Recent and planned activities
[New page: 17 Jan 2014: last updated 7 April 2015]
2001 Detailed response to ESRC Green Paper on Data Policy and Archiving
(not very recent but highly relevant: based evidence from Dr Mark Abrams and myself to the then
Social Science Research Council in 1974!)
2012 - 2013 :
Extensive contributions to the (UK) Office of National Statistics (ONS) initiative on National Well-being and the associated discussion threads on StatsUserNet
Analysing recently released data from the (UK) Office of National Statistics on Measuring National Well-being for comparisons with my own Quality of Life surveys (in urban Britain) and with data from:
European Quality of Life Surveys (EQLS)
European Social Survey
European Values Study.
2014:
Continued involvement in the (UK) ESRC Quantitative Methods Teaching Initiative (supported by the Nuffield Foundation Quantitative Methods Programme and the OECD)
Exploring SPSS files and related documentation for major surveys distributed by the UK Data Service and other archives, with a view to producing user-friendly materials for first time users and teachers (see: Teaching with Survey Data and Data sets and documents used for tutorials and exercises)
Generating tutorial examples using more recent data from other surveys, including:.
British Social Attitudes, (Natcen)
Understanding Society (ISER, Essex)
National Well-being (Office of National Statistics, UK Government)
European Social Survey (City University, London)
General Social Survey (NORC, Chicago)
Currently available commentaries are:
British Social Attitudes
Commentary on SPSS file for British Social Attitudes 2011
Notes on British Social Attitudes 2004 teaching data set (as used by Marsh and Elliott, 2008)
Understanding Society
Commentary on Understanding Society 2010
ONS Opinions Survey: Well-being module (April 2011)
Commentary on Unrestricted Access Teaching Dataset (ONS Opinions Survey, Well‐Being Module
Data set and user guide from Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, now renamed the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research Manchester.
NORC General Social Survey (GSS)
Commentary on full NORC General Social Survey 2008
Commentary on subset of General Social Survey 2008 (as used by Sweet & Grace-Martin)
Commentary on GSS 2008 SPSS files for Babbie et al (as used by Babbie, Halley, Wagner & Zaino)
York University, 31st October 2014
ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
Half-day training workshop:
The Beginner's (Clod's) Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS for Windows
Presentation:
Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
An alternative title would have been: Sows' Ears and Silk Purses: working with other peoples’ SPSS files as a follow-up to Old Dog, Old Tricks, my 2006 presentation for them. Thought about using Old Dog, New Tricks, but it doesn’t carry the same sense of horror and fun. In addition to the above commentaries there are now introductions to, and commentaries on:
Relative Deprivation and Social Justice (1962: UKDS SN28)
SSRC Survey Unit Multi-purpose Social Survey (1975: UKDS SN680)
2015
Complete book reviews and tutorials in pipeline
Collaboration with research centres and textbook authors in development of (open access) teaching materials based on major surveys, including improved versions of SPSS files.
Replication (and critique) of examples from SPSS textbooks, using syntax instead of GUI
Critical review and secondary analysis of my own surveys for use in tutorials (eg questionnaire development, scaling etc.)
2001 Detailed response to ESRC Green Paper on Data Policy and Archiving
(not very recent but highly relevant: based evidence from Dr Mark Abrams and myself to the then
Social Science Research Council in 1974!)
2012 - 2013 :
Extensive contributions to the (UK) Office of National Statistics (ONS) initiative on National Well-being and the associated discussion threads on StatsUserNet
Analysing recently released data from the (UK) Office of National Statistics on Measuring National Well-being for comparisons with my own Quality of Life surveys (in urban Britain) and with data from:
European Quality of Life Surveys (EQLS)
European Social Survey
European Values Study.
2014:
Continued involvement in the (UK) ESRC Quantitative Methods Teaching Initiative (supported by the Nuffield Foundation Quantitative Methods Programme and the OECD)
Exploring SPSS files and related documentation for major surveys distributed by the UK Data Service and other archives, with a view to producing user-friendly materials for first time users and teachers (see: Teaching with Survey Data and Data sets and documents used for tutorials and exercises)
Generating tutorial examples using more recent data from other surveys, including:.
British Social Attitudes, (Natcen)
Understanding Society (ISER, Essex)
National Well-being (Office of National Statistics, UK Government)
European Social Survey (City University, London)
General Social Survey (NORC, Chicago)
Currently available commentaries are:
British Social Attitudes
Commentary on SPSS file for British Social Attitudes 2011
Notes on British Social Attitudes 2004 teaching data set (as used by Marsh and Elliott, 2008)
Understanding Society
Commentary on Understanding Society 2010
ONS Opinions Survey: Well-being module (April 2011)
Commentary on Unrestricted Access Teaching Dataset (ONS Opinions Survey, Well‐Being Module
Data set and user guide from Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, now renamed the Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research Manchester.
NORC General Social Survey (GSS)
Commentary on full NORC General Social Survey 2008
Commentary on subset of General Social Survey 2008 (as used by Sweet & Grace-Martin)
Commentary on GSS 2008 SPSS files for Babbie et al (as used by Babbie, Halley, Wagner & Zaino)
York University, 31st October 2014
ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
Half-day training workshop:
The Beginner's (Clod's) Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS for Windows
Presentation:
Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
An alternative title would have been: Sows' Ears and Silk Purses: working with other peoples’ SPSS files as a follow-up to Old Dog, Old Tricks, my 2006 presentation for them. Thought about using Old Dog, New Tricks, but it doesn’t carry the same sense of horror and fun. In addition to the above commentaries there are now introductions to, and commentaries on:
Relative Deprivation and Social Justice (1962: UKDS SN28)
SSRC Survey Unit Multi-purpose Social Survey (1975: UKDS SN680)
2015
Complete book reviews and tutorials in pipeline
Collaboration with research centres and textbook authors in development of (open access) teaching materials based on major surveys, including improved versions of SPSS files.
Replication (and critique) of examples from SPSS textbooks, using syntax instead of GUI
Critical review and secondary analysis of my own surveys for use in tutorials (eg questionnaire development, scaling etc.)