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Introduction: Lehigh / ILO Externship Research: Data

Library Databases for Statistics

Datasets in the Social Sciences

This library guide will give you an overview of how to find and use datasets in the social sciences. Click on the image below to be taken to the Datasets for the Social Sciences library guide.

Datasets for the Social Sciences

Data Planet Libguide

The Data-Planet Libguide offers detailed information on how to use the resource. From the different datasets available to how to manipulate data. If you not familair with Data-Planet take a few moments to learn some of the finer points.

Data Citation

Why do we need data citation?
Datasets generated in the research are equally valuable as the papers appearing at scientific journals, and should be treated as a citable source on par with traditional materials. To ensure these dataset assets permanently available for access and reuse, the arising data citation can enable researchers to create links between their academic publications and the underlying datasets.

What does a data ciation contain?

ELEMENTS DESCRIPTION
Author(s) Creator(s) of the dataset
Publication date Whichever is the later of: the date the dataset was made available, the date all quality assurance procedures were completed, and the date the embargo period expired.
Title As well as the name of the cited resource itself, this may also include the name of a facility and the titles of the top collection and main parent sub-collection (if any) of which the dataset is a part.
Edition The level or stage of processing of the data, indicating how raw or refined the dataset is.
Version A number increased when the data changes, as the result of adding more data points or re-running a derivation process, for example.
Feature name and URI The name of an ISO 19101:2002 'feature' (e.g. GridSeries, ProfileSeries) and the URI identifying its standard definition, used to pick out a subset of the data.
Resource type Examples: 'database', 'dataset'.
Publisher The organisation either hosting the data or performing quality assurance.
Unique numeric fingerprint (UNF) A cryptographic hash of the data, used to ensure no changes have occurred since the citation.
Identifier An identifier for the data, according to a persistent scheme.
Location A persistent URL from which the dataset is available. Some identifier schemes provide these via an identifier resolver service.

What should researchers be aware of when citing a dataset? 

Although the standardization and consistency in research data citation are still evolving, Ball and Duke(2012) from Digital Curation Center have summarzied some widely accepted practices in data citation for researchers to use: 

  1. If you have generated/collected data to be used as evidence in an academic publication, you should deposit them with a suitable data archive or repository as soon as you are able. If they do not provide you with a persistent identifier or URL for your data, encourage them to do so.
  2. When citing a dataset in a paper, use the citation style required by the editor/publisher. If no citation style is suggested, take a standard data citation style (e.g. DataCite’s) and adapt it to match the style for textual publications.
  3. Give dataset identifier in the form of a URL wherever possible, unless otherwise directed.
  4. Include data citations alongside those for textual publications. Some reference management packages now include support for datasets, which should make this easier.
  5. Cite datasets at the finest-grained level available that meets your need. If that is not fine enough, provide details of the subset of data you are using at the point in the text where you make the citation.
  6. If a dataset exists in several versions, be sure to cite the exact version you used.
  7. When you publish a paper that cites a dataset, notify the repository that holds the dataset, so it can add a link from that dataset to your paper.

(Adapted from "Alex Ball and Monica Duke, 2012. How to Cite Datasets and Link to Publications. In A Digital Curation Center 'working level' guide. Digital Curation Center".)