Harvard Kennedy School

October @ HKS Library 🎃 👻

You won't see many of your HKS librarians wearing costumes this month, but we're still here to hand out informational treats!

In this email you'll find:

Next Friday: Data + Donuts with Victoria Asbury 🍩
Data visualization workshops: Open source data tools for policy & design 📊
Help with quantitative & qualitative methods for PAE & SYPA writers 📝
New book display: LGBTQ History Month 🏳️‍🌈
Resource highlight: Gallup Analytics & microdata 🐎

Next Friday: Data + Donuts with Victoria Asbury 🍩

Examining U.S. identity & political discourse through computational text analysis & beyond

Friday, October 7, 2022
10:30-11:30AM
HKS Library Commons & Zoom

Victoria Asbury is a cultural sociologist and PhD candidate in Sociology at Harvard, who uses innovative methods to produce empirical knowledge about American identity, racial attitudes, immigration, and U.S. politics.

At this session of Data + Donuts, Victoria will discuss the computational text analysis, experimental survey, and behavioral game methods she uses to examine relationships between political discourse, attitudes, resource allocation, and national belonging in the U.S.

Details & Registration

Data visualization workshops: Open source data tools for policy & design 📊

The HKS Library is joining forces with the Loeb Library at the Graduate School of Design to offer a three-part series of data visualization workshops. Each workshop will be hosted twice: once at HKS and once at GSD. HKS versions of the workshops are listed below.

Using R for Data Visualization

Tuesday, October 4, 2022
2:30-4:30PM
Wexner 434B
Details & Registration

We will use the R programming language to import and visualize the data. Using R’s popular ggplot2 package, we will cover basic principles and practices for creating effective data visualizations. We will create a variety of plots using techniques that you will be able to use to visualize your own data.

Using QGIS for Geovisualization

Tuesday, October 18, 2022
2:30-4:30PM
Wexner 434B
Details & Registration

We will create a QGIS project and import and map the data. You will learn basic cartographic techniques including scaling, labeling, and altering symbology. The final product of this workshop will be a map layout that can be exported to various file formats for possible inclusion in reports and papers and other types of products.

Advanced Visualization Techniques with R and QGIS

Tuesday, November 1, 2022
2:30-4:30PM
Wexner 434B
Details & Registration

We will build upon skills developed in the prior sessions for visualizing and mapping data. We will cover advanced techniques to explore data and communicate your findings more effectively. Attendance at prior workshops is not strictly necessary, but attendees should understand some of the basics of using R and/or QGIS.

Help with quantitative & qualitative methods for PAE & SYPA writers 📝

If you're an MPP or MPA/ID student planning to write your PAE or SYPA this year, the Library is here to help! Starting next week, our two Data & Methods Course Assistants can provide guidance on quantitative and qualitative research.

Eleanor Krause is our Quantitative Course Assistant. She can help with:

Deciding on research methods
Selecting data sources
Cleaning administrative & survey data
Calculating summary statistics
Regression & other data analysis

Shelby Carvalho is our Qualitative Course Assistant. She can help with:

Deciding on research methods, including who to interview
Drafting interview guides, consent forms, & other research instruments
Designing surveys
Coding & organizing qualitative data
Conducting qualitative data analysis

Find details and sign up for office hours on Knet.

New book display: LGBTQ History Month 🏳️‍🌈

Starting on October 3, we'll have a new book display in the Library celebrating LGBTQ History Month. LGBTQ History Month has been observed annually in October since 1994. It coincides with National Coming Out Day on October 11, and the anniversary of the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on October 14, 1979.

In the display, you'll find contemporary histories (and related commentaries) of LGBTQ identities, experiences, and activism, primarily focused on the United States with a few titles focused beyond. You'll also find a selection of texts that have played key roles in shaping queer theory and studies as we know the fields today.

Explore the display in person starting October 3 or online right now!

Resource highlight: Gallup Analytics & microdata 🐎

If public opinion is relevant to your research or coursework, then Gallup Analytics is the resource for you! Gallup Analytics measures public opinion in the U.S. and worldwide on political, social, and economic issues. Harvard Library provides mediated access to the following resources:

Gallup World Poll - includes data from 168 countries from 2006 through 2021.
U.S. Daily Poll - covers the U.S and subareas from 2009 through 2019.
Gallup Poll Social Series (GPSS) - set of 12 public opinion surveys, each on a different topic and administered during the same month every year.
COVID-19 Panel Microdata - random samples (first daily, then monthly) of U.S. adults starting in March 2020.
Race Relations Survey - conducted in November 2018.
Confidence in Institutions Survey - data spans 1973 through 2021 and measures confidence levels in several U.S. institutions including Congress, the Presidency, the Supreme Court, the police and more.

To access these resources, follow the instructions in our Public Opinion Sources guide. Email James Adams, Manager of Research & Data Services, with questions.