2010-2011 Annual Usage and Service Report

July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Data
  3. ICPSR
  4. Roper
  5. Field
  6. Student Research Conference
  7. Workshops
  8. Web site

Introduction

Founded in 1972, the Social Science Research and Instructional Council (SSRIC) is the oldest of the affinity groups 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:

  • Facilitating access to social science data and computer-related instructional and research materials
  • Promoting quantitative social science research by students via the annual SSRIC student research conference
  • Initiating and conducting training programs
  • Recommending computerized social science projects in the CSU curriculum
  • Providing a forum for sharing information about social science data and computer products
  • Advising CSU administrators on policies related to providing quantitative social science data for research and instruction

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), The Field Institute and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. 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

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. Data access is online and interactive under the ICPSR Direct system. During academic year 10-11, 15,365 datasets (606.4 gigabytes of data) were downloaded from ICPSR by CSU students, faculty, and staff. These totals represent a substantial increase in usage from 2006 thru 2009. There was a slight decrease from 2009-10 to 2010-11.  The following table summarizes utilization by campus for the 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 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

Total Data Sets Downloaded

 

06-07

07-08

08-09

09-10

10-11

Bakersfield

247

613

737

124

2,429

Channel Islands

212

61

129

122

11

Chico

317

335

516

556

350

Dominguez Hills

13

15

14

19

16

East Bay

298

289

512

460

231

Fresno

182

436

99

69

248

Fullerton

729

290

724

755

1,109

Humboldt

140

75

124

335

160

Long Beach

870

942

927

1,736

664

Los Angeles

286

534

346

1,335

441

Monterey Bay

975

38

5

16

81

Northridge

147

1,114

2,955

6,490

1,597

Pomona

275

258

525

246

354

Sacramento

451

621

653

1,170

891

San Bernardino

201

6

42

575

873

San Diego

640

325

612

1,816

1,749

San Francisco

704

229

1,130

71

387

San Jose

380

*

*

119

164

San Luis Obispo

370

386

361

35

2

San Marcos

70

103

187

350

302

Sonoma

39

160

36

54

400

Stanislaus

413

573

72

333

2,906

Total

7,959

7,403

10,706

16,786

15,365

*San Jose did not subscribe in AY 2007-08 and 2008-09

 

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

Campus

Gigabytes Downloaded

 

06-07

07-08

08-09

09-10

10-11

Bakersfield

8.3

30.4

3.4

6.4

62.6

Channel Islands

13.2

0.8

13.3

28.2

0.4

Chico

5.5

27.9

27.5

23.7

22.2

Dominguez Hills

2.1

0.4

0.6

0.5

1.8

East Bay

21.5

7.6

14.4

28.7

3.6

Fresno

13.1

5.4

1.4

4.8

9.0

Fullerton

22.1

7.4

31.1

13.5

19.8

Humboldt

5.1

1.2

3.2

18.2

4.2

Long Beach

41.2

22.5

39.2

51.2

43.8

Los Angeles

19.3

14.9

5.7

60.8

11.6

Monterey Bay

17.5

3.0

0.0

0.8

5.9

Northridge

3.9

28.3

245.6

207.7

64.0

Pomona

3.7

12.2

23.3

2.8

7.6

Sacramento

14.6

29.9

27.7

94.2

73.7

San Bernardino

13.5

1.2          

0.6

20.0

29.9

San Diego

16.7

17.7

19.1

57.9

36.7

San Francisco

37.5

28.8

9.5

54.3

41.9

San Jose

8.2

*

*

28.3

10.1

San Luis Obispo

9.8

25.6

18.7

5.1

0.1

San Marcos

1.6

3.4

21.2

54.0

28.9

Sonoma

3.4

18.0

2.3

9.4

37.4

Stanislaus

8.7

9.8

0.8

4.6

91.2

Total

290.6

296.5

508.7

774.9

606.4

*San Jose did not subscribe in AY 2007-08 and 2008-09

ICPSR maintains a series of topical archives that allow the user to analyze data using the SDA which was written at UC Berkeley.  SDA is an online program that allows individuals to access particular studies that have been set up for this program. The table below shows the number of times that SDA data files in the ICPSR were accessed by CSU campuses.

Fiscal year

Number of times accessed

2006-07

1,369

2007-08 

 

1,310

2008-09

1,454

2009-10

1,501

2010-11

1,311

ICPSR also offers an extensive summer program in quantitative analysis.  Our membership in ICPSR allows us to distribute a portion of our membership fee to cover tuition for one participant in the summer program.  The following table summarizes the number of faculty and students (primarily faculty) that were enrolled in the ICPSR’s summer program in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Summer

Number of enrollees

2006

7

2007

2

2008

7

2009

14

2010

9

2011

7

Roper Center for Public Opinion

The Roper Center provides public opinion data for the nation and the world. 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 point of contact.  Starting in October, 2005, CSU students, faculty, and staff could download Roper data directly to their desktop through RoperExpress (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 Roper Center archive during 2006-07 through 2010-11 by CSU students, faculty, and staff. In 2010-11, 872 datasets were downloaded. This represents a substantial increase in usage from prior years.

The 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.   In 2010-11, iPOLL was accessed 625 times, representing a slight decrease in usage compared to 2008-09 and 2009-10. The following table summarizes utilization by campus for the 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years.

Roper Center for Public Opinion

Campus

Data Sets Downloaded

iPOLL
Accesses

 

06-
07

07-
08

08-
09

09-
10

10-11

06-
07

07-
08

08-
09

09-
10

10-11

Bakersfield

29

14

57

64

44

25

6

31

24

40

Channel Islands

0

3

4

6

41

1

10

17

9

3

Chico

15

0

36

3

21

10

3

74

4

13

Dominguez Hills

2

21

444

362

483

65

57

427

443

342

East Bay

13

2

2

2

3

15

3

2

1

1

Fresno

8

9

2

37

16

19

18

10

52

13

Fullerton

40

13

53

11

30

41

21

59

22

21

Humboldt

8

18

10

5

39

19

21

8

16

24

Long Beach

21

64

4

6

0

32

37

22

17

4

Los Angeles

9

2

0

1

0

29

1

0

3

0

Monterey Bay

1

6

0

0

0

1

16

1

0

0

Northridge

4

7

2

0

14

8

28

5

11

8

Pomona

3

3

9

12

12

6

40

23

23

9

Sacramento

20

1

4

4

22

31

3

7

24

8

San Bernardino

12

0

3

17

4

18

0

1

23

46

San Diego

89

11

15

7

27

84

19

7

10

15

San Francisco

6

40

4

6

66

4

51

5

3

8

San Jose

5

*

*

0

3

53

*

*

9

9

San Luis Obispo

17

0

7

4

0

17

0

1

6

30

San Marcos

0

0

0

2

0

1

4

0

2

0

Sonoma

18

30

4

0

0

9

46

4

1

1

Stanislaus

12

4

2

0

5

17

15

6

0

3

Unknown

0

0

0

7

42

0

0

0

17

27

Total

332

248

662

531

872

505

399

716

720

625

*San Jose did not subscribe in AY 2007-08 and 2008-09

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 one faculty member with the opportunity to place 12 questions per year on a Field Poll.

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 Berkeley. The table below shows the number of times that a person logged onto the Field archive to look for or download data for the 2005-06 through 2010-11 academic years.  During academic year 2010-11, 1,010 Field data sets were accessed. This represents an increase compared to 2008-09 and 2009-10.

The Field Institute

Campus

05-06

06-07

07-08

08-09

09-10

10-11

Bakersfield

293

0

0

0

1

0

Channel Islands

0

0

0

0

0

2

Chico

401

1268

519

361

232

78

Dominguez Hills

317

0

0

0

0

1

East Bay

4

32

0

18

18

0

Fresno

78

11

70

28

48

19

Fullerton

0

0

0

0

0

255

Humboldt

333

394

385

449

181

337

Long Beach

1

256

11

0

0

1

Los Angeles

9

273

150

0

0

0

Monterey Bay

69

97

0

0

0

0

Northridge

0

23

0

0

1

1

Pomona

513

366

268

96

37

40

Sacramento

457

525

72

23

158

40

San Bernardino

1

78

1

0

37

3

San Diego

6

122

2

6

4

0

San Francisco

47

105

375

3

156

75

San Jose

0

0

*

*

0

65

San Luis Obispo

65

83

13

0

51

93

San Marcos

135

5

0

0

0

0

Sonoma

28

1

3

0

0

0

Stanislaus

0

70

207

0

0

0

Unknown campus

105

0

0

0

2

0

Total

2862

3709

2076

984

926

1010

*San Jose did not subscribe in AY 2007-08 and 2008-09

                 

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 Long Beach with 47 presentations from 8 participating campuses. The 2009 conference was held in Sacramento with 43 presentations (including 50 students) from 12 participating campuses.  The 2010 conference was held in Pomona with 33 presentations (including 37 students) from 9 participating campuses.  The 2011 conference was held in San Jose with 14 presentations from 4 participating campuses. The following table summarize student research conference activity for the years 2007-2011.

Student Research Conference

Year

Host Campus

Student Presentations

Campuses Participating

2007

Northridge

36

13

2008

Long Beach

47

8

2009

Sacramento

43

12

2010

Pomona

33

9

2011

San Jose

14

4

SSRIC has changed the date of the conference for 2012 to avoid conflict with other conferences in an effort to increase the number of students and campuses participating.

Training Workshops

Volunteer SSRIC representatives led ten training workshops on three campuses during the 2010-11 academic year, with a total of 147 participants.  Those campuses were Dominguez Hills, Fresno and Humboldt. These workshops are intended to promote the use of data and teaching modules and to instruct participants in how to access these resources. Both faculty and graduate students attended these workshops.  More workshops are planned on campuses this coming academic year.

Website

The SSRIC Web site is online at www.ssric.org . The site consolidates and expands information previously scattered on servers at the 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:

  • Announcements of upcoming events
  • A contact list of Council representatives from each campus
  • Information for research-oriented social science faculty throughout the CSU
  • Comprehensive information about the annual SSRIC Student Research Conference
  • Instructions for downloading ICPSR, Field, and Roper data
  • Information about the Field Fellowship program
  • Information about the ICPSR Summer Program
  • Curriculum materials contained in the SSRIC Teaching Resources, including various modules and exercises and an SPSS primer
  • Curriculum materials contained in POWERMUTT, an online text for teaching research methods in political science and cognate disciplines.