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2AF Secondary Analysis File:

"US Attitudes Towards Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research"

MDR Evans and Jonathan Kelley.
Nature Biotechnology (June 2011. 29(6):484-488 )

1. TEXT

For the text of the article, see the June, 2011 issue of Nature Biotechnology and the article's web supplement available there. We will put the text on line later, but for now please see the journal.

2. RAW DATA -- data file IsssUSA_Extract_... and codebook

Data are from our survey "Attitudes toward Stem Cell Research 5" conducted in the US by the International Survey Center in May, 2009 with 2295 cases. The sample is national and representative of US adults, ages 18 and older. It is based on an internet panel provided by the well regarded private firm Survey Sampling International. Recent US experience suggests that high quality internet based samples of this sort are a very effective method of assessing public opinion. Where the questions are comparable, results from our survey show frequency distributions and correlations very similar to those from other representative national samples in the US and Australia in recent years.

Codebook. Get the Codebook [here (in Microsoft Word)].

Getting the raw data. Available here is a subset of the data, including all the variables used in the paper and some others that might offer interesting new analyses. Get this subset of the data here [get raw data in Stata format ].  Alternatively, the data are available as an SPSS Portable file [get raw data in SPSS Portable format].

• If you only want to use the variables in our analysis and the additional ones we selected, we recommend that you not use these raw data set but instead use the 'analytic data set' described below -- that will be easier to use.

3. CONSTRUCTION OF VARIABLES -- Stata command file #1 "Stata1_RawToAnaVars..."  [get command file #1 (in Microsoft Word)]

Details on the Stata command file:

• (1) This file begins with the raw data from Section 2. The variables needed, together with some others that might allow new analyses on related topics are all in the data file. This command file makes all the variables used in our analysis. It would be easy to extend this to prepare other variables for analysis.

• (2) The variables used in our Nature Biotechnology paper are then saved in a work file (described below in Section #4). That file would be a convenient starting place for further analyses on the issues raised in the paper, or for analyses on a number of related topics.

• (3) A note on style: We have heavily commented the Stata command file for clarity. It should run 'out of the box' in Stata 10 or Stata 11 (and probably other versions) after you change the "use..." statement to reflect where you have put the data files on your computer.

• (4) Request: We have tried to be very careful to catch programming errors, but there is still a real risk of error in any large program. If you find any errors, please let us know.

  (5) E-mail: kelley@international-survey.org 

Conditions of use: Permission to use this Stata command file, and the data file it creates, for non-commercial purposes is freely granted, PROVIDED that use is acknowledged by a bibliographic citation to our Nature Biotechnology article.

The command file is (c) Copyright 1999-2011 by Jonathan Kelley and MDR Evans

4. ANALYTIC DATA FILE -- data file IsssUSA2009_StemCells5_...

What is the 'analytic' data file? The first command file (Stata file #1 in Section #3) defines all the required variables (as described above). Those variables, together with the original raw (unrecorded) variables, make up what we have called the 'analytic file'.

• It contains all the variables needed to replicate our Nature Biotechnology analysis (our analysis commands are all in the file, so you can see exactly what we have done). It includes a number of other variables besides.

What is the 'analytic' data file good for?

• Replication. The analytic file allows easy replication or revision of our analysis. All the variables needed are there, in a form ready for analysis, and you have only to specify the new analyses you want.
• Extension. The analytic file also allows convenient extension of the analysis we have done -- for example to extend the analysis by running it separately for men and women, or for old and young, or for well-educated and poorly educated.
• New analyses. The analytic file may also be useful for quite different analyses -- for example, on who Americans feel has moral authority on stem cell issues.

Get the 'analytic' data file: Download the data in Stata format [here as Stata]. Alternatively, download it as an SPSS Portable file [here as SPSS].

Conditions of use: Permission to use these data for non-commercial purposes is freely granted, PROVIDED that use is acknowledged by a bibliographic citation to our Nature Biotechnology article.

The analytic variables in this file are (c) Copyright 1999-2011 by Jonathan Kelley and MDR Evans.

5. MAIN ANALYSES -- Stata command file #2 "Stata2_Analysis_..."  [get command file #2 (in Microsoft Word)]

Complete details on the analyses in our Nature Biotechnology article are available in this command file. It uses the Analytic Data File from Section #4 just above. It should run in Stata 'right out of the box'.

6. SEM CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSES

The confirmatory factor analysis was done in Amos7. The command file is [here (in Microsoft Word)] and its [data file here (an SPSS save file)].

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