5,996 research outputs found
The loss of personal privacy and its consequences for social research
No full textThis article chronicles more than 30 years of public opinion, politics, and law and policy on privacy and confidentiality that have had far-reaching consequences for access by the social research community to administrative and statistical records produced by government. A hostile political environment, public controversy over the decennial census long form, media coverage, and public fears about the vast accumulations of personal information by the private sector were catalysts for a recent proposal by the U.S. Bureau of the Census that would have significantly altered the contents of the 2000 census Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). These events show clearly that science does not operate independently from the political sphere but may be transformed by a political world where powerful interests lead government agencies to assume responsibility for privacy protection that can result in reducing access to statistical data
SIPP ACCESS: Information tools improve access to national longitudinal panel surveys
No full textSIPP ACCESS represents an innovation in providing services for statistical data. A computer-based, integrated information system incorporates both the data and information about the data. SIPP ACCESS systematically links the technologies of laser disk, mainframe computer, microcomputer, and electronic networks and applies relational technology to create great efficiencies and lower the costs of storing, managing, retrieving, and transmitting data and information about complex statistical data collections. This information system has been applied to national longitudinal panel surveys. The article describes the reasons why SIPP ACCESS was created to improve access to these complex surveys and provides examples of tools that facilitate access to information about the contents of these large data sets
Alice and Cliff Donahue
No full textPhotograph - Friends of Alice B. and William Clifford Donahue, Athabasca, Alberta. Seated, left to right: Cliff Donahue, Joe Mikkelsen, Beryl Mikkelsen, and Marge Logan. Standing, left to right: Don Logan, Alice B. Donahue, Aaron Jones, Lorene Jones, and Beatrice Par
Alice B. Donahue - 09
No full textPhotograph - Alice B. Donahue at flooded campsite on the Athabasca River, Athabasca, Albert
Strategies for improving utilization of computerized statistical data by the social science community.
No full textIn recent decades there has been a notable expansion of statistical data produced by the public and private sectors for administrative, research, policy and evaluation programs. This is due to advances in relatively inexpensive and efficient data collection and management of computer-readable statistical data. Corresponding changes have not occurred in the management of data collection, preservation, description and dissemination. As a result, the process by which data become accessible to social researchers and others is frustrating, time consuming, and inefficient. This paper describes the reasons for this situation: the problem-solving workstyle of social data users, the nature of the data and their relationship to computer technology, and an inchoate social science information infrastructure.
Since statistical data play an increasingly important role in social research and policy decisions, social science information specialists must be prepared to meet the computer-readable statistical data user's needs. Four strategies are recommended for improving utilization of these data: improving the quality of statistical evidence, educating information professionals and end-users in numerical information, using the existing information infrastructure to preserve and disseminate data, and developing retrieval tools for improving access to information about social data
- …
