Cornell University

Workshops June 1, 2010

All workshops will be held in Mann Library. Floor plan with room locations available here in PowerPoint2007 or PDF format.

Morning, 9:00 am-Noon

Afternoon, 1:30 pm-4:30 pm



Introduction to International Financial Data

Hands-on?        No

Presenter:  Bobray Bordelon  Economics & Finance Librarian/Data Services Librarian,  Princeton University

Abstract:  This workshop will provide participants with a crash course on the basics and terminology of finance across borders.  It will also discuss commercial and free sources for international financial data. The differences in North and South American, European, and Asia-Pacific markets will be detailed in terms of how reporting standards and control mechanisms translate into data availability and quality.  Sources for single market versus global data will be examined.  Finally, statistical analysis tools for financial data will be compared.

Intended Audience: Individuals providing data services who are not yet experts with financial data.  

Location:  100 Mann Library

Duration:  3 hours

 

SPSS, STATA and SAS: Flavors of Statistical Software

 

Hands-On?  Yes

Presenter(s):  A. Michelle Edwards

Abstract:  So many different flavors to choose from – how will we ever choose? Are they all the same? Do they have the same functionality? Which one should I use? Which is the quickest to learn? Questions many of us have encountered in one form or another…

This workshop will take you on a quick tour of Stata, SPSS, and SAS. We will examine a data file using each package. Is one more user-friendly than the others? Are there significant differences in the codebooks created? We will also look at creating a frequency and cross-tabulation table in each. Which output screen is easiest to read and interpret? The goal of this workshop is to give you an overview of these products and provide you with the information you need to determine which package fits the requirements of you and your user.

Please bring your experiences and/or horror stories about working with statistical software to this workshop. Together we'll try to demystify the flavors of statistical software and help you decide on a favorite flavor.

Location:  B30-A Mann Library

Duration:  3 hours


Inside Roper Center Services: Beyond Survey Questions and Answers

 

Hands-On?   Yes

Presenter(s):  Lois E. Timms-Ferrara, Associate Director  AND Marc Maynard, Director of Technical Services  - The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, c/o University of Connecticut

Abstract:  This workshop will provide instruction to participants interested in supporting the discovery and utilization of public opinion surveys using the new release of the Roper Center’s iPOLL Databank and RoperExpress services. After a brief introduction to Roper Center services, participants will be trained in the hands-on use of the most recent release of the iPOLL Databank highlighting new search and reporting features and new graphical display. Attendees will be walked through the search interface and provided with tips and suggestions for more efficient and productive results.  Further, the workshop will cover RoperExpress data download services, conversion of ASCII datafiles into SPSS, especially focusing on tips to using Center documentation and data.

Workshop coverage will include an introduction to Roper Center use of social media for communicating with users about Center resources, as well as, suggested practices for providing campus-wide access to iPOLL and RoperExpress.

The opinion research industry is encouraging greater transparency in reporting surveys, from full reporting of citations, sampling methodology, questions, and disposition of attempts to reach respondents in order to calculate response rates. The workshop will cover what this new attempt at disclosure means for the research community and provide case studies of how to calculate response rates using the various acceptable formulas from the newly released information.

Location:  B30-B Mann Library

Duration:  3 hours


Digital Preservation Management - Part 1: Standards and Practice


Hands-On?   No

Presenter(s):   Nancy McGovern


Abstract:  The Preserving Digital Information released in 1996 marks a starting point for the emergence of the digital preservation community, consolidating data archive and digital archive practice from the 1960s on and more recent developments in digital content management across a range of domains. For more than a dozen years, standards and common practice for digital preservation have been developed and increasingly promulgated.

This session demonstrates the utility of standards and practice as tools for managers of digital content in developing effective digital preservation programs that fit the needs and resources of their organizations.

The session uses Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities http://www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/past/trustedrep/repositories.pdf to frame the discussion of the organizational context for digital preservation programs and Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/650x0b1.pdf (OAIS) for discussing technological infrastructure requirements.

The Digital Preservation Management tutorial http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/dpm/ provides useful background on concepts and foundations of digital preservation for review prior to the workshop.


Location:  160 Mann Library



Newly Available Integrated Data from The University of Michigan and The Minnesota Population Center,  parts 1 and 2

 

Hands-On?   Yes

Presenter(s):   Sarah Flood, Katie Genadek, and Christopher Ward


Abstract:  Newly Available Integrated Data for Social Scientists, Demographers and Health Researchers

In this day-long two-part workshop, representatives from the Minnesota Population Center (MPC), the Population Studies Center (PSC) and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) will team up to demonstrate the very latest harmonized resources for social, demographic, and health research.

PSC and ICPSR staff and faculty will demonstrate the Integrated Fertility Survey Series (IFSS) a new data product funded by a 5-year grant funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes for Child Health and Human Development. The IFSS is designed to provide harmonized data files from 10 national surveys of women's union formation and fertility behavior. The surveys belong to 3 separate survey series: (1) Growth of American Families (1955, 1960), (2) National Fertility Survey (1965, 1970) and the (3) National Survey of Family Growth (1973, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1995, 2002). The presenters will have harmonized data available to demonstrate the harmonization method and the delivery method for the data files, and will also describe their harmonized cross-sectional weights and design components, which can be applied to analyses across time.

The Minnesota Population Center (MPC) is one of the world's leading developers of demographic data resources (including IPUMS-USA, IPUMS International, IPUMS-CPS, NHGIS, NAPP, and IHIS) . In this workshop, attendees will learn about the content of the latest MPC data resources and receive basic information about how to get and use the data, which are available free over the internet. A special focus of this workshop will be the MPC's newest project, ATUS-X, which provides harmonized American Time Use Survey data from 2003 forward on how U.S. adults divide their time among activities. ATUS-X is an MPC project conducted in cooperation with researchers at the University of Maryland Population Research Center.

Location:  Stone Lab, Mann Library



Introduction to R

Hands-On?   Yes

Presenters:  Harrison Dekker and Ryan Womack

Abstract:  R is a free and open source statistics package that has become increasingly popular in recent years. It runs under all the major operating systems and has an enormous and expanding collection of add-on packages to support data analysis in almost every imaginable domain. It's downside, though, is that R is almost entirely command line driven, giving it a steeper learning curve than commercial software options like SAS, SPSS, and Stata.

This workshop will focus on R's unique command syntax. In particular, we'll explore how to load and manipulate data in R. Examples will be similar to those used in the morning SAS, Stata, and SPSS workshop. 

 

Location:  CIT Lab, Mann Library

Duration:  3 hours


DDI 3 Repository-Based Data Management with Colectica

Hands-on?   Yes

Presenter(s):  Jeremy Iverson

Abstract: Colectica is a platform for creating, documenting, managing, distributing, and discovering data. Colectica is built on open standards including DDI 3.

This training course covers the following topics:

  • Introduction to Colectica
  • Working with metadata repositories for collaboration and version control
  • Documenting concepts and general study design
  • Designing and documenting data collection instruments
  • Creating and documenting data products
  • Ingesting existing resources
  • Publishing resources
  • Enabling enhanced discoverability by leveraging existing social networking technologies
  • Hands-on: use Colectica to manage a sample study

Location:  B30-A Mann Library

Duration:  3 hours

Additional Information:  Attendees may bring their own sample data and metadata for the hands-on portion of the workshop.



Go screencasting go! Creating screencast tutorials to support data products   [view wiki]

Hands-On?   Yes

Presenter(s):   Lynda Kellam, Data Services & Government Information Librarian,  Jackson Library, UNCG

Abstract:   Many libraries have created screencast tutorials to support instruction efforts. Typically these tutorials demonstrate specific journal article databases. More data professionals are recognizing the usefulness of screencast tutorials for teaching about data products to specific audiences. An example is ICPSR's conversion of many of its text-based tutorials to screencast versions on the Data User Help Center (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/help/datausers/)

In this workshop, we will learn how to create a basic screencast tutorial using a free software called Jing!. We will first overview the software available for screencast creation and then discuss best practices in creating screencast tutorials, including length, audience, and scripting. In the second portion, participants will write a short script and practice using Jing! to create their own screencast tutorials for a chosen data product. Finally, participants will discuss the place of screencast tutorials in the data world with the goal of creating best practices guidelines for data-oriented screencast tutorials. Participants will leave the workshop with a finished draft of a screencast tutorial as well as guidelines and suggestions for future tutorials.

Location:  B30-B Mann Library

Duration:  2 hours

Additional Information:  Participants should preferably choose a data product in advance.

 


Digital Preservation Management - Part 2: Trends and Sustainability

Hands-On?   No

Presenter(s):   Nancy McGovern

 

Abstract:  Standards and practice define the what and the how of digital preservation. A challenge for managers is continuing effective management of digital content over time as technology evolves, bringing new content and new techniques, and available resources for digital programs fluctuate.

This session reviews trends in recent research and development in digital preservation (e.g., repositories, tools, workflows), identifies current sources for continually tracking developments, and discusses the challenges of establishing sustainable programs. Note: Part 1 is a prerequisite for Part 2. Both workshops include as many exercises and examples as possible.


Location:  160 Mann Library