2007-2008 Annual Usage and Service Report

2007-2008 Social
Sciences Specialty Center

(SSSC) Annual Report

July
1, 2007 to June 30, 2008

Table
of Contents

  1. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Introduction
  2. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Data
  3. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>ICPSR
  4. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Roper
  5. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Field
  6. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Student
    Research Conference
  7. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Workshops
  8. style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Web
    site

Introduction name=intro>

Founded in 1972, the Social Science
Research and Instructional Council (SSRIC) is the oldest of the disciplinary
councils in the


California

State

University
system. With representatives from each of the CSU campuses, the Council is
dedicated to assisting students and faculty in their learning, teaching, and research
by:

  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Facilitating access to social science data and
    computer-related instructional and research materials
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Promoting quantitative social science research by
    students via the annual SSRIC student research conference
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Initiating and conducting training programs
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Recommending computerized social science projects in
    the CSU curriculum
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Providing a forum for sharing information about social
    science data and computer products
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Advising CSU administrators on policies related to
    providing quantitative social science data for research and instruction

Data name=data>

The SSRIC is the CSU systems’ clearinghouse for social
science data, notably data from the Inter-university Consortium for Political
and Social Research (ICPSR) and the Field and Roper polling centers. These data
sources provide data to support quantitative social science teaching, research
and service by students, staff and faculty, and well as sponsored programs and
grant development by CSU research centers.

All the functions described above
are performed by faculty representatives as a service.  Dues requested of
individual campuses primarily defray data subscription costs.

ICPSR name=icpsr>

The Inter-university Consortium for
Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is the largest social science data
repository in the world. It is the primary source of social science data for
every research oriented university and nearly every other university and
college in the

United States
.
Over the past few years, data access from the ICPSR has gone online and
interactive under the ICPSR Direct system. During academic year 07-08, 5,062
datasets were downloaded from ICPSR by CSU students, faculty, and staff. 
Additionally, 296.551 gigabytes of data were downloaded.  The following
table summarizes utilization by campus for the 2006-07 and the 2007-08 academic
years. 

Usage data always requires one
important proviso. A single download may be used in a class with many students,
but only shows on the usage chart as a single download. Additionally, a single
faculty member may download a study to be used for research by multiple faculty
members.

Inter-university
Consortium for Political and Social

Research

Campus

Data
Sets Downloaded

Gigabytes
Downloaded

 

2006-07

2007-08

2006-07

2007-08



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Bakersfield

247

613

8.337

30.391


Channel
Islands

212

61

13.223

0.784



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Chico

317

335

5.486

27.941

Dominguez Hills

13

15

2.133

.442



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>East
w:st="on">
Bay

298

289

21.480

7.568



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Fresno

182

436

13.134

5.427



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Fullerton

729

290

22.124

7.443

Humboldt

140

75

5.147

1.226



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Long Beach

870

942

41.188

22.476



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Los Angeles

286

534

19.292

14.893



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Monterey

Bay

975

38

17.538

3.040

Northridge

147

1,114

3.943

28.327



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Pomona

275

258

3.732

12.215



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Sacramento

451

621

14.596

29.852



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Bernardino

201

6

13.451

1.240



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Diego

640

325

16.661

17.647



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Francisco

704

229

37.511

28.819



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Jose

380

8*

8.166

0.040



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Luis Obispo

370

386

9.754

25.600



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Marcos

70

103

1.574

3.384



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Sonoma

39

160

3.420

18.025

Stanislaus

413

573

8.721

9.770

Total

7,959

5,062

290.612

296.551

 

*


San Jose
did not subscribe in AY 2007-08.



ICPSR maintains a series of topical archives that allow the user to analyze
data using the Data Analysis System (DAS) which was written at UC
Berkeley.  DAS is an online program that allows individuals to access
particular studies that have been set up for this program. Information is only
available for the system and is not broken down by campus. 

Fiscal year

Number
of times accessed

 2006-07

1,369

2007-08

 

1,310

ICPSR also offers an extensive
summer program in quantitative analysis.  Our membership in ICPSR allows
us to distribute $3,000 in travel funds to participants in the summer program
to help defray their costs.  The following table summarizes the number of
faculty and students (primarily faculty) that were enrolled in the ICPSR’s
summer program in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Summer

Number
of enrollees

2006

7

2007

2

2008

7


w:st="on">
Roper style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>

Center
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'> for Public Opinion

The

w:st="on">
Roper

Center
provides public opinion data for the nation and the world. More than half of
the Roper holdings are international. Studies go back many decades providing
the opportunity to do longitudinal research.  The CSU established a system
wide membership in the


Roper

Center in October,
2004.  From October, 2004 through September, 2005 the CSU was limited
to 50 data sets per year and data had to be ordered through one
individual.  Starting in October, 2005, CSU students, faculty, and staff
could download Roper data directly to their desktop through Roper Express
(similar to ICPSR Direct).  This resulted in a large increase in
utilization of Roper data. 

The following table summarizes the
number of data sets that were downloaded from the

w:st="on">
Roper

Center
archive during 2006-07 and 2007-08.  During academic 06-07, 332 datasets
were downloaded from the


Roper

Center by CSU students,
faculty, and staff. During academic year, 249 datasets were downloaded.  The

w:st="on">
Roper

Center
also offers iPOLL which is a data base of survey
questions which can be used for trend analysis and to select data sets for
downloading.  This table also reports the number of times that students,
faculty, and staff used iPOLL.  During academic
year 07-08, students, faculty, and staff accessed iPOLL 412 times, while during 06-07 iPOLL was accessed 505
times.  The following table summarizes utilization by campus for the 2006-07
and the 2007-08 academic years.


w:st="on">
Roper style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>

Center style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'> for Public Opinion Research

Campus

Data
Sets Downloaded

style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>iPOLL Sessions

 

2006-07

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>2007-08

2006-07

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>2007-08



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Bakersfield

29

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>14

25

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>6


Channel
Islands

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>3

1

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>10



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Chico

15

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0

10

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>3

Dominguez Hills

2

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>21

65

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>57



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>East
w:st="on">
Bay

13

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>2

15

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>3



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Fresno

8

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>9

19

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>18



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Fullerton

40

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>13

41

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>21

Humboldt

8

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>18

19

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>21



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Long Beach

21

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>64

32

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>37



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Los Angeles

9

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>2

29

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>1



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Monterey

Bay

1

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>6

1

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>16

Northridge

4

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>7

8

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>28



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Pomona

3

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>3

6

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>40



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Sacramento

20

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>1

31

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>3



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Bernardino

12

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0

18

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Diego

89

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>11

84

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>19



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Francisco

6

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>40

4

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>51



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Jose

5

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>1

53

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>13



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Luis Obispo

17

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0

17

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Marcos

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0

1

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>4



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Sonoma

18

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>30

9

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>46

Stanislaus

12

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>4

17

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>15

Total

332

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>249

505

style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Arial'>412

The
Field Institute

The CSU maintains a membership in
the Field Institute which provides our students, faculty, and staff access to
both current and past Field polls. The Field Institute is one of several state
polls that provide current political opinion data for the state on issues of
interest to policy makers, researchers, and students. In addition to access to
these polls, our membership in The Field Institute provides faculty with the
ability to place up to 18 questions per year on the Field Polls. Field hosts an
annual Field Workshop in


San Francisco
which provides information on many topics of current interest to the state.

The CSU contracts with UC Berkeley
to provide access to the data sets we receive from the Field Institute. The
following table provides information on the number of times that students,
faculty, or staff accessed the Field archive at

w:st="on">
Berkeley. This refers to the number of times
that a person logged onto the Field archive to look for or download data for
the 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08 academic years.  During academic year
2007-08, 2,076 Field data sets were accessed.

Field
Polls

Campus

2005-06

2006-07

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>2007/08



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Bakersfield

293

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0


Channel
Islands

0

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Chico

401

1268

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>519

Dominguez Hills

317

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>East
w:st="on">
Bay

4

32

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Fresno

78

11

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>70



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Fullerton

0

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0

Humboldt

333

394

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>385



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Long Beach

1

256

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>11



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Los Angeles

9

273

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>150



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Monterey

Bay

69

97

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0

Northridge

0

23

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Pomona

513

366

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>268



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Sacramento

457

525

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>72



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Bernardino

1

78

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>1



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Diego

6

122

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>2



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Francisco

47

105

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>375



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Jose

0

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Luis Obispo

65

83

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>13



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>San Marcos

135

5

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0



style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Sonoma

28

1

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>3

Stanislaus

0

70

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>207

Unknown campus

105

0

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>0

Total

2862

3709

style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman";'>2076

Student
Research Conference

The SSRIC sponsors an annual student
research conference for both undergraduates and graduates where students can
present their research in a supportive setting. For many students, this is
their first opportunity to present their research at a professional conference.
The 2007 conference was held in Northridge with 36 student presentations from
13 CSU campuses. The 2008 conference was held in

w:st="on">
Long Beach with 47 presentations from 8 participating
campuses.

Training
Workshops

Volunteer SSRIC representatives led
training workshops on seven campuses during the 2007-08 academic class=GramE>year
, with a total of 86 participants.  Those campuses
were Channel
Islands,

East

Bay,

San Francisco, Dominguez Hills, Northridge,
w:st="on">

Fresno and Stanislaus
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>. These workshops are intended to promote the use of data
and teaching modules and to instruct participants in how to access these
resources. Most of those attending were faculty although there were some
graduate students.  More workshops are planned on numerous campuses this
coming academic year.

Website

The SSRIC Web site is online at href="http://www.ssric.org/node/www.ssric.org">www.ssric.org. The site
consolidates and expands information previously scattered on servers at the
w:st="on">
Bakersfield,

Los Angeles,
and


Pomona
campuses. The new site makes it much easier to communicate information about
resources, events, and services provided to students, faculty, and staff
through the Council. The site offers among other things:

  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Announcements of upcoming events
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>A contact list of Council representatives from each
    campus
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Information for research oriented social science
    faculty throughout the CSU
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Comprehensive information about the annual SSRIC
    Student Research Conference
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Instructions for ordering ICPSR, Field, and Roper data
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Information about the Field Fellowship and Question
    Credits program
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Information about the ICPSR Summer Program
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Curriculum materials contained in the SSRIC Teaching
    Resources Depository, including various modules and exercises, an SPSS
    primer, and an online textbook/Web site on research methods
  • style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";"Times New Roman"'>Curriculum materials contained in POWERMUTT, an online
    text for teaching research methods in political science and cognate
    disciplines