SodaPop

A NEW LOOK FOR SODAPOP

Returning visitors to this site will notice that we have a new look and some new features.  The tabs at the top of the page will take you to features that apply to the all of our collections, including lists of Data Collections by topic and accessibility and a federated variable search function.  Once you have located the Data Collection you need, a second set of tabs will take you to the Description, Search Functions, and the Download area for data and documention. We invite you to click on the HELP tab above for more details on using the new system.

WHAT IS SODAPOP?

The Simple Online Data Archive for Population Studies is a Web accessible data archive of analysis-ready primary and secondary data files. Datasets are arranged in collections by dataset title. Collection size varies from as little as one or two data files to over 100 data files per collection.  Within each collection, users may view descriptive information often including links to abstracts and originating agencies or investigators; search the content of each collection for relevant variables; search across collections for variables; view accompanying electronic documentation; and finally, extract for download a personally tailored analysis-ready subset of a data collection in a format of their choosing -  SAS, Stata, or SPSS dataset and comma or tab delimited format.

WHY WAS IT DEVELOPED AND HOW IS IT MAINTAINED?

The Population Research Institute (PRI) has an existing library of data both on their UNIX network and in hardcopy (CD-ROMS).  Population data sources are often extremely large and cumbersome to use, some are bound by obsolete proprietary software, and many are released without the associated programs needed to read the data into a statistical package such as SPSS/SAS/Stata.  The programming team at PRI developed the SodaPop system as a means to prepare popular datasets from the PRI Data Archive in an analyses-ready format to better facilitate their use. SodaPop alleviates the need for advanced programming and UNIX navigation skills.  As the archive is Web-enabled, PRI's data resources in SodaPop are accessible to any social science researcher at Penn State, from any location, at any time.  Many SodaPop collections are even available to researchers outside the Penn State community.  SodaPop has grown rapidly over the last few years due to the collaborative efforts of both the PRI data archivist and programming team to ensure that existing data collections are current, and that relevant new collections are added.