Thursday 16 August 2012

Data Cleaning (draft entry)

My next post will be about Data Cleaning. I am not the expert on this but I know few things. One simple way  to do this is to compare data entered by 2 different people. The command in SPSS is called

UPDATE FILE

Here is an example from UCLA site:

update file = "D:\person1.sav"
/in = flag1
/file = "D:\person2.sav"
/by all.
exe.
 
More valuable information in this pdf. 
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/sas/library/nesug99/ss123.pdf
 

Need to update this blog!! 

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Effect Size


"Statistical significance only tells the researcher how likely it is that an observed finding could have occurred by chance. It does not say anything about magnitude of the effect observed. Effect size is a name given to a group of statistics that measure the magnitude of a treatment effect. In many cases, effect size is a better measure of research outcomes than the significance level. This is because with large samples, one can observe statistically significant group differences even when only a tiny effect is present. Unlike significance tests, effect size indices are independent of sample size." source: http://www.umdnj.edu/idsweb/shared/effect_size.htm

Effect size calculator

another calculator

another calculator

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Data/Software/information sources (free)

This is a loose compilation of sources of meta data/journals/software etc. related to population and health, concerning international issues in general but in particular the USA and Pakistan. I think this can be potentially very useful for graduate students of these two countries.

Asian Barometer "The Asian Barometer (ABS) is an applied research program on public opinion on political values, democracy, and governance around the region. The regional network encompasses research teams from 13 East Asian political systems (Japan, Mongolia, South Koreas, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia), and 5 South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal)."


Databases/software (free) for social sciences and public health:
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Free_statistical_software#_note-idams

Current Population Survey
(CPS) Datasets for download (free; SAS format only)


Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) Data Finder


The General Social Survey (GSS) contains a standard 'core' of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions, plus topics of special interest. Many of the core questions have remained unchanged since 1972 to facilitate time-trend studies as well as replication of earlier findings. The GSS takes the pulse of America, and is a unique and valuable resource. It has tracked the opinions of Americans over the last four decades.

Download data (SPSS format) from here.

Univ of Michigan Database of data files
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/themes/index.jsp


Princeton university Dataset sources for Pakistan

The NICHD Data and Specimen Hub (DASH) is a centralized resource that allows researchers to share and access de-identified data from studies funded by NICHD. DASH also serves as a portal for requesting biospecimens from selected DASH studies.
 
 
The Data Online for Population, Health and Nutrition (DOLPHN) system is an online statistical data resource containing selected current and historical country-level demographic and health indicator data. The DOLPHN system is designed to provide users with quick and easy access to frequently used statistics and can be helpful as both a reference and analytical tool.

Stanford University Data sets (free) http://data.stanford.edu/

Interesting link for PhD students
http://www2.hud.ac.uk/research/gradcentre/links.php

UNICEF/WHO
sanitation and water


Open Source Publishing


Jstor Data
http://dfr.jstor.org/

Google and Wiley Interscience



Google public data visualization​The Google Public Data Explorer makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate.

Harvard data
related to public health
The purpose of this website is to provide public health professionals, researchers, policy makers and students with a comprehensive catalog of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) data sets, interactive tools and other resources.

CDC Wonder
Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research


CDC newborn feeding practices datasets
http://www.cdc.gov/ifps/data/index.htm

CDC datasets on breastfeeding practices:
http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/index.htm

The Cochare Library (great for public health publications)
http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/view/0/index.html?gclid=CPWu8trNy6ACFdNA6wodqn_u0A

JHUCCP research tool database
http://new.jhuccp.org/research/researchDB/


Pew Research Center Databases
You can download the data collected by Pew Research Center from here for their various national and international surveys (the religion project includes Pakistan).


PRB Data Finder


Research Gate

Professional network for scientists.


RAND data


A UH student analysis on different meta-data sources:
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/extra/

UN population data


US Census, international population statistics


World Bank Datasets


World Bank Data


World Values Survey

http://www.ipums.org/ Integrated Public Use Microdata Series from Minnesota University

National Bureau of Economic Research data from diff. sources related to American Demographics and Economics