Engaging New Users

This session focuses on a project with a remit to produce some evidence of how teachers use data resources, and the impact on student learning. There is concern about levels of data and statistical literacy skills of UK social science students, even though the cutting edge of social science is reliant on use of real world datasets, and there is a great desire to improve research-led teaching in the area. The project collates the experience of attempts to upskill students in data and its discipline-related usage, and provides an illustration of educational practice at both discipline and national level. The case studies showcase attempts to make learning and teaching about and with data a less passive experience. The UK national data centres provide access to a wealth of social science data - provided by national census agencies, and inter governmental organisations including the OECD, IMF, UN and World Bank - for undergraduate and postgraduate study. Students often avoid handling and discussing data in their study unless forced to confront it. The challenge for educators lies in promoting students' use of data, but the benefits in doing so improve both academic performance and job prospects for students.

Data Support at the Population Studies Center receives money from the university provost to provide support for census data on the UM campus. With the advent of the 2010 Census, we are in the process of a many-pronged outreach effort related to the 2010 Census. The purpose is to reach communities that could/should be using census data to inform their stories, lives, and research. We also want to underscore the importance in participating in the 2010 Census. The first effort was a Census 2010 Boot Camp for Journalists, which provided 25 journalists with training to understand the importance of census data and how to analyze the data for local and national stories: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/McCormick In the second effort we are sponsoring an ad contest (YouTube-like), where students create short videos encouraging participation with the 2010 Census. The ‘hard-to-count’ areas in Ann Arbor are the student-dominated university neighborhoods. Finally, we will be teaching a one-credit course in Winter 2010 on “The United States Census.” Portions of the course will be presented in other classes throughout the academic term. The presentation will discuss the challenges and rewards of outreach to new communities.

The Social Science Japan Data Archive (SSJDA) collects, maintains, and provides access to the academic community, a vast archive of social science data (quantitative data obtained from social surveys) for secondary analyses. As a unit within the Center for Social Research and Data Archives, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, SSJDA aims to promote empirical research on Japan in the social sciences, and has been disseminating survey data since April, 1998. The total number of available datasets is about 1,200 in the end of 2008. SSJDA plays the role of a major data provider for those who seek to analyze the Japanese society using micro data. This presentation discusses the recent efforts in developing the internet based system at SSJDA. SSJDA has an on-line searching system powered by full-text search engine. It has also developed an on-line data provision system which started to operate from April 2009. The English version of the same system will be made public early in 2010. In addition, SSJDA has just started to consider the adoption of DDI seriously.