How do I access a data set?

Q. Can you please provide me with more information on this site? I have clicked and clicked and have not been able to figure out if this is accessible to all users.  I still do not understand what is needed to access the information in this database.

A. The DPLS Online Catalog is a database of study records available through DPLS; it is not a full-text database of DPLS studies themselves.  The DPLS Online Archive is a collection of original studies, deposited with DPLS, and made freely accessible via the WWW.

Yes, data sets which are electronically available through our online archives are available &  'downloadable' for all (PC) users. No, not everything you may have located in our catalog is necessarily available to all users (restrictions will be listed in the individual study descriptions). Also, many other datasets can be made available to social science data users, but are not electronically available via a simple point and click. Datasets available through DPLS are in raw ASCII format. 

In order to assist you with the technical difficulties you are having, please write to tell us exactly what steps you took before you had trouble. Be sure to include any error messages you received along the way. This way, we can isolate the problem. Note: At this time users are unable to download datasets using a Macintosh computer (or a WebTV device). We wiill be glad to assist you further with any questions or problems you are having in relation to our web site, online archives, etc.--- once we know the nature of the technical difficulties you are experiencing. 

Q. I am doing research into the Slave Trade Movement. I have tried to access your site but to no avail.  Do I have to have special software to gain access.   What is the procedure for accessing & converting these files?

A. In order to download the dataset from the Slave Trade Movement Archives you need to have adequate space on your hard drive for the files, you can only download the files using a PC (not a Mac or a "webtv" device), and you would need WinZip or another comparable program in order to expand the compressed data files on your computer. Also know that the data available through our Archives, is not in text format but is in raw ASCII format (basically it will appear as simply a long string of numbers, therefore you would need to download the corresponding codebook for that archival dataset in order to interpret the variables).

If you have access to a PC with adequate memory and decompression software, send us an email message notifying us. And then we can go ahead and walk you through the rest of the instructions.

Q. What is a .POR file and what is a .DAT file?

A. Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding different file formats. Datasets can include files that appear in the following formats:

*.DBF Original Dbase Data File
*.SAV SPSS for Windows Save File
*.POR SPSS Portable File
*.DAT Raw Rectangular ASCII File (see *.DCT dictionary file for variable
*.TXT Plain Text Format
*.XLS Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet File
*.SAS

From the index page of each study within the DPLS Online Data Archive, click on the button "Download Data. (Free Registration Required" to link to a page from which you can download the data files of the study.

Q. I have downloaded your slave movement files, and have registered as required. I have read the instructions, and I understand how to decode the files that start with SLA, using your online codebooks. But what are the downloaded files that start with CB? (such as: CB505011.DAT) Where on your website might I find any information about these files, such as an explanation of what they contain? Thank you.

A. CB-505-011 is a study number within our collection, and CB505011.DAT is the corresponding data file for that study. The codebooks that are available online (or you can download them) are in a sense guides that help you decode what the numbers mean in the .DAT file(s). For example, the codebook will tell you what a number 2 in column 3 means (in this case the number 2 would be from the .DAT file). Basically, what you have downloaded is raw ASCII data and it is up to you to decipher this data in order to extract from it what is most useful to you.

Q. I am a law student and am writing my senior seminar paper on the subject of sex offender treatment programs. Accordingly, I am interested in obtaining a copy of ICPSR Study # SJ-097-001-1-1-USA-ICPSR-1994. Could someone from your office please contact me  to let me know how to obtain the above study?

A. Unfortunately, study #SJ-097-001-1-1-USA-ICPSR-1994, Management of Sex Offenders by Probation & Parole Agencies in the U.S. 1994 is a file which we obtained from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), an organization to which we pay a membership fee for the privilege of downloading data on demand for use only the the students, staff, and faculty of UW-Madison. Hence we would not be able to make this dataset available to you. Most of the studies in our collection with "ICPSR" as part of the study # are studies that we must restrict to persons on this campus. 

We also obtain datasets from other governmental and non-governmental agencies such as the Roper Center, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations (UN), and the World Bank. Those datasets have the same level of restriction as ICPSR studies. Therefore, they can only be used by persons on this campus.

Q. How would I cite data that I found on your site?

A. The files available through our Online Archive are for public use; files in our Catalog are available for use by the students, faculty, and staff of UW-Madison. We do ask, however, that when using data or other information from our site that your remember to cite us properly. 

Instructions can be found through the archives portion of our web site, http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/cite.html. Please refer to the "How to Properly Cite These Data" section of any index page of our Online Archives, for an example.

Q. I have just finished completing a research project in preparation for my dissertation.  I would like to deposit the data used for my study with DPLS.  How do I go about doing this?

A. We can send you an Archival Deposit Form.  Please complete this form and then stop by DPLS, if possible, so that we can talk about the Online Archival process together.  Completing the archival permission form is your way of granting us permission to distribute the dataset on our website.   

You will need to provide detailed documentation of the content of your data. DPLS staff will work with you to see that your data is "clean" and in a good condition, excluding any confidential information (such as names of survey respondents).