SOFTWARE TO DESIGN, DOCUMENT, AND PREPARE SOCIAL SCIENCE INSTRUMENTS AND DATA SETS

THE DEVELOPMENT AND DOCUMENTATION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS IS TIME CONSUMING AND EXPENSIVE. MUCH OF THIS WORK COULD BE FACILITATED BY SOFTWARE THAT AUTOMATES SUCH TASKS AS FORMATTING, FILE MAPPING, CODEBOOK GENERATION, ERROR CHECKING, AND ANALYSIS FILE PREPARATION, LEAVING THE INVESTIGATOR'S TIME FOR SUBSTANTIVE WORK. MOREOVER, INVESTIGATORS WHO COLLECT ORIGINAL DATA ARE INCREASINGLY BEING ASKED BY THEIR SPONSORS AND BY OTHER RESEARCHERS TO SHARE THEIR DATA SETS WITH OTHER RESEARCHERS. DATA SHARING REQUIRES A STANDARD OF DOCUMENTATION THAT IS NOT OFTEN ADHERED TO BY RESEARCHERS WHO DEVELOP THEIR DATA SETS FOR THEIR OWN USE ONLY. AGAIN, SOFTWARE CAN AID THE INVESTIGATOR BY DEVELOPING APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTATION ACCORDING TO PUBLIC-USE STANDARDS AS THE DATA SET IS BEING DEVELOPED. RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING SOFTWARE THAT ENABLES THEM TO DEVELOP AND DOCUMENT A DATA SET SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE SOFTWARE EASES DEVELOPMENT BY AUTOMATING TASKS THAT CAN BEST BE DONE BY COMPUTER; IT IMPROVES INSTRUMENTATION AND DOCUMENTATION BY PROVIDING A STRUCTURE AND FORMAT THAT IS COMPLETE AND OF HIGH QUALITY; AND IT ELIMINATES MUCH OF THE POST DATA-COLLECTION EFFORT OF DOCUMENTING A DATA SET FOR PUBLIC USE. THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM IS A SIGNIFICANT RESOURCE FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS. IT PROVIDES A TOOL TO ASSIST THE RESEARCHER WITH SEVERAL STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS, INCLUDING DATA SET DEVELOPMENT, DOCUMENTATION, CLEANING, AND ANALYSIS FILE CREATION. FURTHERMORE, IT INTEGRATES ALL THESE STEPS IN ONE PROGRAM, AND PROVIDES A LINK TO THE ARCHIVING TASK FOR THOSE DATA SETS THAT ARE TO BE PLACED IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.