Software Reviews : State and Regional Indicators Archive,dBASEIII Version State Data System/Multivariate,IBM Version 2.4 Reviewed by Edward Brent,University of Missouri—Columbia Publisher: Institute for Information Studies,2704 Brown Street,Philadelphia,PA 19130 (telephone: [phone]) Year of Publication: Not indicated in documentation Materials: Two disks,approximately 20 loose pages of documentation from dot-matrix printer Price: STATE AND REGIONAL INDICATOR ARCHIVE file,$25;STATE DATA SYSTEM,$20;"CONVERT.PRG" dBASE III utility program,$10;STATE DATA SYSTEM/MULTIVARIATE,(add $20) Machine Specificity: All programs and data files reviewed can run on the IBM PC and compatibles or the Apple II series. The database is available in dBASE ii and dBASE III versions,and the database is also available for microcomputers using the CP/M operating system. System Requirements: The IBM versions were examined. The IBM version requires a single floppy disk and color graphics adapter and monitor. No memory requirements were indicated in the documentation. Printers supported include the Epson,IBM,NEC 8023,and C. Itoh. Effectiveness: Good User-Friendliness: Fair Documentation: Poor

Abstract

Summary: This data set, file management program, and utility for converting files together provide a relatively inexpensive resource for instructors to use in social science courses to provide summaries of interesting data about the 50 states. It is a good concept and has a fairly reasonable price, but suffers from a few simple shortcomings which should be easily corrected.