Story, Dale
5/1/15

Data Sets

• File Types. Ultimately you will always need your data file to be a SPSS data file (.sav). However, you might not always find your original data set as a .sav file. If you open/import a .xlsx, .por., .txt, .sps, etc.--be sure to save it as .sav.
  • Overview of opening different data files in SPSS. For Set-up or Syntax files, see pages 4-8 (or How to Open a Setup.sps file)
  • Excel files (.xlsx). You can easily move from Excel to SPSS (and vice versa). In SPSS, simply File, Open, Data, and select your Excel file (set file type for Excel). To move from SPSS to Excel, in SPSS, select Save As, than Save as Type (select Excel), select your file name and location, and click on Save.
  • SPSS portable files (.por). Within SPSS: File, Open, Data. Under File Type, select Portable (.por). Locate your Portable file, than Open. Finally, save your file as a Data File (.sav).
• Changes in links, etc. Periodically, web sites will change their links and information regarding any of these data sets. Please let me know if you find that anything described here has been altered.
• Data "Libraries" or "Consortium"
  • Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). If necessary, you may need to be logged into a UTA server. Find and Analyze Data (type a topic in the blank box). Select your data set. I suggest to Download All Data Set Files. Log-in (or create New User Log-in--no fees or personal information other than your UTA email). Agree to Terms of Use. Save to a personal drive. Most of the relevant files will be under the DS0001 folder.
  • iPOLL. Roper Center. University of Connecticut. Public opinion polls.
  • Pew Research Center
    • Select Data. Than "Download Data Sets" at top. Should be able to follow instructions. You will need to provide your name, institution (UTA), a phone number, and your email (best to use UTA email). Also, you will need to agree to a statement essentially indicating that your usage is limited to academic objectives. Or, at the bottom of this page you will see direct links to the various "projects" (such as Hispanic Trends Project or Global Attitudes Project).
• Single Data Sets
• U.S. National Election Studies--MICRO
  • U.S. National Election Survey, 2000, SETUPS, ICPSR 3356
  • U.S. National Election Survey, 2004 (from Pollock)
    • SPSS Data File
    • Codebook
    • See Variable and Value Labels in Data File and http://sda.berkeley.edu/archive.htm. Though the variables do differ from our data set.
  • U.S. National Election Survey, 2008, ICPSR 25383
  • U.S. National Election Survey, 2008 (from Kirkpatrick/Kidd)
    • http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/isbn/9781111353797
      • Select "Access" then "Data Set"
      • Or just try this address: http://www.wadsworth.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=9781111353797&token=
    • Or here is the data set already downloaded: SPSS Data File
    • Use the variable labels and value labels for the codebook.
  • U.S. National Election Survey, 2012, SETUPS, ICPSR 34808
• General Social Survey, http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/, download, SPSS format. Codebook under Documentation. Questionnaires under Publications. The data is also included with new Nachmias texts. MICRO
  • General Social Survey 1996
    • Codebook
    • SPSS Data File, Student Version
    • SPSS Date File, Full Version
• State Data, United States (from Pollock--variables compiled by the author). MACRO
  • SPSS Data File
  • Codebook
  • Search (ctrl + f) the variable view in the SPSS Data for variables
• World Data, Country Comparisons (from Pollock--variables compiled by the author). MACRO
  • SPSS Data File
  • Codebook
• Comparative Survey of Freedom, ICPSR 7555. MACRO
• Cross-National Indicators of Democracy, ICPSR 02532. MACRO
• Cross-National Data Sets. Most of these are MACRO