I've noticed that students have a really hard time moving from the idea they might have for a project to identifying a dataset that they can actually use. On Wednesday I'm going to experiment with how best to guide students through this transition from idea to empirical data that actually exists.
One point I would like to make with the students is that they should be browsing datasets while they refine research question. This means they have to begin looking at codebooks early on. The easier it is for students to gain access to codebooks, the better, so I would recommend the following data archives: CPANDA and ARDA.
The picture to the right gives you a sense of what you can see if you use CPANDA's "browse study questions" option. The fact that the students can immediately access the questions, without having to register and download a pdf or Word document is a huge plus!
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