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ICPSR Blogs

We use a free blogging tool external link to manage our announcements. We also host some blogs.

Our news blog is used to manage our announcements, and to enable us to quickly and easily share relevant news with our partnering sites. Our User Support blog is set up to manage our frequently asked questions. And we host a blog for ICPSR Official Representatives.

Our blogs provide an easy interface for updating content and allow us to import content (via RSS) directly to our Web site. Our blog tool also provides an intuitive interface for searching all our announcements.

Announcements

George Alter Elected Vice President of Social Science History Association

George Alter, acting director of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), has been elected vice president of the Social Science History Association (SSHA) for 2009-2010. The SSHA vice president serves for one year and then becomes president, so Alter will serve as president in 2010-2011. SSHA fosters interdisciplinary approaches to historical research, and its annual meetings bring together historians and scholars from all the social sciences.

The constitution of SSHA encourages the archiving of quantitative historical data, and Alter?s election continues the tradition of ICPSR?s association with SSHA. Warren E. Miller, who founded ICPSR in 1962, also was a founder of SSHA and one of its earliest presidents. Jerome Clubb, ICPSR director from 1975 to 1991, served as president of SSHA as well. Erik Austin, ICPSR assistant director from 2003 until his retirement, was the executive director of SSHA from 1993 to 2005, and Myron Gutmann, ICPSR?s recent past director, was the association?s treasurer from 1997 to 2005.

Alter, who also holds an appointment as professor of history at the University of Michigan, studies population processes and the dynamics of family systems in historical societies. He recently participated in two cross-national comparative research efforts: the "Eurasia Project," which examines demographic responses to economic stress in five societies in Europe and East Asia, and the "Early Life Conditions" project, which asks whether experiences in childhood have long-term effects on health in old age.

At ICPSR, Alter has developed programs to promote the teaching of quantitative methods in the social sciences. TeachingWithData.org, the first social science "pathway" in NSF?s National Science Digital Library, provides links to resources that integrate quantitative analysis in the teaching of the social sciences. Another NSF-funded project, "Infusing Quantitative Literacy throughout the Social Science Curriculum," aims to transform teaching in the social sciences by providing undergraduates active experiences with social science data.

2009-11-23

ICPSR Call for Student Research Papers

Dear Colleagues,

This is a reminder about the 2010 ICPSR Research Paper Competitions!

This year ICPSR is sponsoring THREE competitions ? two for undergraduates and a new competition for Master?s level students!

The purpose of these competitions is to highlight the best student research papers using quantitative data. The objective is to encourage students to explore the social sciences by means of critical analysis of a topic supported by quantitative analysis of a dataset(s) held within the ICPSR archive and presented in written form.

  • The winner of each competition receives $1,000 cash and the paper will be published.

  • Deadline for submission is January 31, 2010.

More information, submission guidelines, and promotional posters are found by visiting the competition Web site.

We hope that you will share this exciting opportunity with your faculty and students!

Linda Detterman
Marketing & Membership Director
ICPSR
University of Michigan
734.615.5494
lindamd@umich.edu

2009-11-19

New Releases through 2009-11-15

Below is a list of new data collection additions to the ICPSR data archive along with a list of released data collections that have been updated:

New Additions

Updates

2009-11-16

Introducing the New Research Connections Website!

Join us for a Webinar on November 18

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/364865955

Research Connections offers a comprehensive, easily searchable collection of more than 15,000 resources from the many disciplines related to child care and early education.

Preview the new Research Connections website that is launching the first week in January. Receive a tour of the new site and features and obtain directions on how to give the site a test drive and provide us with feedback.

Some of the new tools we'll demonstrate:

  • Filter your search results by author, state, peer reviewed journal, resource type, or acquisition date to quickly find the resources you need.
  • Save your search and receive notices when new resources are added that meet your saved search criteria.
  • Browse the collection by topic to fully explore your areas of interest.
  • Search for variables in individual datasets to easily find the data you want.

This webinar is FREE and open to the public.

Not receiving these emails directly? Subscribe.

Title: Introducing the New Research Connections Website!

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

2009-10-29

ICPSR Summer Undergraduate Internship Program -- 2010

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), the world's largest archive of digital social science data, is now accepting applications for its annual summer internship program. ICPSR is a unit within the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. ICPSR's data are the foundation for thousands of research articles, reports, and books. Findings from these data are put to use by scholars, policy analysts, policy makers, the media, and the public.

Program Structure

  • Interns will prepare data in the UNIX and Windows environments and gain experience using statistical programs such as SAS, SPSS, and Stata.

  • Interns will attend courses in the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research.

  • Interns will be required to attend a weekly Lunch and Lecture series that will expose them to various aspects and departments of ICPSR and the Institute for Social Research (ISR).

Qualifications

  • Undergraduate standing and completion of sophomore year in a social science major

  • Strong academic credentials

  • Knowledge of a statistical software package such as SPSS, SAS, or Stata

  • Previous relevant social science research experience via work or class project

  • Demonstrated leadership, problem solving, and strong verbal and written communication skills

  • Ability to work both independently and as part of a team with professionals at all levels

  • US Citizen or Permanent Resident (pending NSF REU Approval)

  • Must not complete undergraduate studies before December 2010

Timeframe

The summer student internship program lasts 10 weeks, from June 7-August 13, 2010, at ICPSR in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Compensation

$3,000-$5,000 stipend (pending NSF REU Approval), room and board in university housing, and a scholarship covering the cost of fees, texts, and materials for coursework in the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research.

Application Procedure

Interested individuals should submit a cover letter of interest, resume, a writing sample, and two letters of recommendation (all in one packet or message, if applying by email) to:

ICPSR Human Resources
Attn: Summer Internship Program
P.O. Box 1248
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1248
Email: careers@icpsr.umich.edu

Applications are due February 8, 2010.

Selection Process

The selection process consists of an applicant packet review, an online interview, and a telephone interview.

You can also obtain a flyer of the information above (PDF 450K).

2009-10-29

Former ICPSR Council Member Awarded Nobel Prize

When the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Elinor Ostrom as one of the winners of the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, ICPSR recognized a familiar name.

Ostrom, the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, served a term on the ICPSR Council in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, she deposited several studies with ICPSR's General Archive and with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). She collected these data in the 1970s as part of her early work on policing and the community.

Ostrom is the first woman to have been awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences in its 40-year history. Along with her fellow prize winner, Oliver Williamson, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, Ostrom was recognized for "three decades of seminal contributions that have advanced economic governance research from the fringe to the forefront of scientific attention," according to the Academy. More specifically, Ostrom's work challenged the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized.

2009-10-15

2009 ICPSR Meeting Webinar Recordings - Now Available!

Missed the meeting? Missed a session of interest? No worries! Session recordings and slides (if submitted) are available on the meeting Web site.

Also, don't forget to view the pre-recorded presentations found in the right column!

Here's what happened last week:

834 sessions viewed overall
44 of those were ICPSR staff, so
790 non-staff sessions viewed

227 attendees overall (non-ICPSR staff)
92 ORs
19 DRs
116 Other

(This compares to 112 OR/DR/OR substitutes in 2007.)

Average attendance rate 69% (compared to industry average of 50%).

Thank you to all who attended and presented! Please be sure to evaluate the meeting.

More to come soon on the 2011 meeting!

2009-10-12

George Alter Named Acting Director of ICPSR

James Jackson, Director of the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (ISR), has appointed George Alter as Acting Director of ICPSR. Alter replaces Myron Gutmann, who is leaving on November 1, 2009, to head the National Science Foundation's Social, Behavioral and Economics (SBE) Directorate. "This decision has the full support of the ICPSR Council, the senior leadership in ICPSR, and the ISR Directors," said Jackson.

Since 2007, Alter has played a key administrative role as the Associate Director of ICPSR and has also served as Director of ICPSR's Collection Development Unit, which coordinates the Consortium's data acquisition and processing functions.

"As Chair of the ICPSR Council, I am delighted that the Acting Directorship will be in George Alter's capable hands," said Aletha Huston, Professor of Child Development at the University of Texas, Austin, and ICPSR Council Chair since 2006. "His leadership will provide a smooth transition as we search for a permanent Director, and the Council looks forward to working with him."

Alter also holds two academic appointments at UM: He is Professor of History and he is Research Professor at ISR's Population Studies Center. His research grows out of interests in the history of the family, demography, and economic history, and recent projects have examined the effects of early life conditions on health in old age and new ways of describing fertility transitions.

Prior to joining ICPSR, Alter was Professor of History at Indiana University, where he served as Director of the Population Institute for Research and Training.

Alter will serve as Acting Director through August 31, 2010. An ICPSR Situational Review Committee has been appointed to initiate the process of identifying the next permanent Director of ICPSR. The committee is chaired by Professor Margaret Hedstrom of the UM School of Information, and includes representatives of the ICPSR staff (Peter Granda and Nancy McGovern), the ICPSR Council (Aletha Huston, Thomas LaVeist, and Christopher Zorn), and ISR and UM faculty (Bill Axinn, Paul Courant).

2009-10-08

SETUPS Now Available to Measure 2008 Voting Behavior

Students and instructors have a new online tool for investigating how factors like income, religion, and race affected the way people voted in the 2008 presidential election. ICPSR recently launched a Web site devoted to Voting Behavior: The 2008 Election, the latest in a series of instructional modules known as SETUPS (Supplementary Empirical Teaching Units in Political Science).

The 2008 SETUPS offers students the ability to analyze an accessible dataset drawn from the 2008 American National Election Study (ANES) survey of the American electorate. It is available completely online, including the data analysis components. Created to provide students with the opportunity to analyze data from the most recent presidential election, the core of the 2008 SETUPS is a set of analysis exercises designed to develop their ability to conduct and understand analyses of survey data.

Charles Prysby, professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Carmine Scavo, associate professor of political science at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, have coauthored the voting behavior SETUPS since 1984.

This instructional module is part of a long line of voting behavior SETUPS, which began with the 1972 election. They were produced as a series of monographs until 2004, when SETUPS were first published online, subsequently receiving an award from the American Political Science Association Information Technology and Politics section for the Best Instructional Web Site for 2005-2006.

For over 30 years, the American Political Science Association (APSA) and ICPSR have collaborated to develop and distribute these valuable teaching tools. Members of either APSA (departmental) or ICPSR have access rights to the 2008 SETUPS online analysis utilities as part of their membership benefits.

2009-10-07

ICPSR Business Meeting Presentation - Recording Now Available!

ICPSR is pleased to announced that the 2009 Business Meeting Presentation, typically conducted at the biennial meeting, is now available for viewing.

In addition to a sincere "thank you" to our outgoing Council members, this year's "State of the Consortium" follows four themes:

  • Still Strong and Growing
  • New Ideas about Data & Instruction
  • Strategy for the Future
  • Reflections on Eight Years of Change

The slides and streaming video for this presentation (as well as the link to the video) can be found on the 2009 OR Meeting Program. (Scroll down to the Business Meeting title.)

Want to discuss the content of this presentation or have other questions about ICPSR? Register for the live chat with Myron Gutmann, ICPSR Director; Aletha Huston, ICPSR Council Chair; and George Alter, ICPSR Associate Director: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/127250803

And don't forget to register now for any and all of the webinar sessions starting on October 5 and running through October 9, 2009! All sessions are FREE and open to the public!

2009-09-21

Archived Announcements

Looking for an older announcement? Try visiting the ICPSR News blog external link, where you can find archived announcements as far back as 2001.