What is Social Science Data?
Social Science Data Files are primary source materials encompassing raw data files and textual or electronic format documentation, normally called codebooks. Data files are not eye-readable. A raw data file is composed of characters or numbers on which mathematical operations are carried out using a statistical program (for example, using SPSS, SAS, or STATA), on a computer (such as your personal computer, or one of the campus computer center facilities), and interpreting the results of statistical processing. If you printed out a raw data file, it would look like this. How are data files useful in research? Secondary Analysis Replication Test Hypotheses Evaluate Methodology Compare Population Groups Longitudinal or Cross-Sectional Analysis Since the early 1940’s social scientists have collected and analyzed data as part of a quantitative approach to research. When you use data from an archive of previously collected surveys you are engaged in secondary analysis of primary information.
