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Data Resources for International Development and Health

A compilation of development and health data and indicators, at both the macro- and micro- levels.

Help with R/SAS/SPSS/Stata

This page is a collection of links for help with using R, SAS, SPSS, and Stata. The guides are very "from-the-ground-up" and cover multiple topics, from the basics of getting data into the program to various common data-management tasks to introductory data analysis.

These guides generally focus on using syntax to work with and analyze data in statistical software. While there are learning curves of varying degrees of steepness with each of these applications, a syntax-based approach to working with data is a more robust and reproducible means of doing empirical analysis and is the flip side of proper citation with regard to the coin of transparency in quantitative research. Simply put, syntax is documentation that spells out what you did to process and analyze the data and produce your findings, and access to that syntax thus shows others how you got your results. Some journals such as the American Economic Review and the American Journal of Political Science even require submission of syntax for cleaning and analyzing data as part of their submission policies on data availability.

For additional guidance on working with data, see the following:

Guides for Using SAS

"Articles on Statistical Computing - SAS Basics and SAS Topics" from the Social Science Computing Cooperative, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Documentation for SAS Products and Solutions," from the SAS Institute

"Introduction to SAS Version 8.2," from the University of Virginia's ITC Division (via the Internet Archive)

"Knowledge Base / Samples and SAS Notes," from the SAS Institute

"Main Continuous and Historical NHANES Tutorials," from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - This collection focuses on NHANES data, but the tutorials have useful guidance for analysis of survey data more generally.

"Research Guides: SAS", from Georgia State University Libraries

"Resources to Help You Learn and Use SAS," from UCLA's Academic Technology Services

"SAS Analyst for MS Windows," from the Division of Statistics and Data Sciences at the University of Texas-Austin (.pdf) (via the Internet Archive)

"SAS I: Getting Started," from the Division of Statistics and Data Sciences at the University of Texas-Austin (.pdf) (via the Internet Archive)

"SAS II: Inferential Statistics," from the Division of Statistics and Data Sciences at the University of Texas-Austin (.pdf) (via the Internet Archive)

"SAS Blogs: Graphically Speaking," from SAS

"SAS Conference Proceedings (1976-Present)" - For searching for papers and proceedings from SAS user conferences.

"SAS Example Code: Examples, Tips, and Tricks"

"SAS Tutorials," from Kent State University Libraries

"Topics in SAS Programming," from UNC's Carolina Population Center