2012-2013 Annual Usage and Service Report

July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013

Table of Contents

1. href="#intro">Introduction
2. href="#data">Data
3. href="#icpsr">ICPSR
4. href="#roper">Roper
5. href="#fi">Field
6. href="#src">Student Research Conference
7. href="#website">Website

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 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. The following
table summarizes utilization by campus from 2006-07 through 2012-13. 

During academic year 2012-13, 5,524 datasets (485.2 gigabytes of data) were
downloaded from ICPSR by CSU students, faculty, and staff. These totals
represent a substantial decrease in usage, especially since 2009-2010. .   This
is the third straight year of decline and may be due in part to a decline in
the number of data base workshops provided to campuses by the SSRIC. This
decline is, in turn, the result of a near zeroing out of the Council’s travel
budget.

In addition, 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.

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.  While SDA usage in 2012-2013 declined from
the previous year, it was nonetheless higher than in any other prior year
going back to 2006-2007.

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
from 2006 through 2013.  The number
enrolling in 2013 was the second highest going back to 2006.

Roper Center for Public Opinion name=roper>

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 2012-13 by
CSU students, faculty, and staff. In 2012-13, 461 datasets were downloaded style='color:red'>. 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.  The table also reports the
number of times that students, faculty, and staff used iPOLL.   In 2012-13, iPOLL was accessed 141 times, representing
a substantial increase in usage from all previous years. Both numbers for the
past year, especially the number of iPOLL accesses, represent substantial
declines form recent years.  This
appears to be mostly due to 1) the fact that the number of iPOLL accesses for
2011-2012 was clearly an outlier, and 2) a sharp decline in usage at one
campus which had, from 2008-2009 through 2011-2012, been far and away the
heaviest user of this data source., The following table summarizes
utilization by campus from 2006-07 through 2012-13.

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 public 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
2012-13 academic years.  During academic year 2012-13, 360 Field data
sets were accessed. This represents a sharp decline from previous years, and
most of activity was concentrated at just a few campuses.

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 2013 conference was held at San
Francisco State with about 30 presentations from about 8 participating
campuses.  The 2014 conference will be
held at CSU Fullerton.  The following table
summarizes student research conference activity for the years 2007-2013.  

*approximate

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
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.