MAP of the Month
The Social Science Data Library (SSDL) is Temple University's repository for computerized social science data and a primary center for expertise in the analysis and presentation of such data.
What's New
Book an SSDL Presentation!
SSDL will give a presentation that outlines the support we provide for researchers. These presentation can be tailored to your needs. We can do a general presentation, one about qualitative methods or mapping, or focus on specific data sets or types of data. Call to arrange for a presentation at any time.
For Counters |
For Sorters |
The Quantitative Brown Bag Discussion Series Presents:Methodological challenges and solutions to studying travel distance to drug markets: A case study of Camden, NJNov. 20, 2009, Anderson 1221 Is there variation in distance traveled to buy illegal drugs, by market? If so, do they persist after controlling for certain buyer characteristics? Answering these questions require unique solutions to common research issues including skewed distributions, geocoding, hotspot identification. This presentation will provide an overview of how to address the above problems using Poisson regression, an alternative geocoding tool, and Nearest Neighbor Hierarchical Clustering, respectively. Please RSVP to ssdl@temple.edu to let us know if you plan to attend. If you have any questions or suggestions for future Brown Bag topics, email the SSDL or call us at 215-204-5001. Coming up:Documenting ResearchMark your calendar for noon on Friday, Feb. 12. Dr. J. Scott Long, author of "The Workflow of Data Analysis Using Stata" (Stata Press, 2009), will be the speaker at the Social Science Data Library's brown bag lunch for quantitative researchers. The topic of his talk will be ways to improve the process of data analysis so it is faster and easier to reproduce, regardless of the software package one uses. Dr. Long is also offering one-on-one consultations that day to help members of Temple's social science research community find better ways to manage the workflow of their own statistical analyses. |
The Qualitative Brown Bag Discussion Series Presents:TBA
Coming up:Qualitative Data Analysis Software Conference Atlas.tiJanuary 13-15, 2010 This three-day conference focuses on Atlas.ti, a software tool that enhances analysis of qualitative data. The conference is designed to provide in-depth support for Temple’s growing community of qualitative researchers who want to learn how to use this tool. Questions? Please contact us. |
Support for Quantitative Data Analysis (Counters)The SSDL supports researchers using quantitative data in a number of ways. We provide general assistance in formulating research questions, identifying secondary data sets that can help answer those questions, as well as in figuring out the appropriate analytical techniques for the problem. We can help you use several quantitative data analysis software packages. Currently, we support SPSS, Stata, AMOS (for structural equation modeling), and HLM (for hierarchical linear modeling). We also can provide very basic assistance with SAS. |
Support for Qualitative Data Analysis (Sorters)The SSDL supports qualitative data analysts with advice on methods, qualitative data analysis software, and networking for qualitative researchers. We invite you to participate in a series of Brown Bag Discussions for Qualitative researchers. Past meetings have discussed the problems of figuring out how to use grounded theory in the real world, and analyzed how researchers decide what to include in field notes and analytic memos and how the notes are used in the larger study. |
Philadelphia Education Longitude Study (PELS)
Temple's Social Science Data Library is the new home for PELS. PELS tracks approximately 2000 public school students in the School District of Philadelphia from the summer after the eighth grade year, in 1996, through to three years past expected graduation, 2003. Detailed telephone surveys of students and their parents were conducted with survey questions covering a wide range of topics, from attitude towards school, feeling of safety, sexual behavior, postsecondary expectations, access to information about colleges and careers, extracurricular activities, and civic engagement. Make an appointment to register for access to these data.
Data Seminars
The SSDL offers periodic seminars about data collections of interest to the community.
We plan to invite a representive of the census to talk about data collection for the 2010 Census: preparation, operationalization, changes, and expected results.
Information about past Data Seminars
Community Health Data Base: 2008 Data Available!
In 2003, Temple University joined the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation's (PHMC) Community Health Data Base, giving faculty, students, and staff access to PHMC's biannual Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Survey and geographically-related vital statistics, home mortgage, property, and tax data. The survey includes information about the health status, personal health behaviors, access to and utilization of area health services, and other issues for some 13,000 residents in the five county Pennsylvania side of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. Geographically-related data are available at the census tract, zip code, county, and regional level. SSDL has the data for 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
For "Mappers"
Support for Spatial Data Analysts
ArcGIS Users -- The SSDL can provide you with shape files for the Philadelpia area, including county, Philadelphia MSA and shape files for other geographies. Click Analyze Data on the Web on our menu bar, then click on Geographic Data to see the shape files available for download. If you are interested in other shape files, call us or Request Data, and we will try to help you.
Need a Custom Map? If you have data that you would like to display in a map but you don't know how to do it, the SSDL can consult with Temple students, faculty and staff about how to make maps that display your research results in an understandable way. We can display information about the Philadelphia area for different geographic units, including county, zip code, neighborhood, census tract, and, within Philadelphia, individual property.
SSDL American FactFinder FAQ and Guide
American FactFinder is the Census Bureau's primary vehicle for the dissemination of Census 2000 data and maps on the Internet. American FactFinder makes it possible to get demographic data about geographic areas as small as neighborhoods or even block level. Our new FAQ and guide to FactFinder introduces you to the site and helps you get started locating your own data!