EDRL is intended to inspire instructors who want to use ICPSR's data holdings and Bibliography of Data-Related Literature in new and interesting ways. Instructors are welcome to download and edit the exercises, as well as suggest other articles that might serve as useful entry articles for the exercises outlined here.
EDRL is the product of the month I spent at ICPSR as an Official Representative (OR) Sabbatical Fellow in June 2006. I am extremely grateful to those who invited me to ICPSR, assisted me with the conceptual and technical components of this project, and those who made my stay in Ann Arbor so enjoyable. I also must thank Lori Weber at California State University, Chico, who was also an OR sabbatical fellow during 2006, for we exchanged many fruitful ideas.
Rachael Barlow is the Social Sciences Data Coordinator at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She plans to finish her PhD in Sociology at Indiana University, Bloomington in 2008.
The Bibliography database holds citations of publications that meet at least one of the following criteria:
The resource uses data in the ICPSR holdings as the primary data source or as one of multiple data sources.
The resource uses ICPSR data in a comparison with the primary dataset investigated.
The resource is "about" an ICPSR dataset or study series. That is, the publication describes the data, data collection procedures, or changes to a study series; compares it to other studies; or critiques the data, survey questions, or collection process.
Users do not have to reside at ICPSR member institutions to use these exercises, since these exercises do not require students to actually download any data. However, hopefully the exercises might inspire those who work at nonmember institutions to recognize some of the benefits of ICPSR membership.