation rates, academic progress, and more. Currently only the NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate 2009 dataset is available, but in 2010 they will add the Graduation Success Rate Public-Use dataset and more. In addition, the Progress Rate 2009 data can be analyzed online.

The NCAA archive looks to be a great resource for scholars interested in student-athletes. Stop by the website to see their new content!

Get the Facts about the 2010 Census

2010-01-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

A phony Better Business Bureau email is circulating the intertubes. Check out the press release from the BBB below. As we enter the crunch time for the Census, people will start spreading misinformation. Don't fall for the lies. Keep yourself informed!

Phony BBB E-mail Spreads Fiction about 2010 Census; Get the Facts

An e-mail which falsely claims to be from the Better Business Bureau about the upcoming 2010 Census is inaccurate and BBB is advising consumers to get the facts.

How to Identify a Census Field Representative
If a U.S. Census Bureau employee knocks on your door, here are some recognition tips to assure the validity of the field representative:

The field representative must present an ID badge that contains a Department of Commerce watermark and expiration date. The field representative may also be carrying a bag with a Census Bureau logo.
The field representative will provide you with supervisor contact information and/or the Regional Office phone number for verification, if asked.
The field representative will provide you with a letter from the Census Bureau Director on official letterhead.

When Field Representatives will be Going Door-to-Door

From April to July 2010, we will knock on the door of every
household that does not mail back a completed 2010 Census form.
It’s critical that you take just 10 minutes to fill out and mail back your form rather than wait for a census worker to show up on your doorstep. About $85 million in taxpayer dollars are saved for every one percent increase in mail response.
The Census Bureau must get a census form to – and a completed form back from – every residence in the United States. That’s more than 130 million addresses. This is why the census is the largest domestic mobilization our nation undertakes.

What the 2010 Census DOES NOT Ask

Field representatives will never ask you for your social security number, bank account number, or credit card number. Census workers also never solicit for donations and will never contact you by e-mail.

The Census is Safe

The 2010 Census will ask for name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship, and whether you own or rent your home – just 10 simple questions that will take about 10 minutes to answer.
Your answers are protected by law and are not shared with anyone.
The Census Bureau safeguards all census responses to the highest security standards available.

For more information about the upcoming 2010 Census visit www.census.gov/2010census

ICPSR presents: the new "Research Connections" website!

2010-01-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

ICPSR will provide a webinar on January 25 on its new "Research Connections" website. More information below:

Research Connections offers a comprehensive, easily searchable collection of more than 15,000 resources from the many disciplines related to child care and early education.

Some of the new tools we'll demonstrate:
• Filter your search results by author, state, peer reviewed journal, resource type, or acquisition date to quickly find the resources you need.
• Save your search and receive notices when new resources are added that meet your saved search criteria.
• Browse the collection by topic to fully explore your areas of interest.
• Search for variables in individual datasets to easily find the data you want.

This webinar is FREE and open to the public. Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/739004691

Title: Introducing the New "Research Connections" Website!
Date: Monday, January 25, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Pop quiz hot shot: What are the top 10 largest cities in Croatia?

2010-01-06T11:41:00.007-05:00

New in Euromonitor Global Market Information Database: "Cities are drivers of economic growth and at the same time cities are the result of economic growth. City consumers are more brand-aware and have higher disposable incomes and tend to be trend-setters. Emerging markets are home to some of the world’s most dynamic and fast-growing cities. The data covers the largest 10 cities in each country and are available for 82 countries from 1998-2015."

From within GMID, the data can be found by selecting urban population:

And the answer is...

Stop back by for an upcoming quick start tutorial on accessing GMID's country data.

American Community Survey Release!

2009-12-18T10:58:00.003-05:00

From the Census Bureau: The U.S. Census Bureau today released the 2006-2008 ACS PUMS files. The 2006-2008 ACS 3-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files provide population and housing unit responses from a sample of individual ACS questionnaires collected during the January 2006 through December 2008 period.

These microdata allow ACS data users to look at relationships among variables not shown in the standard data products published by the Census Bureau and provide greater accessibility to data for research projects. In particular, researchers and data users have found the PUMS data useful for regression analysis, modeling applications, and designing tabulations to create custom ACS population and housing characteristics data.

The 2006-2008 ACS 3-year PUMS data can be accessed on American FactFinder or by using DataFerrett

The Minnesota Population Center's IPUMS project will release their version of the 2006-2008 ACS PUMS files later this year.

Hey! IPUMS users! Read this!

2009-11-19T14:25:00.006-05:00

IPUMS Research Award! Call for Nominations!

The Minnesota Population Center is pleased to announce the second annual award competition for research using the MPC’s microdata collection. The 2009 IPUMS competition has been expanded to include separate awards for research using the USA and international databases. Papers or publications submitted should utilize one or more of the IPUMS datasets for studying social, economic, and/or demographic processes.

To be eligible for the USA awards, papers must make significant use of data from the IPUMS-USA (decennial census and/or American Community Survey data) or IPUMS-CPS (Current Population Survey data). To be eligible for the INTERNATIONAL awards, research must make substantive use of at least one non-USA sample in the IPUMS-International (census microdata from the US and other countries).

Prizes will be awarded for:
• Best published work, and
• Best work by a graduate student, published or unpublished.

To be considered for the graduate student competition, the paper’s lead or sole author must currently be a graduate student. The award consists of a $250 cash prize, a plaque, and a prominent announcement on the IPUMS websites. Winners may also be invited to the Minnesota Population Center—at MPC expense—to present their research.

Deadline for nomination or submission: December 15, 2009.

Submission procedure: Papers or publications should be submitted in electronic form to ipums@pop.umn.edu by December 15, 2009. All submissions should include the submitting author’s name, institution, and contact information. Please indicate whether the lead author is currently a graduate student. Work that is already published should have a publication date of 2008 or 2009. Unpublished work should have been written within the last two years. Publications may be in any language but an English-language version must be provided.
Notification: Winners will be notified in late February, 2010.

Do you like working outdoors and meeting new people?

2009-11-12T12:57:00.005-05:00

Then I've got a job for you! The US Census Bureau is looking for temporary, part-time employees for the 2010 Census. They are especially interested in bilingual speakers. Check out their website for more information!

Be Counted!: New website for Census 2010

2009-10-29T08:53:00.006-04:00

The Census Bureau has launched a pretty new website for Census 2010. My fave page is the interactive sample form. More information below. Check it out, spread the word, and be counted!

The Census Bureau is working hard to reach every person living in America to inform them and their communities about the importance of the 2010 Census. As part of this larger integrated communications effort, today we launched a new website,2010census.gov. A Spanish language site will launch in November.

This website is the platform on which we will build a national dialogue about how each person’s participation helps paint a new “Portrait of America.” Share this site with your family, friends and neighbors to spread the word about why the 2010 Census matters. The census is now in your hands.

Site features:

In the marquee, hear real people from all walks of life and from communities across America express their questions about the Census and get the real answers.
In the Whole Story, learn the truth behind census myths.
In Top Questions, easily find answers to even more questions.
“How It Works” explains the census and walks you through the 10 questions on the form that you will receive next spring.
Information on key census dates is just a click away.
The multimedia center (videos, photos and audio) shares with you peoples' stories about how the census is easy, safe, and important.

Why is the OECD your new BFF?

2009-10-19T08:57:00.005-04:00

Because the publishing arm of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is the most savvy and user-oriented data publisher around (beyond of course my other BFF SimplyMap). What has the OECD done to deserve my love? The OECD Factbook 2009 is now available as an iPhone and iTouch app. That's right dataheads, you can take your economic indicators out on the road with you. Below is a screenshot of the Total Population for the 30 OECD countries and OECD cooperation countries (Brazil, Russia, etc).

While the bar charts aren't visually interesting, it is still pretty nifty to have major indicators from 30 countries at your fingertips (Potentially useful for my bar trivia addicts). I would love to see a more interactive version at some point (e.g., be able to choose specific countries to display and compare). Nevertheless, this e-reference book is a great start. Thanks OECD!

Visualize It! with the IMF Data Mapper

2009-10-08T09:00:00.001-04:00

Need a visual display of the Gross Domestic Product for a few countries? IMF to the rescue! The IMF Data Mapper lets you visualize data from some of the IMF’s major sources, including World Economic Outlook, Balance of Payment Statistics, Government Finance Statistics, AFR Regional Economic Outlook, and Joint IMF-OECD Statistics. You can choose from around 80 different indicators, such as GDP, inflation rate or unemployment rate. You can display data for specific countries, regions, or analytical groups, such as the Euro area or emerging and developing economies.

The display includes a zoomable map of the world. If you hover over a particular country, you will see the indicator’s value for that country, and if you click on the map, the display will zoom in. It also provides a line and a bubble chart displaying data points over time. The data for selected indicators can be exported to an excel file or you can export the map and chart as picture files (in .png formats).

The help screen is limited, so you may need to play around with the options to get comfortable with it. Overall, it is a good free source for creating visual displays of international economic data. Take a look at the IMF Data Mapper.

Newest kid on the block: data.australia.gov.au

2009-10-02T10:32:00.002-04:00

The Australian government is getting into the act of making public information datasets available online through data.australia.gov.au. The portal provides access to a variety of government datasets with most concentrated in environmental, community, geographic and transportation areas at the moment. My favorite is a shapefile of all Austrialian World Heritage properties! Many of the datasets have Creative Commons licenses, so feel free to have fun with them.

In fact, the Government 2.0 Taskforce is encouraging Australian users to enter the Mashup Australia Competition. Submit your mashups between October 7th and November 6th. The US version, Data.gov, should take a cue from the Australians and have a mashup competition!

Health insurance stats now in the American Community Survey's 2008 data

2009-09-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

Want to know how many people don't have health insurance in Guilford County? Check it out...

The Census Bureau released 2008 American Community Survey data on September 22. You can access the data through American FactFinder or from the American Community Survey page. This release includes health insurance coverage data for areas with populations over 65,000. Of course the margins of error are a bit high (the constant problem with ACS), but it is still useful information!

If you have questions about using these sources, please feel free to contact Lynda.

Presentation for Specialized Education Studies grad students, 9/21/09

2009-09-21T15:14:00.001-04:00

SES grad student presentation

View more presentations from Lynda Kellam.

Great Things Happening at ICPSR

2009-09-16T15:00:00.001-04:00

Hello again dataheads! The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research just held a webinar on their new site. Here is the quick and dirty.

New search engine: They have rebuilt the search engine completely. The best addition is faceted searching, which allows you to filter your search with additional terms like subject terms, geography, time period, and even study author. You also have easy and quick access to the ICPSR Thesaurus for more terms.
Study homepage changes: They have also changed the study homepages. If you enter into a study homepage you will see an option for Quick Download, which allows you to download all study files at one time. You will still need to log in to your personal account and to agree to the terms of use, but it is a lot quicker! In addition, they have condensed the info displayed, but provide links for more detail.
NO MORE DATA CARTS! The data cart is a thing of the past (Shame really. I loved the idea of a grocery bag full of data). Instead you will see all the various options for download displayed immediately. One note on this option: if the various options are grayed out, then just log in as a member and the arrows will be available for downloading data.
RSS Feeds: You can now create RSS feeds based on your search query. This is my fave feature by far! So, if I'm interested in data about crime in the US, then I can save my search query to my RSS reader. Super cool! Let me know if you have any questions about doing this!
Other stuff: They have expanded the Variable Database to cover about 20% of holdings minus Census data, so you can search for particular variables across a large number of studies. In addition they have started using Blogger and integrating Blogger posts into the ICPSR via RSS feeds. The ultimate goal for this integration is to (eventually) allow users to comment on parts of the website and maybe individually studies. I look forward to the possibility of the community sharing its vast knowledge about particular studies and more.

If you want to see all of this great stuff for yourself, check out the slides or recorded presentation. There are many more tutorials on a variety of topics available through the Data User Help Center, so check it out!

News from the Minnesota Population Center and IPUMS

2009-09-14T16:52:00.003-04:00

Job posting and data announcement from Minn Pop Center and IPUMS:

POSITION OPENINGS
The Minnesota Population Center is recruiting a post-doctoral researcher to work on IPUMS-CPS; the start date is flexible. We also have immediate openings for Research Associates/Research Scientists to work on IPUMS-USA and two other projects. To obtain more information and download position announcements, please visit our website at http://www.pop.umn.edu/about-mpc/employment-opportunities/research-positions/

UPCOMING DATA RELEASES
The Census Bureau plans to release microdata from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) on September 22nd, 2009. We will produce an IPUMS version of this dataset within a week of its public release. The IPUMS version of the data will be available via the IPUMS-USA site. Finally, earlier today we released the IPUMS version of the 2009 March Current Population Survey, available on the IPUMS-CPS site at http://cps.ipums.org .

Check this website, if you are interested in the IPUMS mailing list.

If you use census data and haven't checked out the awesome efforts at the Minn Pop Center, then you really need to do so now. Like today. It will change your life. Promise.

Ch-ch-changes (Turn and face the new ICPSR)

2009-09-10T15:16:00.004-04:00

That's right dataheads! The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research has officially entered the 21st century and changed its look. You can even "attend" a webinar to learn all that the new site has to offer. I'm very excited about the new search engine. Plus there seems to be tons of new video tutorials (my fave thing, ever). I'll be back soon after the webinar to blog more about the changes, but in the meantime you should check it out!

2009 ICPSR Web Site - Navigating & Using the New Site!

Join us for a Webinar on September 16. Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now.

This presentation will focus on changes to the ICPSR Web site, with special attention given to the search engine, the study home page, and the new download page. We'll also briefly discuss RSS notifications and additional changes that will be made by the end of the calendar year.

Title: The 2009 ICPSR Web Site - Navigating & Using the New Site!

Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Are you a Power User?

2009-09-02T10:00:00.002-04:00

Featured Database: Statistical Warehouse

Statistical Warehouse is UNCG's general resource for finding statistics on a wide variety of topics. From demographics to social indicators, from economic stats to voting stats, Statistical Warehouse lives up to its name by being a warehouse bursting with stats. Stats Warehouse also now has ACCRA Cost of Living data for all you Power Users out there! This quick start tutorial shows you how to use the Power User mode to find the population of specific counties.

Access to Statistical Warehouse is restricted to UNCG faculty, staff, and students.

Click on the bottom right of the video for full screen.

Want to know more about Guilford County in 1960?

2009-08-27T10:30:00.000-04:00

A new project, NC Census Data: 1960-1980, is now providing online access to NC census profiles and maps. A joint effort of the State Library of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Data Center, the site provides North Carolina census profiles for 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s censuses as full-text searchable PDFs. These profiles include county and state level demographics information and enumeration district maps.

Check, check, check it out!

SimplyMap Quick Start Tutorial - Finding Specific Census Tracts

2009-08-20T13:00:00.001-04:00

SimplyMap is a web-based mapping database for developing thematic maps–and tables—using thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables. This quick start tutorial shows you how to find data for a specific census tract. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of counties created by the US Census Bureau. Read this page from the Census Bureau for more information about census tracts.

Access to SimplyMap is restricted to UNCG faculty, staff, and students.

Click on the bottom right of the video for full screen.

Free Data Conference for UNCG Faculty, Staff, and Students

2009-08-14T09:07:00.001-04:00

The Triangle Census Research Data Center (TCRDC) will hold its annual conference "What is the TCRDC and How Can it Help Me?" on September 18, 2009 at Duke University. The conference speakers will talk about using the confidential microdata available at the TCRDC. You will also have an opportunity to talk with TCRDC staff members about accessing the confidential data.

The conference is free for UNCG faculty, staff, and students. You may register online and read more about the day's agenda.

UNCG researchers now have access to unpublished Census microdata through a partnership between Duke University, the U.S. Census Bureau, the UNC System and the TCRDC. This partnership allows the faculty, students and research staff of member institutions to access unpublished microdata from the Census Bureau’s economic and demographic censuses and surveys. Confidential data from other government agencies, such as the National Center for Health Statistics, may be accessed as well. Access to this confidential microdata is provided at a secure computer laboratory located on the Duke Campus. Check out the TCRDC web site for more information about the available data sources.

All your country data needs!

2009-08-07T08:20:00.000-04:00

Featured Database: World Development Indicators Online

World Development Indicators Online is UNCG's primary database for statistics on individual countries. Originally published as the World Bank's World Development Indicators Yearbook, WDI compiles development data for over 800 indicators and 200 countries. The purpose of this compilation is to provide a statistical benchmark for the progress of development in individual countries and regions. The data is wide ranging from economic indicators, such as balance of payments data, to social indicators, such as the literacy rate.

If you are working on topics with an international focus or country comparisons, I encourage to explore WDI. It is a great database and very easy to use.

Off campus access to World Development Indicators Online is restricted to UNCG faculty, staff, and students.

Click on the bottom right of the video for full screen.

ICPSR wants YOU!

2009-07-31T10:54:00.001-04:00

...To comment on their new website. You have until August 11 to explore the site and send comments and suggestions. Personally I'm very excited about the new search engine and the video tutorials! Woohoo, welcome to Web 2.0 ICPSR! It's fun here!

Printing of 2010 Census Questionnaires Under Way

2009-07-24T14:08:00.000-04:00

Press release from US Census Bureau:
New 10-Question Survey Among Shortest Since First Census in 1790
The U.S. Census Bureau has begun printing 2010 Census questionnaires as the agency continues preparations for next year's count of the U.S. population. The new questionnaire, which every residential address will receive, is designed to be one of the shortest since the first census in 1790, asking just 10 questions and taking about 10 minutes to complete.

"Our goal is to count everyone living in the United States once, only once, and in the right place," said Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves. "Making that happen begins with the 2010 Census questionnaire, a powerful tool that provides critical data that will guide representation in Congress and the distribution of more than $400 billion in federal funds to state, local and tribal governments every year."

Beginning in mid-March 2010, more than 120 million questionnaires will be delivered to U.S. residential addresses. To meet the goal, the Census Bureau will print more than 1.5 million documents every day.

See the full press release....

SimplyMap Quick Start Tutorial

2009-07-17T11:39:00.000-04:00

Featured Database: SimplyMap

SimplyMap is a web-based mapping database for developing thematic maps–and tables—using thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables. Each user accesses SimplyMap through a "personal workspace". This quick start tutorial is an introduction to the layout of SimplyMap. I will be creating more on other tasks within SimplyMap. Stay tuned!

Access to SimplyMap is restricted to UNCG faculty, staff, and students.

Click on the bottom right of the video for full screen.

Viewing government data in google earth

2009-07-15T14:23:00.000-04:00

Here's a great post from Jeanne Kramer-Smyth at Free Government Information (FGI)

"One great way to get your head around large government datasets to view it using Google Earth. I went on a hunt for the most interesting, striking and geography based government data sets currently available in the KML format used by Google Earth. There is a large gallery of tours and layers available from Google Earth's site, including some based on government data - but I wanted to look beyond them.... Check out more of the entry at Free Government Information (FGI)!

Free workshop on Consumer Expenditure Survey Microdata

2009-06-30T17:48:00.000-04:00

Register soon!

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) will host its 4th annual microdata user's workshop from July 29-31, 2009. The conference includes both informative and practical sessions for users of all levels. The first day of the conference will be dedicated to new and novice data users, and the third day will be dedicated to intermediate and expert users. The second day will showcase current research using CE data. The conference is free for all participants and will be held in the Bureau of Labor Statistics conference center in Washington, DC. More detailed information, including a link to the registration form, can be found on the CE Web site

From ICPSR...

Gearing up for Census 2010...The countdown begins!

2009-06-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

Want to learn about the difficulties of counting the population in a city like New York? Check out the National Public Radio story on the problems with counting New Yorkers and the difficulties leading up to the Census 2010. Be sure to check out the interactive maps on response rates and census figures state by state too!

And don't forget, the 2010 Census will be happening soon. Check out the NC Can Count On Me website for more information!

One stop shop for Federal data needs??

2009-05-21T17:02:00.000-04:00

Data.gov was just released today by the Federal CIO Council as an interagency Federal initiative. The goal of this new data portal and searchable catalog is to increase access to the myriad of datasets released by the Executive Branch. Although they are starting out with a very limited number of datasets in the catalog, they welcome suggestions for additions and hope to keep the collection growing. You can search for raw data or data extraction tools and widgets by keywords, categories of information, specific formats, and by specific agencies. They include geospatial datasets with KML, KMZ and ESRI Shapefile formats. Check out their tutorial for assistance using. Happy data searching!

Addition to the IPUMS International project

2009-05-19T13:45:00.000-04:00

Just in from IPUMS: The IPUMS-International project has recently added 19 samples to the data series, bringing the total number of samples to 130. The recently added samples include data for nine new countries: Armenia, Bolivia, Guinea, India, Italy, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia and Slovenia. In addition, we have extended the existing series of samples for France, Romania and South Africa. The new data release also includes GIS boundary files for mapping countries and major administrative divisions within countries.

The full content of the data series is summarized here: https://international.ipums.org/international/samples.shtml.

Multi-record and Hierarchical Set-up Files for ICPSR studies in SPSS

2009-05-01T15:28:00.000-04:00

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/462579450
Space is limited.

This webinar will discuss the similarities and differences between multi-record and hierarchical set-up files for ICPSR studies. Codebooks for ICPSR studies will be reviewed to illustrate the similarities and differences of the set-up files being discussed. We will create a multi-record set-up file and consider the obstacles in creating a hierarchical one. This webinar is open to the public - please forward this invitation to all who might be interested.

Title: Multi-record and Hierarchical Set-up Files for ICPSR studies in SPSS
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Time: 1:00 AM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Triangle Census Research Data Center Workshop, April 17, 2009

2009-04-21T15:43:00.000-04:00

New webinar available from ICPSR

2009-04-17T15:35:00.000-04:00

When Setup Files Go Bad. Debugging your SAS, SPSS, and STATA code so it works!

Join us for a Webinar on April 28. Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now.

You found your study...you download your data...you run the setup file ICPSR provides...and the screen fills with errors. This webinar will address common problems in the setup files provided by ICPSR for data files. Because most of ICPSR's data processing is automated and the volume of data files is large and very heterogeneous in quality, size, and characteristics, the setup files and "ready-to-go" files do not always work perfectly. This webinar will help you to anticipate and fix many of these common problems.

Title: ICPSR Webinar: When Setup Files Go Bad. Debugging your SAS, SPSS, and STATA code so it works!
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

School of Human Environmental Sciences Presentation, March 20, 2009

2009-03-20T07:56:00.001-04:00

American Time Use

2009-03-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

The Maryland Population Research Center and the Minnesota Population Center are pleased to announce the release of the American Time Use Survey Data Extract Builder (ATUS-X). ATUS-X is designed to make it easy for researchers to work with data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Interested researchers can explore the ATUS Data Extract Builder at www.atusdata.org.

The central goal of the ATUS-X project is to make it easy for researchers to prepare ATUS data files that are ready for analysis. The current version of the ATUS Data Extract Builder allows researchers to:

Extract data from 2003-2007, including the 2006 Eating and Health Module.
Create measures of time in user-defined activity aggregations, broken out as desired by time of the day, by location and by whether the respondent was engaged in caring for children during the activity.
Select personal and household characteristic variables for inclusion
on the data extract.
ATUS-X also provides researchers with accessible and comprehensive
documentation.

The World and Beer

2009-03-02T11:41:00.000-05:00

Featured Database: Euromonitor Global Market Information Database (GMID)

Do you want to know which beer company has the largest market share in Slovakia? Then Euromonitor GMID is the right tool for you! Euromonitor GMID is UNCG’s main database for international marketing data and reports. The database contains several types of information sources:

Statistics: Includes market size data for 52 countries and hundreds of consumer products and economic and demographic statistics for 205 countries.
Market Reports: Global and national market reports analyzing industry market performance.
Company Profiles: Extensive profiles of individual companies and their market performances.
Country Profiles: Basic industry information and statistical summaries for 205 countries.
Comments: Include daily commentary on a wide variety of topics.

The information is also well integrated. If you search for a specific report you will see related reports, company profiles, and statistics on the right side of the screen. You can also browse the newest reports or search any portion of the database.

Users can download data and create profiles to save searches. If you will be using this database frequently, I would encourage you to create a profile as it will save you quite a bit of time.

And the answer is Heineken.

Click on the bottom right of the video for full screen. Text of the video is below:

Hi! My name is lynda and I’m going to show you how to get started using Euromonitor’s Global Market Information Database. It is UNCG’s primary database for international marketing research. You can search by Industries, Countries, or Companies. We are going to look at the consumer market for footwear. First, I’ll click on Consumer Markets under Search Industries.

You will see a screen with the available consumer markets. I will choose the plus sign next to Clothing and Footwear to expand that category and then I will expand the category of Footwear. I am interested in men’s and women’s footwear, so I will check those two boxes. Then click Next at the bottom of the screen.

Now you have a chance to choose your countries. I am interested in France, so I’ll expand the Western Europe category and click the box next to France. You can choose more than one country at a time. Now at the bottom of the screen you will see Run Search. This means you have chosen all available information. Click on Run Search.

You will see two categories of information: Statistics and Reports. Reports are narrative reports on various aspects of your country or the consumer market chosen.
I just want to see Statistics for footwear in France, so I will click on View All Statistics.

Here are the market sizes for women’s and men’s footwear in France. You can convert the statistics, manipulate the ordering of the data, and download into excel format.

Happy hunting and remember if you have questions, “Ask Us!”

American Community Survey Presentation

2009-01-28T20:16:00.001-05:00

ICPSR Webinar: Get Set-Up! - Creating set-up files for SPSS

2009-01-21T21:36:00.000-05:00

Join us for a Webinar on January 27

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/684102132

Does the idea of dealing with raw data give you a headache? This webinar is a step-by-step demonstration of how to create a set-up file for an ICPSR study. You will learn how to begin with an ASCII data file and transform it into a file that’s ready to use in SPSS. We will create a simple set-up file for a dataset . We will consider important issues in creating a set-up file, make decisions about how to proceed when faced with challenges, and explore alternatives if appropriate. This webinar describes the necessary parts of a simple set-up file and where to find the needed information in the study’s codebook. This webinar is open to the public. Please share this invitation with all those interested.
Title:

ICPSR Webinar: Get Set-Up! - Creating set-up files for SPSS
Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Calling all General Social Survey Users! We want you!

2009-01-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

Are you a regular user of the NORC General Social Survey? If you said "Of course!", then we have a survey for you!

The Center for Research Libraries in Chicago is seeking people who are willing to give feedback on the GSS. Their goal is to understand the long term success of certain data sets in order to understand the best practices for tomorrow’s digital repositories. All users of the GSS are welcome (faculty, students, librarians, researchers, etc.). If you're willing to participate, please contact Marie Waltz at waltz@crl.edu. If you have colleagues or students who use it and you think might be willing to participate, please let them know!

If you aren't a GSS user and would like to learn more, please contact Lynda at lmkellam@uncg.edu.
************************************
Thanks to Michele Hayslett at NCSU for the info!

ICPSR's Annual Report

2009-01-07T13:33:00.000-05:00

ICPSR has produced its first fully Web-based Annual Report at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/annualreport/ Pretty slick!

2005-2007 ACS Data Release

2008-12-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

From the NC State Data Center:

The US Census Bureau will release the first 3 year data from the American Community Survey on December 9, 2008. This will be the first release of ACS data for areas with a population of 20,000 – 64,999 and will also include 3 year data for areas with populations over 65,000. 3 year data will be released annually from now on. The 3 year data will have smaller margins of error as well as presenting data for more geographic areas.

The Census Bureau is also developing handbooks to help users make sense of the ACS and use it correctly. The handbooks are focused on 12 user categories or product types. At this time only the following handbooks are available:

General Data Users
Business Data Users
Media
Congress

For more information on the American Community Survey or to view the ACS Handbooks, visit http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

Center for Economic Studies Dissertation Mentorship Program

2008-12-04T14:49:00.000-05:00

The Center for Economic Studies wants to assist doctoral candidates who are actively engaged in dissertation research in economics or related fields using Census Bureau microdata at one of the Census Bureau’s Research Data Centers. Program participants will be assigned one or more CES staff economists as mentors, who will advise students on issues related to the use of Census microdata. Program participants will also be invited to visit the Center for Economic Studies at U.S. Census Bureau headquarters in Washington DC, to meet with staff economists and to present research in progress. Trip expenses (airfare, hotel, and meals) will be paid for by CES.

Eligibility: Must be actively working on a Ph.D. thesis in economics or related fields using Census Bureau microdata at an RDC. U.S. citizenship is required.

To Apply: Submit title and abstract of dissertation (including a description of data being used), name of faculty advisor, and your contact information to Randy Becker (randy.a.becker@census.gov).

Deadline: Acceptance will be on a rolling basis, as funding allows.

ICPSR website outage on December 3

2008-11-21T13:12:00.000-05:00

The ICPSR website will be unvailable on Dec. 3.

They are planning on upgrading core database software/hardware on Wednesday, December 3, starting at 1pm EST. They expect the transition to take several hours, during which time none of the ICPSR-hosted Web sites will be completely functional.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email web-support@icpsr.umich.edu.

2009 Undergraduate Opportunities in the Social Sciences

2008-11-20T17:35:00.000-05:00

ICPSR Undergraduate Research Paper Competition

ICPSR sponsors two undergraduate research paper competitions. The first competition, sponsored by the general archive at ICPSR, requires a research paper supported by quantitative analysis of any dataset(s) held within the ICPSR archive or any of its special topic archives. The second competition is sponsored by the Minority Data Resource Center (MDRC). The paper must address issues relevant to underrepresented minorities in the United States including immigrants, and data must be drawn from the MDRC. A separate committee will be formed to judge this competition. The purpose of these competitions is to highlight the best undergraduate student research papers using quantitative data. The objective is to encourage undergraduates to explore the social sciences by means of critical analysis of a topic supported by quantitative analysis of a dataset(s) held within the ICPSR archive and presented in written form.Up to three cash prizes will be awarded for each competition, and the deadline for submission is May 31, 2009.

ICPSR Undergraduate Internship

The ICPSR Internship is a 10-week program designed to familiarize students with social science research, data preparation, and analysis. Interns work in the UNIX and Windows environments and gain experience using statistical programs such as SAS, SPSS, and Stata to check data. Data processing skills will be applied to prepare social science data for permanent archiving and distribution for secondary analysis; preserving respondent anonymity; and composing descriptions of data collections. These positions are supervised by an experienced Research Associate.

Interns attend courses in the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research. Interns will be required to attend a weekly Lunch and Lecture series that will expose them to various aspects and departments of ICPSR and Institute for Social Research (ISR). There may be additional social and work-related functions involving other ICPSR staff and interns from other ISR units and summer programs.

This is a paid internship and the application deadline is February 2, 2009.

New entrepreneurship report from OECD

2008-11-18T07:53:00.000-05:00

Measuring entrepreneurship: a digest of indicators is a new report from the Statistics Directorate at the OECD. The report presents the results of the first round of data collected under the the OECD-Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme (EIP). The Statistics Directorate also produces SourceOECD, a database we have available at UNCG.

ICPSR Online Learning Center - Opening Doors to Quantitative Literacy!

2008-11-10T15:20:00.001-05:00

ICPSR is pleased to announce the official launch of the Online Learning Center (OLC). The site can also be found under the Courses & Learning Tools tab on the ICPSR front page.

ICPSR's Online Learning Center (OLC) supports quantitative literacy in the social sciences by providing an effective and reliable means of bringing data into the classroom. OLC tools were designed, built, and tested by teaching faculty.

Currently numbering 30 (with more added continually), our Data-Driven Learning Guides are designed for in-class presentation or as supplemental activities for students demonstrating a variety of types of data analysis and substantive concepts. Available on-demand 24/7, DDLGs:

Demonstrate core concepts using prepared data with missing data and weights accommodated.

Avoid the hassles of software licensing, setup, and instruction.

Are easily customized to your teaching approach and syllabus.

Are appropriate as supplemental exercises or for in-class demonstrations.

We look forward to your feedback and suggestions via email, the OLC Blog, or the OLC listserv all available through the OLC Web site.

SES Graduate Student Presentation, 10/13/2008

2008-10-13T17:12:00.001-04:00

American Community Survey data

2008-09-23T12:49:00.000-04:00

The 2007 social, demographic, and housing data from the American Community Survey (ACS) have been released. This is single year data for those areas of North Carolina with populations of 65,000 or more. 2007 ACS economic data was released in August to coincide with the poverty and health insurance data release from the Current Population Survey. You can access all of the 2007 ACS data through American Factfinder. ACS will release the first of its 3-year aggregate data for areas with populations of 20,000 or more in December.

Census Research Data Center Annual Conference, Oct. 13, 2008

2008-09-18T18:18:00.000-04:00

The 2008 Research Data Center Conference will be held October 13, 2008 at Duke University and is hosted by the Triangle Research Data Center. Registration is free to the UNCG community (with lunch included), but registration is required to attend. Register at http://www.econ.duke.edu/tcrdc/rsvp/view-events.php See the full list of conference presentations (PDF).

Specialized Education Services Presentation

2008-09-17T08:28:00.000-04:00

Community Economic Development HotReport

2008-09-08T21:00:00.000-04:00

The Community Economic Development (CED) HotReport is the groundbreaking work of the Census Bureau’s Data Integration Division. HotReports analyze data from myriad data sets in- and outside of the Census Bureau and display it visually on interactive web pages. You can look at Guilford County's economic indicators, demographic changes, housing information and more as graphs, charts, and maps. You can also examine regions, such as the Piedmont Triad. It looks like the feds are finally getting Web 2.0! And, oh yes, it is HOT!

Anyone want to know about Guns and Colonists from 1773 through 1775?

2008-09-02T17:10:00.000-04:00

Check out ICPSR's newest data releases. They've just added data on weapons owned by our nation's colonists!

Be the first to know!

Newest members of the Dataland family!

2008-09-02T17:02:00.000-04:00

We have just added two new data sources to our list: Geolytics: CensusCD 1980 in 2000 Boundaries and Geolytics: 2008 Estimates and 2013 Projections. Geolytics: 2008 Estimates and 2013 Projections allows users to access US Census data from 1980 and compare it with the 2000 Census data. Geolytics: 2008 Estimates and 2013 Projections provides access to demographic variables for the current U.S. population and for 5-year projections of population trends. These products allow you to create data reports or maps as well as extract the data as a DBF or CSV file. More information on these sources will be coming soon!

American Community Survey data releases

2008-08-30T10:52:00.000-04:00

From the NC Data Center: The American Community Survey (ACS) released the first of its 2007 single year data for areas with a population over 65,000 on Tuesday. This was the economic release including poverty data to coincide with the poverty and health insurance coverage release from the Current Population Survey. The rest of the 2007 single year ACS data will be released in September. The first release of 3-year-aggregate ACS data for areas with a population of 20,000 or more will happen in early December! This will provide data for more areas of our state, and that data will now be available annually.

Check out ICPSR's newest releases!

2008-08-25T16:17:00.000-04:00

Looking for hot new data? Check out ICPSR's newest collections and updates.

Be the first to know!!

Statistics and Art!

2008-08-22T16:50:00.000-04:00

Statistics and art do mix! Check out Joshua Callaghan's exhibit "Very Concerned, Somewhat Concerned, Not At All Concerned".

Thanks to the data librarian at the University of Southern California, Katharin Peter, for the heads up!

2010 Census is coming soon!

2008-08-16T12:01:00.001-04:00

The Census Bureau is gearing up for the 2010 Census. Want to know more about the kick-off efforts?! You know you do. Check out the kick-off presentation on the NC State Data Center website.

National Survey of Adolescents Data Series Publicly Available Through DSDR (ICPSR)

2008-08-14T07:58:00.000-04:00

The Data Sharing for Demographic Research archive at the Inter-univeristy consortium for political and social research (ICPSR) now has data available from the 2004 National Survey of Adolescents. The National Survey of Adolescents was launched in 2004 in four Sub-Saharan African countries to provide detailed information on adolescent risk-taking and health-seeking behavior as related to HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancy. The study examined a range of factors (e.g., behavioral, sociocultural, economic) that could lead to increased risk-taking behaviors. The study also sought to determine knowledge of means of prevention, sources of trusted information and health care, and impediments to adolescents' abilities to apply their knowledge and take preventive action.

DSDR has data from both the household- and individual-level surveys for the following research projects: Burkina Faso (ICPSR 22408), Ghana (ICPSR 22409), Malawi (ICPSR 22410), and Uganda (ICPSR 22411). Data are available in SAS transport, SPSS system, and Stata DTA formats, in addition to ASCII and ASCII tab-delimited data files with SAS, SPSS, and Stata setup files. All four studies in the National Survey of Adolescents series are also available for online data analysis (SDA).

If you have any questions about the National Survey of Adolescents series data, please contact Russel S. Hathaway, Ph.D. at rhataway@umich.edu or at 734.615.9525.

New export functionality deployed in the ICPSR Bibliography

2008-08-07T09:38:00.000-04:00

Users of the ICPSR Bibliography of Data-related Literature can now export individual citations directly into reference management software like EndNote or online tools like Zotero (a free extension to the Internet browser, Firefox).

Next to each ICPSR citation, an "Export citation" link now appears. Clicking the link automatically exports the citation. Future enhancements to the Bibliography will include the ability to mark and export multiple search results at once, in more formats.

The ICPSR Bibliography of Data-related Literature is a searchable database that contains over 45,000 citations of known published and unpublished works resulting from analyses of data held in the ICPSR archive.

Check out ICPSR's newest releases!

2008-08-01T13:55:00.000-04:00

Looking for hot new data? Check out ICPSR's newest collections and updates.

Be the first to know!!

A World of Data

2008-08-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

Would you like to see polling data on the mood of the country as we move into the election? Do you need to know about differences in political attitudes based on age, race, or ethnicity? UNCG’s University Libraries has membership in two data archives that can assist you with these questions and more—the ICPSR and the Roper Center.

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research is the world’s largest archive of social science data. Through UNCG’s membership, faculty, staff, and students have access to over 6,300 studies from every discipline of the social sciences.

Also, faculty, staff, and students now have access to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. The Roper Center is an archive of 500,000 questions from national opinion survey organizations and news sources, such as Gallup and the Wall Street Journal.

If you would like to learn more about our membership, please contact Lynda Kellam, Data Services and Government Information Librarian, through the Data and Numeric Services Website.

Welcome to UNCG's Dataland

2008-08-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

UNCG's University Libraries newest service is all about data, statistics, and finding you the information you need. Our blog will bring you information on data releases, new sources and services, and much more! See our website for contacts and tons of great links!.