Social Science Data and Software (SSDS): Support for Your Research
by Judy Marsh
Social Science Data and Software (SSDS) is a group within the Social Sciences Resource Center (SSRC), which is located on the first floor of the Green Library Bing Wing. SSDS provides services and support to Stanford faculty, staff and students in finding and getting social science data, and in the selection and use of quantitative (statistical) and qualitative software.
SSDS Staff Can Help
SSDS data specialists support users in navigating the array of data resources available at Stanford for course work and research. In addition, they provide assistance in correctly downloading data for further analysis. Software consultants are Stanford doctoral students who provide assistance and information for researchers who are at various stages of their projects. Some common topics include resources for learning and teaching popular statistical and qualitative software packages, survey design and tips for data entry, solutions to common problems, data management, data reshaping, data conversion and formatting between statistical packages.
Resources and Services
- Consulting is available via email, by appointment and during scheduled walk-in hours. In-person consultations take place in The Velma Denning Room, located in the Social Sciences Resource Center (SSRC), on the first floor of the Green Library Bing Wing. Contact the SSDS data specialists and software consultants with your questions or to arrange an appointment via the SSDS Web site at: http://ssds.stanford.edu.
- Workshops cover core SSDS data and software resources and services and are offered during fall, winter and spring quarters.
- Users visiting The Velma Denning Room can try out popular quantitative (statistical) and qualitative software including specialized software for advanced statistical methods, spatial analysis software and software for converting and formatting between statistical packages.
- Numeric datasets on CD-ROM and diskette are available from dedicated computers in The Velma Denning Room.
- A reference library of software manuals, textbooks on statistics and econometrics, journals, magazines, and codebooks is located in the Velma Denning Room.
- Help guides for learning statistical and qualitative software are available via the SSDS Web site and in the Velma Denning Room.
- Key SSDS data resources include: ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Social and Political Research); The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research; and the Data Extraction Web Interface (DEWI), a Web-based data search and extraction system for accessing social science numeric data. DEWI incorporates codebook information, allowing users to search datasets by keywords and select variables for sub-setting and extraction in a variety of statistical formats.
- Check out the SSDS Blog for current information about selected data and software resources, events and technical trends in the social sciences.
- Learn more about SSDS resources and services at: http://ssds.stanford.edu
Need to Access Quantitative and Qualitative Software?
Green Library Computer Clusters
Social Sciences Resource Center
Other Campus Computer Clusters
For help with using SPSS, Stata, SAS, NVivo and Stat/Transfer, contact the SSDS software consultants at:
