IQSS offers support across all stages of the quantitative research process. Our experienced scientists, staff and technology experts coordinate with our affiliates, the Harvard-MIT Data Center, the Center for Geographic Analysis, the Henry A. Murray Research Archive, and the Program on Survey Research, and with the Numeric Data Services division of the Harvard College Library, to provide you seamless assistance as you develop and execute your research project. Our services include:
We offer consulting and technology infrastructure for research data collection through our affiliates, the Harvard-MIT Data Center, the Center for Geographic Analysis, and the Program on Survey Research. Our services include:
Researchers in the social sciences often collect data through survey answers. Constructing and executing a non-leading, balanced survey that will keep a respondent's attention, can be challenging however. Through the Program on Survey Research, we offer training and consulting on survey design, as well as a hosting environment for online surveys.
For inquiries, please see the Program on Survey Research Getting Started Guide.
Proper statistical design is critical for a successful quantitative research project. If you have questions about how to structure your study, we can help. Through the Harvard-MIT Data Center, we have permanent professional staff and postdocs who assist affiliates in designing observational and experimental research.
For more information, see HMDC Statistical Consulting.
In collaboration with Numeric Data Services in the Harvard College Library, we assist faculty and students in obtaining research data not currently held in Harvard's library system. We also facilitate the distribution of new data collections through the IQSS Dataverse Network system, making the information easily accessible to affiliates.
Where helpful to individual researchers purchasing data for their own use, we can also negotiate directly with data vendors on your behalf.
If you would like Harvard to add a new dataset to its holdings, please first review the Data Purchase Guidelines and then use this form for specific requests.
Through the Harvard-MIT Data Center and other affiliates, we provide a unified catalog of data from tens of thousands of research studies. We have extensive experience in recommending sources of data in the social and health sciences and can help you to find and obtain particular datasets. We are also well-versed in helping researchers locate and secure data from outside our catologs.
For more information, see HMDC's Data Finding Services.
Through the Center for Geographic Analysis, IQSS has permanent, professional staff and GIS infrastructure to assist Harvard affiliates in using geospatial data. We help scientists find and apply existing geospatial data to research projects. We also provide support in planning projects that involve the collection of original geospatial data. And for those who are still new to the world of geographic information systems and geospatial data, we offer formal courses, group training and one-on-one consulting to help you make the most of this cutting edge approach to research information.
For more information, see CGA's GIS Help & Services.
We offer support for managing data through our affiliates, the Harvard-MIT Data Center and the Henry A. Murray Research Archive. Our services include:
Through our affiliate, the Henry A. Murray Research Archive, we have decades of experience in preparing data for long term preservation, dissemination, and reuse.
We offer one-on-one consultations for faculty, staff and students who want to learn more about organizing, documenting, cataloging and disseminating their data. Our team will work with you to develop a data management, archiving, and dissemination plan appropriate to your particular needs and the needs of project sponsors. And our team can provide assistance to sponsored projects in preparing data for public dissemination.
For inquiries, please contact Dr. Micah Altman, the Archival Director.
IQSS staff are uniquely trained in the rules and regulations that govern information collected about people. We can help you understand how these policies and laws affect the use, storage, and dissemination of data used in your research activities.
We offer one-on-one consultations for faculty, staff and students who want to learn more about managing confidential data. Our team will work with you to develop a secure data management plan appropriate to your particular needs. We are also available to review specific datasets or current/proposed data storage approaches for privacy concerns and general compliance.
More formal training regarding the categorization and handling of confidential data can be requested on a group or indivdiual basis. From time to time, we also offer workshops on this topic.
For inquiries, please contact Dr. Micah Altman, the Archival Director.
As part of our mission to increase collaboration among scientists, we develop infrastructure and tools you can use to store and share your data. The IQSS Dataverse Network is open source software created by IQSS, which gives you the ability to permanently archive your data, while also allowing you to retain complete control over who may access your data, how it is cataloged and if or when it should be removed from circulation. In addition, the Dataverse Network has designed a system that lets other researchers find and cite your data, increasing scholarly recognition for your research. You upload the data and we store it, free of charge.
You can submit data directly through our online data deposit system. While the data is stored on our servers, you can create a Dataverse webpage that looks like part of your personal website. Through this web-based system, you can add and update data easily. You can also control the terms of use and the lists of users or groups authorized to access your materials.
Data hosted through this system is indexed automatically and made available through the international Dataverse Network repository, Harvard's library catalogs, the web, and catalogs and information gateways world-wide. You catalog each dataset through text, links, and/or logos, as desired. Each dataset is also assigned a unique, permanent citation for use in academic literature, including a global unique identifier and a universal numeric fingerprint. The Dataverse Network software reformats every dataset for permanent preservation, and a copy is archived.
All research data is preserved through the generous support of the Henry A. Murray Research Archive endowment.
We offer a number of statistical and data consulting services to Harvard affiliates through our affiliates, the Harvard-MIT Data Center, the Center for Geographic Analysis, the Henry A. Murray Research Archive, and the Program on Survey Research. Most of this consulting is free of charge.
Trained experts provide instruction in many quantitative areas, including the basics of of statistical analysis, GIS methods, survey design, and the use of statistical software packages. We also provide individualized consulting on advanced topics.
We also maintain cutting edge technology infrastructure to support data analysis, including public computer labs and cluster computing facilities for large-scale data analysis.
Through our affiliate, the Harvard-MIT Data Center, we maintain and provide access to a large, professionally managed cluster of high-end computer servers, with considerable hardware and software infrastructure to support research and application development. HMDC has a dedicated team of senior systems administrators who maintain and support this infrastructure, and who provide help in using the IQSS Research Computing Environment (RCE) to solve research problems.
The RCE is a completely portable desktop environment that also provides large-scale data storage, transparent distributed computing, and cutting-edged statistical software. The statistical tools automatically take advantage of our distributed computing cluster, supporting much larger analyses than possible on desktop systems. And, for advanced distributed computing needs, we offer job and resource management software, which enables you to use resources on many machines simultaneously to increase overall computing power for larger statistical analysis.
The RCE is best known for its statistical applications, but it also offers a variety of standard, every day software, such as web browsers, email readers, word processors and office suites. All of this software is compatible with most Windows and Mac environments. And, you can bring your existing files into this environment and continue to use them as you normally would. Because the RCE is managed by HMDC experts, you are freed from having to manage multiple machines; to find, buy, install and upgrade software and hardware; to hunt down bugs; or to worry about regular back ups.
For more information see HMDC's Cluster Computing pages.
IQSS, through the Harvard-MIT Data Center, has consultants who can assist you with your statistical analysis. We can help you get started, thinking through different approaches to your research problem and finding an appropriate statistical model. We also can help you learn new statistical software packages or how to apply a particular methodology. Our consultants are available both through general open office hours and by scheduling a specific appointment time.
For more information, please see HMDC's Statistical Support.