PSPR 6230- Reserach Methods

Start by defining your topic

Be specific about your topic so that you can narrow your search, but be flexible enough to tailor your needs to existing sources.

Identify the Unit of Analysis

This is what you should be able to define:

#1 - Who or What?

Social Unit: This is the population that you want to study.
It can be:

• People: 
  • For example: individuals, couples, households
• Organizations and Institutions:
  • For example: companies, political parties, nation states
• Commodities and Things:
  • For example: crops, automobiles, arrests

#2 - When?

Time: This is the period of time you want to study.
Things to think about:

• Point in time:
  • A "snapshot" or one-time study
• Time Series:
  • Study changes over time
• Current information:
  • Keep in mind that there is usually a time lag before data will be published.  The most current information available may be a couple years old.
• Historical information

 #3 - Where?

Space: Geography or place.
There are two main types of geographic classifications:

• Political boundaries 
  • For example: nation, state, county, school district, etc.
• Statistical/census geography
  • For example: metropolitan statistical areas, tracts, block groups, etc.

Remember to define your topic with enough flexibility to adapt to available data!
Data are not available for every thinkable topic. Some data is hidden (behind a pay-wall for example), uncollected, unavailable. Be prepared to try alternative data.

Citing data is very similar to citing journal articles, and many style manuals (APA, Chicago, MLA) offer guidance. At minimum, every data citation should include the following:

• Title
• Author
• Date 
• Version
• Persistent Identifier (e.g. DOI)
• Producer or Distributor (often the name of the repository managing the data, e.g. ICPSR or NCBI)

Persistent Identifiers are generally issued by the repository holding the data and include such identifiers as: Digital Object Identifier (DOI), Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), Archival Resource Key (ARK), Uniform Resource Name (URN), or any identifiers generally based on the Handel System.  URLs are not persistent identifiers but are okay to use in cases when no persistent identifier is provided. 

Examples:

Citation from ICPSR

APA

ABC News. (2007). ABC News Education Poll, February 1990. (ICPSR version) [data file and codebook]. Radnor, PA: Chilton Research Services [producer]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]. doi:10.3886/ICPSR09440.v1

Chicago Style

ABC News. 2007. ABC News Education Poll, February 1990. ICPSR version. Radnor, PA: Chilton Research Services. Distributed by Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. doi:10.3886/ICPSR09440.v1.

MLA

ABC News. ABC News Education Poll, February 1990. ICPSR version. Radnor, PA: Chilton Research Services [producer]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-01-26. Web. 11 Mar 2015. doi:10.3886/ICPSR09440.v1

This information has been adapted from the IASSIST Quick Guide to Data Citation and the MSU How to Cite Data Research Guide.