How do I search for specific variables?

All NACJD studies that are available for online data analysis can also be searched at the variable level. While the main NACJD search engine searches titles, principal investigators, and study descriptions, the variable-level search capability also searches variable labels, value labels, and question text.

Note: The variable-level search capability is currently only available for studies in the online data analysis system (DAS).

• Browse NACJD studies in the online data analysis system

• Browse all ICPSR studies in the online data analysis system

• Learn more about the online data analysis system

To perform a variable-level search, go to the Online Data Analysis web page and scroll down to "Variable-Level Searching."

Enter a search term or terms in the search box. Then choose whether to search only NACJD studies or all ICPSR studies in the online data analysis system. If you are interested in a criminal justice topic, we suggest that you first limit your search to only NACJD studies. This will give you a more manageable list of results. If you do not find what you are looking for, you can repeat the search using all ICPSR studies. The example below searches for variables containing the word "stalking."

The first set of results lists all of the data collections that contain the word stalking. From this results page you can choose to list matching variables, read the study descriptions, perform online analyses, or download the data collection.

To view the variables matching your search term in a particular data collection, select the "List matching variables" link under the data collection title.

The next search results page will list the variable name and variable label of each variable in that particular data collection that contains your search term.

When you click on a variable label, you will be taken to the online data analysis codebook for that study. This will provide you with the question text for the variable of interest as well as frequencies and some descriptive statistics.

If you are not sure which study you would like to browse, you can also choose to list all of the variables with your search term in all studies by selecting the "Find matching variables in all studies" link at the bottom of the search results page.

The results obtained from this search option can be rather long.

If you choose to enter multiple search terms in the variable-level search box, do not use quotation marks because they will be interpreted literally. You also do not need to enter "or" or "and" in the search box, since these options will be presented to you later in the search process. Simply enter the search terms in the search box. The example below performs a search on the words "intimate" or "partner."

Once again, the first set of results lists all of the data collections that contain the words "intimate" or "partner." From this results page you can choose to list matching variables, read the study descriptions, perform online analyses, or download the data collection.

When you select the "List matching variables" option, you will first see the search results from an "or" search. In this example, the results searched for "intimate" or "partner."

However, the top of the search results page give you the option to "Narrow results with an AND search."

All of the variables listed in this results list contain both "intimate" and "partner."

Once you have found variables of interest, you can use your web browser's "back" button to return to the list of studies where you can choose to analyze the data online or download the data collection.