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October 5, 2005
Issue No. 69

Table of Contents

• Highlights and Features
  • Stanford iTunes on Campus
    
  • Spyware Adware Beware
    
  • IT Self Help Web Site
    
  • How to Fight Spam
    
  • IT Open House October 27
    
  • SU Computing Web Site Update
    
  • Find It at SU in Google
    
  • New SULAIR Digital Sites
    
  • What's New for SU Grokker
    
  • ReportMart3 Is Here
    
  • Kronos System Upgrade
    
  • ITSS Client Services Reviews
    
  • Student Telecom Changes
    
  • Scholarly Commmunication
    
  • SULAIR at IT Open House
    
  • Stanford ESS News
    
  • Mobile Computer Security
    

• Library Resources
  • Medieval Works on Web
    
  • Fall Scholars Workshops
    
  • New Online Research Resources
    
  • Off-Campus Access to SU Resources
    
  • Project MUSE and Google
    
  • Access to Digital Art Works
    
  • New Humanities Resources
    
  • SKIL Tutorial Enhanced
    
  • DocXpress at Lane Library
    
  • Virtual Reference Library
    
  • SPE eLibrary Access Change
    
  • SSRC Digital Collections
    
  • SSDS Services
    
  • New Geoscience World
    
  • Century of Science Here
    
  • Chronicle of Philanthropy
    
  • HighWire Press New Journals
    
  • NGDA Taking Shape
    

• Computing News
  • Assistive Technology Software
    
  • Software Licensing News
    
  • Wireless Access on Campus
    
  • Academic Computing Update
    
  • Recent ATS Projects
    
  • TeamSpace in Meyer Library
    
  • SU Webmaster Resources
    
  • Academic Technology Lab
    
  • ITSS Technology Training
    
  • SU Windows Infrastructure
    
  • ITSS Metrics Online Weekly
    
  • Videoconference Service Ends
    
  • Stanford eCommerce Update
    
  • Bookstore Computer Store
    
  • ALTeC Lab Moved
    
  • Meyer Classrooms Update
    

Social Science Data and Software (SSDS) provides services and support in the acquisition and delivery of social science data and the selection and use of data analysis software. SSDS staff provide these services in a variety of ways that include consultations, workshops and help documentation. SSDS provides the following resources and services:

Consulting

Scheduled walk-in consultations take place in The Velma Denning Room during fall, winter and spring quarters. Clients who have questions about SSDS' data or software resources and services or who wish to make an appointment can contact them via their Web site:

http://ssds.stanford.edu/

Workshops

Group workshops are offered during fall, winter and spring quarters. Workshops introduce SSDS resources and services in general, cover ways to locate datasets, and demonstrate the most popular quantitative and qualitative software. Instructors discuss how students can plan during the early stages of their research and use quantitative software in their projects, from statistical analysis of large datasets to the graphical display of summary information. Workshops also demonstrate how qualitative software options available at Stanford can help researchers organize and analyze interviews, field notes, photographs, and other types of data. You can find a current workshop schedule and register online via the SSDS Web site at:

http://library.stanford.edu/services/social_sci_data_soft/consulting_workshops.html

Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis Software

Software consultants provide support in the use of the most popular quantitative (statistical) software (SPSS, SAS and Stata) and qualitative software (NVivo, ATLAS.ti and SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys). In addition, consultants provide assistance and information for researchers who are at various stages of their projects. Some examples include: choosing the right software package, resources for learning and teaching quantitative and qualitative data analysis software, planning before data collection and tips for data entry, solutions to common software problems, data management and data reshaping and conversion.

Users visiting The Velma Denning Room can evaluate a variety of quantitative and qualitative data analysis software, including specialized software for advanced methods and spatial analysis. Software is also available for converting and formatting data between statistical software programs.

SSDS "Getting Started" guides and help documents are available in The Velma Denning Room and via their Web site:

http://library.stanford.edu/services/social_sci_data_soft/software.html

Key Data Resources

Data Extraction Web Interface (DEWI): DEWI is a web-based tool that allows users to find and extract variables from selected datasets within the Stanford University Libraries' social science numeric data collection. It is available for use by the Stanford community for research and instruction.

DEWI provides a one-stop shop where users can locate variables by browsing through the entire list of variables or by searching on keywords within the variable metadata, such as variable names, labels, descriptions or value labels. Variables can then be selected for extraction. Other useful information such as variable sample frequencies, descriptions, full-text manuals and technical documentation can be viewed within DEWI by clicking the "Codebooks, etc." button. Once you have finished selecting the variables you want, you can extract them from the full dataset. The resulting file can be downloaded in popular statistical software formats to your PC or accessed directly from your Leland account.

Find DEWI at:

http://dewi.stanford.edu/

ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research): If Stanford does not currently have data that you need, you should check the ICPSR Data Archive which houses approximately 5,000 titles. ICPSR data is restricted to the Stanford faculty, staff and students for use in research and instruction. Stanford University is a member of the Consortium's ICPSR Direct Program, so ICPSR data can be downloaded directly from any computer within the Stanford central campus network or via Stanford's proxy server. (See also Off-Campus Access to the Libraries' Stanford-Restricted Electronic Resources in this issue.)

Search the ICPSR Data Archive by title, study number, investigator, or subject term. Search results contain a variety of helpful information including the study description, collection date(s), sample frame, data type, methodology, data source, data format and related literature. You will be prompted for your Stanford email address in order to download data at ICPSR.

More information about ICPSR and the direct access service is on the SSDS Web site at:

http://library.stanford.edu/services/social_sci_data_soft/data_icpsr.html

Roper Center for Public Opinion Research: Check the archives of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research for polling or public opinion data. The first place to search is the Roper Center Catalog of Holdings. Datasets can be searched by keyword, date range, survey organization or sponsor, and the sample type. If you need assistance locating a Roper dataset, contact Ron Nakao at ronbo@stanford.edu .

Some Roper datasets can be located using Roper's iPOLL, a searchable database of polling questions and responses. Roper links questions within iPOLL to their catalog of dataset holdings, providing a powerful search option for locating Roper datasets. Any computer on Stanford's central campus network can access the iPOLL database directly. You will need to register with your Stanford email address to access iPOLL.

Popular databases at the Roper Center include the Latin American Databank (LAD) with approximately one-thousand studies from sixteen countries and JPOLL, an online database of Japanese public opinion questions and responses.

Stanford University is a member of the Roper Center, so the data in the Roper archive can be ordered for you by completing an online form. You will need a SUNet ID to make a request. Find more information about Roper and ordering Roper data at:

http://library.stanford.edu/services/social_sci_data_soft/data_roper.html

Data on CD-ROM and Diskette

A rich collection of over 500 titles in electronic format is available on computer workstations to users visiting The Velma Denning Room. Datasets cover a broad range of social science topics and time periods and are produced by U. S. federal agencies and offices, foreign governments, international organizations and commercial data collectors. Windows software allows users to select, view, extract and download datasets in various formats for further analysis. In addition, Stanford users can access and download a variety of archived datasets on diskette from a secure Web site. Further information about SSDS' resources on CD-ROM and diskette are at their Web site:

http://library.stanford.edu/services/social_sci_data_soft/data_collection.html

SSDS Library

A non-circulating library of software manuals, textbooks on statistics, database codebooks, and selected magazines and journals is available in The Velma Denning Room. Users can browse software manuals and textbooks via the SSDS Web site:

http://library.stanford.edu/services/social_sci_data_soft/software_docs.html