dataset sources

A nice website from NCSU that collects many sources of datasets.

1. Gallup Poll News Service & Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing
2. Lexis-Nexis Navigation
3. The Odum Institute for Research in the Social Sciences
4. Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
5. Roper Center Public Opinion Archives
6. ICPSR

Powerpoint poster template

I need to make two posters to a conference in the near future and am therefore looking for good templates for me to use. Here are some nice sites that I bump into online.

1. Posterpresentation.com



2.Genigraphics

Policy and public opinion

Page, B. I., & Shapiro, R. Y. (1983). Effects of public opinion on policy. The American Political Science Review, 77(1), 175-190.

Just come across this article and think it is a good reference for arguments that link public opinion with policy making.

Another related article is: Page, B. I., & Shapiro, R. Y. (1982). Changes in Americans' policy preferences, 1935-1979. Public Opinion Quarterly, 46(1), 24.

ELSI

ELSI represents Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications for nanotechnology. This is an important field of research in public understanding of science in general, and nanotechnology in particular. Scientists and policy-makers nowadays have recognized the need to connect with the general public. Science and technology, after all, is not something happening only in the laboratory. It has pivotal impacts on human life and the society.

Nanotechnology is not only considered to be able to alter "human characteristics," it can also bring about potential dangers that are unknown at the current state of scientific knowledge. Furthermore, it challenges people's deep-rooted beliefs about life and nature. In other words, to the general public, nanotechnology is not just a scientific issue, it is also a social issue which lends relevance to everyday life.

The book Societal Implications of Nanosciences and Nanotechnology was published in 2001 and derived from a workshop sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). It addresses the need and efforts to understand the relationship between human, the environment, society, and the technology.

Excerpts of book chapters can also be found here.

Gallup polls about religion and moral attitudes

just come across some nice poll data about how religiosity affects public perception of morally-loaded issues, such as stem cell research, abortion, homosexuality, etc. There are also some interesting international stuff.

1. Stem Cell Research Morally OK in Britain, Canada, and U.S.

This article indicated that stem cell research is in general deemed morally acceptable in the three countries. However, Americans are more likely than people in the other two countries to find the research unacceptable. This disparity was attributable to the varied roles of religiosity in these countries. Americans consider God to be important and go to church more often than Canadians and the British. And this central role of religion makes Americans more likely to make a connection between morality and controversial scientific/technological issues.

2. Worlds Apart: Religion in Canada, Britain, U.S.

This poll also painted a more religious public in the US. Americans not only go to church more often, but also more likely to say God is very important in their lives. Please also see a related survey: Most Britons, Canadians "Unchurched"

3. Moral issues

This poll tracks public evaluation on the state of moral values across time. In general, people are not satisfied with the current condition of moral values--more people consider it to be poor than good or excellent (a difference of 28%) in 2009. This disparity has remained since 2006. However, it should be noted that in 2009 a lot more Americans, compared with previous years, feel the condition of moral values is getting better. This poll also showed public perception of moral acceptability in relation to several social issues.

Mplus resource

Here are a couple of online resources in relation to the statistical program--Mplus.


1. UCLA: Multilevel modeling in Mplus (with handouts and video demos)
2. UCLA: Introduction to Mplus
3. UTexas: Mplus introduction
4. UCLA: Mplus class note-Path Analysis
5. UCLA: Mplus annotated output (Multinomial regression)
6. UCLA: Mplus data analysis example: logistic regression

Also read the online material developed by a faculty member at UNC about the concepts and assumptions about path analysis.

Mediation effect

Many of the studies in social sciences involve a mediating variable, which filters the effect of the original independent variable on the dependent variable. There are many ways of testing mediation. I just want to highlight some wonderful websites and resources that deal with this topic.

Calculation for the Sobel test. The website contains explanations of concepts and easy-to-use calculators for indirect effect.

Dr. Andrew Hayes at the Ohio State University also developed a website and SPSS macros for the test of indirect effect. Please click here for the SPSS syntax to activate the macro. There is also a PDF file that explains the steps after the activation of macro.

In fact, the software Mplus has proved to be very handy in testing indirect effect. By specifying the "ind" command, Mplus shows not only the effect size, but also the test score and significance of the coefficient.

The website developed by Dr. David Kenny is also very helpful. He is one of the author in the famous piece about mediation [The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations, (Baron & Kenny, 1986)].