2008-2009 Social Sciences Specialty Center (SSSC)
Annual Report
July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009
Table of Contents
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#intro">Introduction
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#data">Data
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#icpsr">ICPSR
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#roper">Roper
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#fi">Field
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#src">Student Research Conference
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#workshops">Workshops
- href="http://www.ssric.org/node/359#website">Web site
Founded in 1972, the Social Science Research and Instructional Council
(SSRIC) is the oldest of the disciplinary councils in the
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
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.
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
years, data access from the ICPSR has gone online and interactive under the ICPSR
Direct system. During academic year 08-09, 10,706 datasets were
downloaded from ICPSR by CSU students, faculty, and staff.
Additionally, 509 gigabytes of data were downloaded. The following
table summarizes utilization by campus for the 2006-07, 2007-08 and the
2008-09 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
Gigabytes Downloaded
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
247
613
737
8.337
30.391
3.392
212
61
129
13.223
0.784
13.268
317
335
516
5.486
27.941
27.450
Dominguez Hills
13
15
14
2.133
.442
.632
298
289
512
21.480
7.568
14.366
182
436
99
13.134
5.427
1.420
729
290
724
22.124
7.443
31.131
Humboldt
140
75
124
5.147
1.226
3.215
870
942
927
41.188
22.476
39.198
286
534
346
19.292
14.893
5.716
975
38
5
17.538
3.040
.021
Northridge
147
1,114
2,955
3.943
28.327
245.573
275
258
525
3.732
12.215
23.328
451
621
653
14.596
29.852
27.719
201
6
42
13.451
1.240 style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
.634
640
325
612
16.661
17.647
19.100
704
229
1,130
37.511
28.819
9.457
380
*
*
8.166
*
*
370
386
361
9.754
25.600
18.718
70
103
187
1.574
3.384
21.243
39
160
36
3.420
18.025
2.284
Stanislaus
413
573
72
8.721
9.770
.827
Total
7,959
7,403
10,706
290.612
296.511
508.689
*
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 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
2008-09
1,454
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 expenses for 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, 2008 and 2009.
Summer
Number of enrollees
2006
7
2007
2
2008
7
2009
14
The
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
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
2006-0, 2007-08 and 2008-09. During academic 06-07, 332 datasets were downloaded
from the
staff. During academic year 07-08, 248 datasets were downloaded. This
increased to 662 in academic year 08-09.
The
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 06-07, students, faculty, and staff accessed
class=SpellE>iPOLL 505 times, while during
07-08 iPOLL was accessed 399
times. This increased to 716 in academic year 08-09.
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> The following table summarizes utilization
by campus for the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years
style='color:red'>.
for Public Opinion Research
Campus
Data Sets Downloaded
class=spelle>iPOLL Sessions
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
29
14
57
25
6
31
0
3
4
1
10
17
15
0
36
10
3
74
Dominguez Hills
2
21
444
65
57
427
13
2
2
15
3
2
8
9
2
19
18
10
40
13
53
41
21
59
Humboldt
8
18
10
19
21
8
21
64
4
32
37
22
9
2
0
29
1
0
1
6
0
1
16
1
Northridge
4
7
2
8
28
5
3
3
9
6
40
23
20
1
4
31
3
7
12
0
3
18
0
1
89
11
15
84
19
7
6
40
4
4
51
5
5
*
*
53
*
*
17
0
7
17
0
1
0
0
0
1
4
0
18
30
4
9
46
4
Stanislaus
12
4
2
17
15
6
Total
332
248
662
505
399
716
*
did not subscribe in AY 2007-08 and 2008-09.
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
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
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, 2007-08, and
2008-09 academic years. During academic year 2008-09, 984 Field data
sets were accessed.
Field
Campus
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
293
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
401
1268
519
361
Dominguez Hills
317
0
0
0
4
32
0
18
78
11
70
28
0
0
0
0
Humboldt
333
394
385
449
1
256
11
0
9
273
150
0
69
97
0
0
Northridge
0
23
0
0
513
366
268
96
457
525
72
23
1
78
1
0
6
122
2
6
47
105
375
3
0
0
*
*
65
83
13
0
135
5
0
0
28
1
3
0
Stanislaus
0
70
207
0
Unknown campus
105
0
0
0
Total
2862
3709
2076
984
*
did not subscribe in AY 2007-08 and 2008-09.
Student Research Conference name=src>
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
Beach
campuses. The 2009 conference was held in
50 students) from 12 participating campuses.
Training Workshops name=workshops>
Volunteer SSRIC representatives led 12 training workshops on six campuses
during the 2008-09 academic year,
with a total of 155 participants. Those campuses were
Stanislaus. 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.
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
and
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
ordering ICPSR, Field, and Roper data - Information about the
Field Fellowship and Question Credits program - Information about the
ICPSR Summer Program - 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 - Curriculum materials
contained in POWERMUTT, an online text for teaching research methods in
political science and cognate disciplines