Guides to Major Social Science Data Bases – serie

When someone goes public with a simple, straightforward, good idea, the audience usually scratches its collective head and wonders why no one thought of it before. That was my reaction as I read James A. Davis and Tom W. Smith's short volume on the General Social Survey (GSS), the first of a new Sage series on major social science data bases. . . . I suspect there isn't a GSS user out there who wouldn't learn quite a bit from reading this book. . . . The knowledge it provides is partly historical, partly practical, and partly inspirational. . . . The practical sections make up a very readable and thorough discussion of its study design. . . . The inspirational part of the book, at least for me is Davis and Smith's narrative on the variety of studies and collaborative activity that make the GSS a unique source for comparative, historical, methodological, and cross-sectional research. . . . For those who wonder whether their interesting questions have been answered in previous research, Davis and Smith provide basic guidelines for finding out who has done what with the GSS. --Contemporary Sociology "This series will lead to more informed analysis of existing data sources as well as more insightful interpretation of studies based on them (for series quote). . . . In this superb first volume for the series, James A. Davis and Tom W. Smith have provided a lucid introduction to the history, philosophy, sampling design, and evolving content of the General Social Survey (GSS). . . . This guide conveys with both cogency and liveliness the major features of the GSS. . . . The chapter on sampling design, which describes both the shift from a block-quota modified probability sample to a full probability sample and the switch from a 1970 sample frame to a 1980 sample frame, gives evidence of the commitment to high quality. . . . The book communicates an abiding responsiveness to the emerging data needs of a developing social science. . . . The responsiveness of the GSS to new data needs, amply evident in the book, is one of its most laudable features. . . . It is a tribute to Davis and Smith that their book stimulates the reader not only to order the GSS database straightaway and carry out tests of some intriguing propositions but also to make testable some previously untestable propositions by persuading the GSS to collect information on the propositions' previously unmeasured parts. This book augurs well for the series." --Journal of the American Statistical Association "All of the questions my methods students have asked over the years (and all I've asked myself) are answered, and then some. . . . The guide is effective in making the data accessible." --Karen Campbell, Vanderbilt University "I think this series is a very good idea. Code books are intimidating for many users, and clear, approachable guides to major social science data sets will be well received. The User's Guide to the GSS . . . will ultimately be such a resource. . . . The section on Design Effects . . . is a very good subject to include in such a guide." --Dan Krymkowski, Dartmouth College "A fine introduction to an invaluable social science data resource." --Judith Tanur, State University of New York, Stony Brook "Should provide helpful assistance to undergraduates whose exposure to the GSS may be their first experience with survey research and quantitative analysis. In addition, it should be a useful tool to more experienced analysts who need to quickly master the intricacies of the GSS." --Microcase Forum For any researcher, student, or teacher using the General Social Survey (GSS), this book is a must. Written by the two researchers who have directed the GSS since its inception in 1972, this practical, easy-to-use volume enables you to exploit this large data set more effectively than ever before. This volume clearly explains the "rotations" and "split ballots" in the study design, describes available samples (including the 1982 and 1987 oversamples of black respondents) and weights, and discusses interviewer training, quality control, validation, and coding procedures. In addition, it outlines the topics covered in the GSS, including the recurrent, replicated "core" items suitable for trend analyses, the annual topical modules on subjects of current interest, and the international modules produced in collaboration with the International Social Survey Program. And, this guidebook covers the various data sets in which GSS data are accessible, and directs you to the data banks that disseminate them. Both novice and experienced GSS users will find The NORC General Social Survey an invaluable tool.

Now researchers can more effectively use the abundant array of data from the annual Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) by utilizing this handy guidebook. Aimed at making this rich data set more accessible, The Panel Study of Income Dynamics describes PSID's topics, study design, research methods, and available data files. It reviews key analysis issues and identifies essential variables for the user. Several detailed analysis examples show how to make use of the PSID to estimate earnings regressions, changes in women's income following divorce, and the correlation between parents' income and a child's adult income, as well as to create a longitudinal poverty measure. This guidebook concludes by giving information on how to obtain PSID documents and the data files themselves. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is an essential resource for all researchers--particularly those studying income, employment, family, health, wealth, and retirement. "Hill's book provides a cognet and painstaking introduction to a complex base. . . . Hill provides a comprehensive overview of the substantive content of the PSID. . . . The reader will find everything needed to make a decision concerning initial use of the PSID, including the storage size in megabytes (MB) of each available file. . . . By providing a brief yet thorough overview of this complex data set, Hill's book increases the PSID's accessibility. This book is thus a welcome addition to the new series." --Journal of the American Statistical Association "The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). . . offers sociologists the type of detailed, longitudinal information that informs today's agenda-setting research on poverty, earnings, employment patterns, and family life-course transitions. The PSID's richness. . . derives from a complex data structure. . . . Hill's guide, the second of a Sage series intended to assist researchers in the use of major social science data bases, extends aid to both the prospective and the experienced PSID analyst. Written in direct, easy-to-read prose, this slim volume provides a concise introduction to the PSID, summarizing special features of the panel's design, content, and data-editing procedures. Readers are informed of the main subtleties involved in applying weights that correct for sample attrition and selection probabilities; though brief, Hill's treatment of this topic helps to demystify a fairly complicated set of rules. Newcomers especially stand to benefit from the description of key filtering variables one must use to exploit the longitudinal possibilities of the data and from a set of helpful summary tables. Old friends of the PSID, along with the just acquainted, will appreciate the instructive examples of cross-sectional analysis, pooled cross-section of time-series regression, and other longitudinal estimation strategies--ones that nicely illustrate certain steps involved in successfully analyzing the data. . . . Hill's handbook is a valuable resource. Researchers preparing to use this data set for the first time can now avail themselves of a compact, well-rounded digest of PSID essentials. Experienced practitioners will welcome the volume as a quick, reliable reference for many details that recurrently affect PSID date management and analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "Martha Hill has done an excellent job with this relatively brief description of an extremely complicated data set. It is clear, reads well, describes the main features and complications of the data, and provides very useful summary tables. It will be a very useful introduction to the PSID for new users at all levels of sophistication; it will also be a useful resource for experienced users, simply because it provides clear answers to the most common problems encountered when using the PSID." --Annemette Sorensen, Harvard University "Dr. Hill's monograph provides a useful overview of a major social science research data base--The Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Succinct, yet comprehensive in its coverage, the monograph will become a useful model for other large-scale social science data bases. Less detailed than technical documentation or a user guide, the monograph is a superb introduction for social scientists to the Survey Research Center's Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The monograph reviews the major issues related to the study--survey design, and content, field procedures, data preparation and data quality. The monograph discusses principal analytic issues related to the study and provides good examples of PSID data analysis for both new and experienced users of these data." --Daniel Kasprzyk, United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics