Online Data Analysis for Librarians using SDA and the General Social Survey
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This presentation overviews the difference between raw and aggregate data, when tables are useful vs. running an analysis of microdata, and how librarians could analyze data from the General Social Survey (GSS) via the SDA (survey documentation and analysis) interface. For a presentation at Maine Academic Libraries Day, 2015.
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Online Data Analysis for Librarians using SDA and the General Social Survey
- 1. Online Data Analysis for Librarians Maine Academic Libraries Day 2015 Celia Emmelhainz Colby College Christine Murray Bates College
- 2. Goals of this Training At the end of this session, you should: • know your online data analysis options • create a simple table from data • be able to use SDA and the General Social Survey to answer a reference question
- 4. o Numbers o Quotes o Text o GPS Points o Materials
- 5. Social Science Data “…the digital resources out of which social and economic statistics are produced. The data do not spontaneously spring into existence but are produced from an intentional research methodology.” Geraci, D., Humphrey, C., Jacobs J. (2012) Data Basics. http://3stages.org/class/2012/pdf/data_basics_2012.pdf
- 6. Microdata Aggregate data Values for individual observations Summarized by geography, groups, etc. Source: US Census Bureau, 2005 PUMS data sample; PUMS estimates
- 7. Microdata Advantages • Allows statistical analysis • Greatest level of detail Disadvantages • Must be processed to be useful • May need expensive statistical software • Large, cumbersome files
- 8. Advantages of Online Data Analysis • Pedagogical tool • No assembly required • No need for statistical software • Do need to understand what data ‘mean’
- 9. What is SDA? • Survey Documentation and Analysis, at http://sda.berkeley.edu/archive.htm • Web interface for analyzing data, creating tables, and even some statistical analysis • Berkeley archive contains General Social Survey, National Election Survey, and others • Also used by other data archives (e.g. ICPSR)
- 10. Published statistics vs. do it yourself Many data sources will publish ready- made tables of statistics that you can find online. But what if it doesn’t have the information that you need? http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS_Trends%20in%20Gun%20Ownership_US_1972-2014.pdf
- 11. General Social Survey a walkthrough
- 12. What is the GSS? • Long-running opinion survey (since 1972) • U.S. national sample • Wide variety of attitudes on social issues, plus some demographic info • Useful for trends in public opinion • Free to download or analyze online!
- 13. Making a table Q: Are younger people more or less likely to be concerned about racial issues?
- 14. 1. Select variables Here, AGE copied to Row:
- 15. 2. View variable details in SDA • Question wording • Frequency table
- 16. 3. Pull up a table in SDA BUT… each age is separated!
- 17. 4: Recode (group) responses Solution: recode the variable and re-run!
- 18. 5a: Interpreting the results
- 19. 5b: Interpreting the results Interesting, but… why so many missing cases?
- 20. 5c: Check the year! Look up variable in ‘Codebook by Year’ Result: this question was only asked in one year.
- 21. Trends Q: Have Americans become more accepting of working mothers?
- 22. Multi-Year: Trends Over Time Same steps as in the Tables exercise, but using the YEAR variable
- 23. SDA: Charts Chart Options allows you to create a simple line graph.
- 24. Comparing Means Q: Are people with higher income less likely to support redistributive government policies?
- 25. SDA: Comparing Means “Means” tab lets you compare mean of e.g. income to how a question is answered.
- 27. Try Out the GSS yourself! Play with any variables, or try to answer these: • Are those who served longer in the military (VETYEARS) more likely to support the DRAFT? • Does your ZODIAC sign relate to your MARITAL status? • Does your REGION impact your thoughts on gun control (GUNLAW)? • Does household size (HOMPOP) relate to how rushed you feel in life (RUSHED)? • Does job satisfaction (SATJOB) vary according to college DEGREE, SEX or RACE?
- 29. Contact Us Christine Murray cmurray2@bates.edu Celia Emmelhainz celia.emmelhainz@colby.edu
Editor's Notes
- Ask people in the audience to start defining data Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Price-Earnings_Ratios_as_a_Predictor_of_Ten-Year_Returns_(Shiller_Data).png source of graphic
- The raw materials – numbers, spoken or written quotes, text in context, data points on a map–from which you can make arguments about the world Why do we need it? Empirical research depends on good data for our insights
- Microdata is a term for data available at the individual level. For example, if you had Census microdata, each line of the dataset would represent an individual person. Aggregate data, on the other hand, is summarized—each line of the data represents a sum, average, etc. of some characteristic, for a geographic area, or age range, or some other way of grouping individual observations together.
- Depends on depth + how skillled
- “View” will let you see the question as asked in the survey. This is important for understanding what the data mean. The frequency table tells you how many time a given answer to the question was found in the survey. In the case, there are very few people that said “Yes.”
- May add example using selection filter and control.
- Also can cut and past into Excel.
- Comparing means is appropriate if you have one variable that is quantitative—for example, income—and you want to see if it varies by another variable that is categorical.
- Depends on depth + how skillled
- CM: Income variable is hard to use b/c groupings created in 1970s and not adjusted for inflation. CE: Changed CONINC (income) to household size HOMPOP(r: 1-2; 3-4; 5-6; 7-8; 10-16) for comparison with RUSHED.
- Depends on depth + how skillled
- Count data is found in decennial census (every 10 years) and related business censuses Every ten years – surveys mailed plus 6-8 hh visits. Used Ffr distributing government money, knowing who’s where in an emergency, adjusting political districts to match changing population Characteristic data about the whole population is collected through ACS – American community survey. This is a “continuous” survey – 3.54 million residents a year (about 1% a year) of social and economic characteristics. Team up for fams divers council http://teamupforfamilies.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/iStock_000019224493Medium3.jpg Blackfam https://nomorerace.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/untitled9.png
- Where to get all census data – interactive tool for viewing reports and downloading data
- www2.census.gov Could go in and download the PUMS sample for 2005-2009 and 2008-2012 Esp. if need multiple variables – so if I want to calculate date of migration vs. age vs. language spoken at home, I could run it on statistical software and calculate it myself However for simple one-variable study like this, can also use aggregated tables
- Other sources – Statistical Abstracts Census.gov OECD iLibrary also has world data (zack osborne)
- Canada statistics – ODESI for social science and polling data UK DataService – includes census records and Qualidata USA – US Census Bureau Find data/ or let data find your topic. Searching/browsing (Stat Abs vs. Statistical Abstracts – good place to look
- Can you tell me what the census is used for? Census bureau collects data about “count” and “characteristics” of the population
- Can you tell me what the census is used for? Census bureau collects data about “count” and “characteristics” of the population