The Social Science Data Service is a centralized facility which provides data management and computational and statistical support to social scientists at the University of California, Davis. Its current computer system is outdated and unable to support the large data bases or the complex analyses required for cutting edge research. With NSF support instrumentation necessary to upgrade and expand the system will be provided. A DEC Alphaserver 4000, modem pool, 2 Micron Millennia Pro 2 400 pentium Pcs, database management and content analysis software and networking utilities will: improve system performance for large-scale data analysis and modeling through augmentation of the existing multi-user workstation system. It will improve the ability to manage and merge information from large and diverse data sets and provide new resources for content analysis work. Researchers from the departments of economics, political science and sociology will make extensive use of the system. Within economics the instrumentation will improve the ability to use quantitative methods to examine a wide array of topics in areas ranging from economic history to industrial organization, international trade, labor economics and public economics. A number of users work with large data sets, some several gigabytes in size. Within political science the nine potential most active users examine issues such as the diffusion of mass political conflict, the escalation of disputes, the linkage between trade, capital and immigration policies in developed nations and the impact of causality levels on Congressional election outcomes in the United States. Within sociology major topics amenable to large scale data analysis include economic sociology, industrial sociology, political sociology, criminology, demography, gender, family and race issues, small group processes and development. Current projects look at such issues as the impact of population growth on the environment and pollution levels in California, the Filipino immigrant community in Vallejo, California and the labor force participation of women in the United States. The facility will also be used extensively by both undergraduate and graduate students
