News
Changes to Vital Statistics Microdata Distributed by NCHS
8/26/2008
ICPSR recently announced availability of the 2005 Natality Detail File as study number 22960. There are significant changes regarding geographic detail and dates beginning with the 2005 release. See the User Guide to the 2005 Natality Public Use File (in PDF) for information.
NCHS Data Release and Access Policy for Micro-data and Compressed Vital Statistics Files describes recent important modifications to public-use vital statistics microdata. The page also describes procedures for
- generating tabulations with more geographic detail using NCHS interactive web tools and
- obtaining customized microdata files with supressed values, available to qualified researchers.
Public Use AddHealth Now Distributed by ICPSR
8/15/2008
The public-use release of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Waves 1-3, 1994-2002) is now distributed through ICPSR's Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR) archive as study number 21600. You can download the data and documentation files or use the "analyze and subset" feature to create customized extracts and tables. Because the DSDR archive is a federally funded activity, users of this AddHealth version need not be affiliated with an ICPSR member institution. However, download and customized output features do require a MyData account.
CISER owns the public-use version distributed by Sociometrics (Waves 1-3 and Wave 3 education data). According to the DSDR archive's director, differences between the Sociometrics and DSDR versions are only in documentation and format. The underlying data are the same.
Users of these data should know there are significant differences between the public use and restricted use versions of AddHealth. A major one is that the public use version contains about one-half of the total AddHealth sample. See the AddHealth site maintained by the Carolina Population Center for more information. The restricted use AddHealth is retained by the Cornell Restricted Access Data Center (CRADC); contact the CRADC administrator for more information. (According to the AddHealth site, geocode variables are not available to non-CPC researchers.)
Center for Research in Security Prices Files Updated
7/30/2008
CRSP data files have been replaced and can be used from within the CISER computing environment. The subdirectories have been modifed from previous years, as follows:
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\bd | Daily treasury bonds | |
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\bm | Monthly treasury bonds | |
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\cc | CRSP/Compustat merged database | |
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\ix | Indices | |
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\mf | Mutual funds | |
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\sd | Daily stocks | |
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\sm | Monthly stocks | |
| U:\ArchiveData\crsp\zr | Ziman Real Estate series |
This year, the names of the SAS dataset files and variables reflect the structure of CRSP on WRDS. Users will have to review programs used with CRSP files in the past to accommodate these differences.
Please download and review the CISER information document for this study. It contains inportant information on coverage, CRSP file structure, and use restrictions.
Archive Adds U.S. Voter Registration and Turnout Data
6/12/2008
CISER recently purchased voter registration and turnout data for the 2000 and 2004 presidential election cycles. These Excel spreadsheets were compiled by David Leip as part of his Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. The files contain party registration totals, total voters registered, number of ballots cast, voter turnout at state and county geographies, and more. Information for townships is available for six states.
It's important to remember that the data contain significant gaps. These are mostly due to delays in reporting or differences in registration practices among states. For example, some states do not collect voter registration by party. CISER will obtain any updates of these files when they are released. See this page for more information about contents of these files.
These data may be used within CISER's research computing environment or downloaded by current Cornell faculty, staff, and students. The data archive also owns Leip's presidential election votes by state and county (1984-1996). In addition, ICPSR has strong holdings of American historical election and political datasets. (ICPSR study 9405 contains voter registration by party for 48 states from 1968 to 1988.) The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research houses opinion polls conducted by major media and research organizations. See Roper's Election '08 page for a compilation of current poll results and links to polls from previous election years.
New Subscription to Social Explorer
5/14/2008
CISER has joined Olin Library's Map and Geospatial Department and Mann Library to support a subscription to Social Explorer. Cornell users can access all of Social Explorer's content, not just the free public version. (See this summary of free versus subscription-based content.) You can:
- Generate reports and maps at the national, state, and county levels from the U.S. decennial Census, 1790 to 1930.
- Create reports and maps at the national, state, county, and (where available) tract levels from the Census back to 1940.
- Download maps in Microsoft PowerPoint format.
Some functions (such as reports and maps based on pre-1940 data) are in beta but seem to function well now. Keep in mind that historical Census data contain many inherent inconsistencies. See these two tutorials covering the report and mapping features. The Social Explorer blog is a good source of updates, tips, and examples on how to use common features.
Link to the subscription-based Social Explorer directly or, for off-campus access, use the link from the Cornell University Library online catalog. Assistance with Social Explorer is available from the CUL Ask a Librarian feature or the CISER data archivist.
Small Grants for Data Archiving and Use of Secondary Data
3/6/2008
The American Educational Research Association's grants program is designed to encourage use of large-scale datasets, especially those produced by NCES and NSF. Research Grants and Dissertation Grants are available for amounts up to $20,000 and $15,000 per year, respectively. Proposals are reviewed three times per year. See links from the AERA Research and Training page for deadlines and application information.
Compustat Files Updated
10/5/2007
Compustat data files in the U:\ArchiveData\compustat\ have been updated. Documentation is located in U:\ArchiveData\compustat\compustat_docs\ . Cutoff date is June 2007.
This year, the names of the SAS dataset files and variables reflect the structure of Compustat on WRDS. Users will have to review programs used with Compustat files in the past to accommodate these differences. Please notify Data Archive staff if you encounter problems using these files.