ICPSR is the leading national archive
for data in the social sciences, education, health and other fields. The
consortium also provides data-related training including the Summer Program in
Quantitative Methods of Social Research and online learning modules, such
as the Data-Driven
Learning Guides. UNCG is a member of
the consortium and currently the University Libraries and the Office of
Research and Economic Development split our membership fees with each paying
every other year. Since 2007 University Libraries’ Data Services Librarian
position has assumed the responsibilities of the Official Representative, a
position that participates in the governance of ICPSR and is the main contact
for the archive. This report provides information on the most recent activities
related to the archive and usage statistics for the years that data were
available.
Outreach and Promotions
The primary formats for outreach have
been presentations to appropriate departments and library research guides
integrating ICPSR resources. Data-related presentations that incorporate ICPSR have
been give forty-three times over the past three academic years. Sixteen of
these presentations were integrated into specific classes in various
departments (ENT, GEO, PSC, LIS, SOC, etc.), thirteen were specifically on
ICPSR data and resources, and fourteen focused on research data management that
included ICPSR materials. Fifteen were in 2014-15 AY, thirteen in 2015-16 AY,
and fifteen in 2016-17 AY. ICPSR has also been well-integrated into the library
research guide for data services, the research data management guide, and other
library guides.
Overall Usage
From 2014-2015 to 2016-2017, there were
122 total uses of ICPSR. This number does not include the number of students
and faculty registered to use or browsing ICPSR’s website. Moreover, this
number does not reflect the high number of datasets downloaded per user or the
duration of use for each download. One faculty member may download all data
files for a particular dataset and use those files multiple times for several
scholarly products. While the total use number may be low in comparison to
other electronic resources at the library, its impact on research is high.
The table below shows usage from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. Data
studies include all information collected by a principal investigator. Each
study can have one or more dataset within it. Datasets are collections of data
records that contain multiple data files. Examples of data files would include
ASCII files, setup files, and documentation. Members-only data are the studies
available to consortium members. These studies would cost $500 per dataset to
access as non-members, which would total to $46,500 for UNCG’s users based on
the 93 uses of member-only datasets last year.
|
Unique
|
Total
|
Members-Only
|
Size in GB
|
|
Files
|
1269
|
2499
|
565
|
29.523
|
|
Datasets
|
357
|
445
|
93
|
-
|
|
Studies
|
112
|
176
|
57
|
-
|
Presentations and outreach to potential
users have proven successful this past year. For example, after the first
instruction session in Psychology on ICPSR was held in May 2016, the number of
Psychology faculty and students using ICPSR increased from 1 per year to 8 in
2016-2017 and. The chart below shows usage by those departments that historically
have been primary users of ICPSR data. It demonstrates that ICPSR has wide
appeal across schools. Nevertheless, there are still areas for growth such as
with Geography, Education, and other departments and schools not represented.
We have also seen an increase in
graduate student and undergraduate student usage. The chart below shows the usage
by status as provided by the user. In 2016-2017, we had a significant increase
in the number of undergraduate students using the source, but a slight decrease
in faculty from 2014-2015. Some of these students work as research assistants for
faculty members, thereby downloading the data for faculty research.
In addition, use is quite high in
comparison to other institutions in the same Carnegie Classification. The chart
and table below provide data for the comparison. On average our
users are downloading datasets, data files, and studies more frequently than
other institutions in our Carnegie Category.
Specific
Resources
ICPSR’s utilization
reports provide data for the top ten most frequently downloaded studies at UNCG
from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. Below are the top five for that time
period.
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In addition to dataset
downloads, ICPSR provides access to online analysis through the Survey
Documentation Analysis (SDA) system. This system allows users to analyze data
without dowlowding datasets or using statistical software packages. The primary
use of SDA in the past three years has been access to the SETUPS
studies. Dr. Charles Prysby in Political Science is the main
PI for these studies and integrates their use into several political science
classes. SDA
is available for around 700 studies at ICPSR.
Summer
Program
ICPSR conducts several
short-term workshops around the country and two four-week quantitative research
programs at the University of Michigan. The utilization reports provide info on
who has attended for the past three years, but does not indicate which programs
they have attended. This year we had two attendees. The experience has been a
valuable one for those who attended. One faculty member from the School of
Education provided the following feedback:
A
few years ago I attended an ICPSR workshop on the MET study dataset. The course was engaging and informative. The instructors were top-notch, and I had the
opportunity to network with other researchers interested in the same
dataset. From what I learned in the
workshop, I was able to secure a modest grant to run a pilot for my study using
MET data. I couldn't have done that had
I not attended the workshop.
Our membership in ICPSR
reduces the cost of attendance significantly. The fees for 2017 can be seen on the
website. While our membership provides reduced pricing for
attendance, the average class still costs from $1500 for a three-day course to
$3700 for both four-week sessions. Faculty have had difficulty justifying these
prices plus the cost of travel and housing. Sending additional faculty or
graduate students to ICPSR’s summer programs is a potential area for growth.
