Contributors: United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Date: 2018-10-18

... The Pilot Study of State and Federal Digital Evidence Laboratories data collection contains data collected in 2015 as part of the Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories (CPFFCL). The CPFFCL examined the forensic services provided by publicly funded crime labs across the nation and the resources devoted to completing the work. To capture more information about an emerging forensic science discipline known as digital evidence, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) expanded the scope of the 2014 CPFFCL from previous data collections to include a separate pilot study of state and federal agencies that solely analyzed digital evidence in support of criminal investigations and prosecutions. These agencies obtained digital and multimedia evidence in various formats, including audio, video, and graphical images from computers, cell phones, cameras, and other electronic devices. The traditional CPFFCL definition of a crime lab limited the information collected about digital evidence since some agencies only handle this type of evidence and employ forensic experts with training in computer science or information technology as opposed to natural sciences such as chemistry and biology. The census collected detailed information on laboratory staff, budgets, workloads, and backlogs in requests for forensic services. The census also provides data on lab accreditations, proficiency tests, and other quality assurances.

Contributors: Elbel, Brian

Date: 2018-10-15

... The current collection includes data collected as part of a planned evaluation of New York City's proposed soda portion cap policy. Baseline data collection was conducted in three waves. Wave 1 began in early January 2013 and ended in April 2013; Wave 2 was conducted from August to November 2013; and Wave 3 was conducted between January and June 2014. Data was collected at point-of-purchase on the availability, sizing, promotion, and cost of beverages in the fast food restaurants of New York City, New York and of Newark and Jersey City in New Jersey. This data was also collected in these areas for their nearest convenience stores/bodegas and supermarkets. Consumer receipts were also gathered to supplement this survey data. Additional data collection was conducted using environmental scans of fast food and grocery store locations to evaluate the healthfulness of the beverage environment. Lastly, some participants also completed a telephone interview where data was gathered on participant's dietary recall. These data are intended to gather a fuller picture of the factors that may influence beverage purchases.

Contributors: Polsky, Daniel, Rhodes, Karin

Date: 2018-10-10

... Coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has important implications for access, and the value of coverage is dependent on the ability to access care. Most information about access to care comes from household or physician surveys. The current data collection was gathered as a part of the Primary Care Audit Study for 10 States in the United States, 2012-2013, 2014 and 2016 to assess variation in access to primary care using a methodology that was applied across different types of states (Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas) at baseline and over-time. The project was broken up into three phases: before the ACA (2012-2013), during the launch of ACA coverage provisions such as the Medicaid fee bump and ACA marketplaces (2014), and after the full ACA implementation (2016). Insurance types in the study included commercial coverage, Medicaid, uninsured, and, in 2014 and 2016, plans purchased on the ACA market place. The audit-level file, featured in part one of the collection, includes all completed calls and provides information from multiple dimensions (appointment availability, wait times, simulated patients' demographics, cost information, etc.). The office-level file, featured in part two of the collection, covers all eligible offices and their characteristics (e.g., size, insurance acceptability, cost information, etc.) collected from the screening phase. Demographic variables include simulated caller number, race, gender, and age.

Contributors: Hofferth, Sandra L., Stafford, Frank P., Yeung, Wei-Jun Jean, Duncan, Greg J., Hill, Martha S., Lepkowski, James M., Morgan, James N.

Date: 2018-10-04

... The PSID is the world's longest-running nationally representative household panel survey. With 50 years of data on the same families and their descendants, the PSID is a cornerstone of the data infrastructure for empirically based social science research in the U.S. PSID gathers data on the family as a whole and on individuals residing within the family, emphasizing the dynamic and interactive aspects of family economics, demography, and health. PSID data were collected annually from 1968-1997 and biennially after 1997. In the Main Interview, one person per family is interviewed on a regular basis. Information about each family member is collected, but much greater detail is obtained about the head and, if married/cohabitating, the spouse or long-term cohabitor. Survey content changes to reflect evolving scientific and policy priorities, although many content areas have been consistently measured since 1968. Information includes employment, income, wealth, expenditures, health, education, marriage, childbearing, philanthropy, and numerous other topics. With low attrition and high success in following young adults as they form their own families, the sample size has grown from roughly 5,000 families in 1968 to more than 10,000 families and 24,000 individuals by 2017. Over the course of the study, the PSID has distributed data on more than 75,000 individuals. The long panel, genealogical design, and broad content of the data offer unique opportunities to conduct generational and life-course research. The PSID now contains thousands of inter- and intragenerational relationships over 50 years of data, including: "Paired" generational relationships, with each family in the pair providing independent interviews (as of the 2013 wave) Parent-Adult Child pairs: ~5,000 Sibling pairs: ~3,600 Cousin pairs: ~4,500 "Tripled" generational relationships, with all three generations providing independent interviews (as of the 2013 wave) Grandparent-Parent-Adult Child triplets: ~1,300 The PSID gathers rich information in the domains of health, wealth, and pensions. These data can be used in combination with panel data on employment, income, race, and education. Data collected on health includes health status, onset and recency of health conditions, health behaviors such as alcohol use, smoking, and exercise, BMI, health insurance, and expenditures. Information about mental health was collected starting in 2001. A health history calendar was implemented starting in 2007 to collect information on early childhood health conditions, including age of onset and duration.

Contributors: Sierra, Christine Marie, Hardy-Fanta, Carol, Pinderhughes, Dianne M. (Dianne Marie), Lien, Pei-te

Date: 2018-10-04

... The Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project (GMCL) is a national study of America's political leadership in the 21st century, with a focus on race, ethnicity, and gender. The project specifically addresses African American, Latina/o, Native American, and Asian American elected officials in U.S. politics. The 2000 U.S. Census points to a need to understand the role of gender and race/ethnicity in today's elected leaders and how this increasingly diversified leadership is becoming incorporated into the governing structures of a nation projected to be "majority-minority" within the next fifty years. Key components of the GMCL Project include a national database of more than 10,000 elected officials of color, by race and gender; an annotated bibliography and analytical framework on the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, class; and an interactive project website.

Contributors: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement

Date: 2018-10-03

... The International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, 2009 (known as ICCS) is an international assessment of the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens, conducted in 38 countries. It investigated student knowledge and understanding of civics and citizenship as well as students' perceptions, attitudes, and activities related to civics and citizenship. It also examined differences among countries in these outcomes and the relationship of these outcomes to students' individual characteristics and family backgrounds, to teaching practices, and to school and broader community contexts. Like its predecessor IEA Civic Education Study, 1999 (CIVED), ICCS 2009 included a student test of civic knowledge and understanding, as well as questionnaires for students, teachers, and school principals. The comprehensive core assessment was complemented by three regional modules for Asia, Europe, and Latin America, designed to flexibly recognize regional interests and investigate related aspects of civic and citizenship education. The survey data were supplemented by information about the national contexts for civic and citizenship education gathered by the national research centers of the participating countries. Data were collected in 2008-2009 under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). ICCS collected data from more than 140,000 Grade 8 (or equivalent) students in more than 5,300 schools from 38 countries. These student data were augmented with data from more than 62,000 teachers in those schools and further contextual data collected from school principals and national research centers.

Contributors: Trinitapoli, Jenny Ann, Yeatman, Sara

Date: 2018-10-02

... Tsogolo la Thanzi (TLT) is a longitudinal study in Balaka, Malawi designed to examine how young people navigate reproduction in an AIDS epidemic. Tsogolo la Thanzi means "Healthy Futures" in Chichewa, Malawi's most widely spoken language. New data is being collected to develop better understandings of the reproductive goals and behavior of young adults in Malawi -- the first cohort to never have experienced life without AIDS. To understand these patterns of family formation in a rapidly changing setting, TLT used the following approach: an intensive longitudinal design where respondents are interviewed every fourth months at TLT's centralized research center. Data collection began in May of 2009 and was completed in June of 2012. To assess changes on a longer time-horizon, a follow-up survey referred to as Tsogolo la Thanzi 2 (TLT-2) was fielded between June and August of 2016. Please see ICPSR 36863 for the baseline dataset. At each wave, women who tested as positive for pregnancy were given a questionnaire asking additional questions about that pregnancy. This dataset includes women from all waves.

Contributors: Weinburgh, Molly H.

Date: 2018-10-01

... The Teacher Quality Grants Texas project was a broad, evaluative study with the goal of better understanding the professional growth in teachers who self-selected to participate in focused, long-term professional development in mathematics or science provided by the Teacher Quality Granting Program (TQGP). The TQGP, funded through No Child Left Behind (NCLB), aimed to improve the quality of teaching which, in turn, leads to improved student achievement. The 2014-2016 cycle of this study includes administrative and qualitative data, much of which contain observation notes and comments from trained raters observing teachers in their classroom environments. The data also include ratings on classroom activities, organization, student attention, type of student cognition, instructional inquiry demonstrated by teacher, and types of assessment. Teachers in the classroom were also rated on instructional, discourse, assessment, and curriculum factors. Additional, the data contain pre- and post-scores of content tests taken by teachers at the high school level. Administrative data on teachers includes academic degree type, college hours in project topic area, whether teacher had an alternative emergency certificate, grade level(s) taught, teaching assignments related to grant topic area, certification exams passed before and after the grant project, teaching assignment after grant project, reason for leaving grant project, and number of project days and hours by year. Additional qualitative data in this study includes participant reflective writings and interview transcripts. Teachers responded to a series of eight reflective prompts designed to elicit participant growth in subject matter, pedagogy, use of instructional technology, and development within a professional community of practice. A subset of teacher-participants were also interviewed by phone, during the summer following a year of grant participation.

Contributors: Osler, Mark William

Date: 2018-09-26

... This dataset attempts to be a comprehensive listing of all pardons granted by United States' Presidents from Washington to Trump. The only president not represented in the data is the 20th president, President James A. Garfield. In total, the dataset contains 77 variables and 32,026 cases. About half of the variables are in character (string) format some of which contain actual dates. The original data was provided in individual Excel files separated by president and by term. Not all variables in the final data file were provided in each original data file. The data includes variables that provide the recipient's name of the pardon, the date the pardon was granted, the offense committed, details regarding fines and prison stays, along with other details regarding the recipient.

Contributors: Tasca, Melinda, Turanovic, Jillian J.

Date: 2018-09-25

... These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed. The data were obtained from one state prison system that was characterized by a diverse and rising prison population. This prison system housed more than 30,000 inmates across 15 institutions (14 men's facilities; 1 women's facility). The data contain information on inmates' placements into different housing units across all 15 state prison complexes, including designated maximum security, restrictive housing units. Inmates placed in restrictive housing were in lockdown the majority of the day, had limited work opportunities, and were closely monitored. These inmates were also escorted in full restraints within the institution. They experienced little recreational time, visitation and phone privileges, and few interactions with other inmates. The data contain information on inmates' housing placements, institutional misconduct, risk factors, demographic characteristics, criminal history, and offense information. These data provide information on every housing placement for each inmate, including the time spent in each placement, and the reasons documented by correctional staff for placing inmates in each housing unit. Demographic information includes inmate sex, race/ethnicity, and age. The collection contains 1 Stata data file "Inmate-Housing-Placements-Data.dta" with 16 variables and 124,942 cases.