IMPRESS

IMPRESS (Interdisciplinary Machine Processing for Research and Education in the Social Sciences) is an integrated set of computer programs and social science data sets designed to allow students and faculty who have very little computer expertise to analyze and manipulate social science data in a time-sharing environment. The user of IMPRESS need not know computer programming in order to access the 64 data sets currently on disc in the IMPRESS public library, nor is it necessary to prepare data decks or instruction cards. The user's only task is to type in simple English commands at his console and await the return of the tables, plots, and statistics he has requested. Indeed, even the most naive first-time user of IMPRESS can generally produce some sort of intelligent output within an hour or so of his introduction to the system. This interactive capability means that undergraduates can learn non-trivial social science data analysis at the freshman and sophomore level, and that both faculty and students can regularly do their own quantitative research, and incorporate that research in their courses.