Describing a social science data information system, networks and components

Abstract

The acquisition of data has taken its place with the acquisition of literature as a first-order information problem for social science practitioners, researchers, and students. The traditional mechanisms of information dissemination have been serial publications and professional meetings which provide linkages for social science practitioners and researchers, while monographs and textbooks serve the basic needs of students. Brittain (1), however, has suggested that social scientists are unique as scientists because they utilize large volumes of data often produced outside their immediate control. [1] The costs associated with social science data collection in the quantity required for reliable research have occasioned discussions related to the possibility of data resource dissemination. This dissemination leads to secondary or extended analysis', whereby one researcher applies data to problems not thematic to those researchers who collected the data and performed a 'primary analysis'.