Social Science Data Services
Finding and Managing Data for Research

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Understanding Data Files

Following are links to online tutorials on understanding data files:

All About Social Science Data (UCLA)
Describes the structure and use of social science data.

Codebooks (UCLA)
Defines and provides an example of a codebook.

Glossary of Selected Social Science Computer and Social Science Data Terms (UCSD)
Provides definitions of an array of terms regarding managing and using data files.

How to Interpret a Record from an ASCII Data File (ICPSR)
Describes the structure of ascii data files.

How to Use a Codebook (Princeton)
Explain what to look for when using a codebook and how to use that it to write SAS, SPSS, or Stata programs to read and analyze the data.

Introduction to Data (Harvard-MIT Data Center)
Explanation of summary- and micro-level data files and associated documentation.

Introduction to Using Data at DISC (U. Wisconsin)
Set of guides on include how data are created, how to locate data for research, and how to acquire the information necessary to work with the data.