A Data-Driven Approach to Appraisal and Selection at a Domain Data Repository

Social scientists are producing an ever-expanding volume of data, leading to questions about appraisal and selection of content given finite resources to process data for reuse. We analyze users’ search activity in an established social science data repository to better understand demand for data and more effectively guide collection development. By applying a data-driven approach, we aim to ensure curation resources are applied to make the most valuable data findable, understandable, accessible, and usable. We analyze data from a domain repository for the social sciences that includes over 500,000 annual searches in 2014 and 2015 to better understand trends in user search behavior. Using a newly created search-to-study ratio technique, we identified gaps in the domain data repository’s holdings and leveraged this analysis to inform our collection and curation practices and policies. The evaluative technique we propose in this paper will serve as a baseline for future studies looking at trends in user demand over time at the domain data repository being studied with broader implications for other data repositories.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145607/1/document.pd

Land Use and First Birth Timing in an Agricultural Setting

The dramatic changes in the earth’s landscape have prompted increased interest in the links between population, land use, and land cover. Previous research emphasized the notion of population pressure (population pressure increases demands on natural resources causing changes in land use), overlooking the potentially important effects of changes in land use on humans. Using multiple data sets from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in Nepal, we test competing hypotheses about the impact of land use on first birth timing. We argue that while agricultural land should encourage early childbearing, land area devoted to public infrastructure should discourage it. The results show that individuals from neighborhoods with larger proportions of land under agriculture experienced first birth at rates higher than those from neighborhoods with smaller proportions. On the other hand, individuals from neighborhoods with larger proportions of land under public infrastructure experienced first birth at rates lower than those from neighborhoods with smaller proportions. However, the effects of public infrastructure are not as strong as the land area devoted to agriculture.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60429/1/Ghimire Hoelter 2007 (2).pd

Using ICPSR Resources to Teach Sociology

The focus on quantitative literacy has been increasingly outside the realm of mathematics. The social sciences are well suited to including quantitative elements throughout the curriculum but doing so can mean challenges in preparation and presentation of material for instructors and increased anxiety for students. This paper describes tools and resources available through the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) that will aid students and instructors engaging in quantitative literacy across the curriculum. The Online Learning Center is a source of empirical activities aimed at undergraduates in lower-division substantive courses and Exploring Data through Research Literature presents an alternative to traditional research methods assignments. Searching and browsing tools, archive structures, and extended online-analysis tools make it easier for students in upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses to engage in exercises that increase quantitative literacy, and paper competitions reward them for doing so.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60430/1/Hoelter et al TS 2008 (2).pd

ICPSR Data Fair 2018

This is a presentation that was given as part of the ICPSR Data Fair in October, 2018. It demonstrates the need to think about ethics as an integral part of the research process, not just when writing informed consent documents or determining disclosure risk for secondary analysis.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148142/1/Ethics in Research Data Fair 2018.pptxDescription of Ethics in Research Data Fair 2018.pptx : Presentation slide

A workshop for faculty already hooked and those in another boat altogether

This was a presentation given for faculty at Clark Atlanta University, sponsored by CAU's Center for Undergraduate Research and Creativity. The objective was to encourage building student research skills in a variety of courses across campus, not just those single courses focused specifically on research methods or statistics.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133950/1/CAU Research Data in Teaching.pptxDescription of CAU Research Data in Teaching.pptx : Presentation slide

Learning About Your NSDL Collection's Use and Users

Presentation at the annual NSDL Conference, Washington DC, November 2010unpublishe

IRB Guidelines and Data Sharing in the Social Science: Tensions and Strategies to Address Them

1. Review ongoing changes in expectations about data availability affecting scholarly communication and the replication of research <br>2. Discuss what roles professional repositories can play in protecting research participants while facilitating data availability <br>3. Explore models for consent language that both assures the protection of human participants and allows data generated through interaction with them to be share