Elevate your computing and data-related skills through workshop sessions on data processing, qualitative analysis, and qualitative methods.
Spring 2026 workshop sessions will cover data processing and qualitative analysis topics.
CCSS workshops are held in person at 291 Clark Hall and via Zoom (sent after registering). All workshops are open to the Cornell community. We encourage attending in person for the best learning experience. In-person attendees are provided CCSS swag and a post-workshop Q&A session. Get Directions to 291 Clark Hall.
View Fall 2025 workshop recordings here. View Spring 2025 workshop recordings here.
Message socialsciences@cornell.edu for workshop-related questions.
Research Opportunities at the Cornell FSRDC | Jan 27 | 3:30pm - 4:45pm
Description:
The Cornell Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC) provides access to confidential federal data from several agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau. The Cornell FSRDC administrator, Nichole Szembrot, will give an overview of the available data and proposal process. This workshop is recommended for faculty and Ph.D. students.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the advantages of working with confidential data compared to public-use data
- Become familiar with the data available through the Cornell FSRDC
- Understand the process of applying for access to confidential data
Pre requisites:
None
Helpful Information
This workshop will have a 15-30 minute Q&A session afterwards where in-person attendees can ask the instructor questions and get personalized assistance with their research.
Instructor: Nichole Szembrot
Introduction to APIs | Jan 29 | 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Description:
This workshop is associated with the Data Den Workshop Series in Mann Library. Fall 2025 description about Data Den Workshop Series
This workshop will be held in Mann Library 102 Conference Room
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are tools that make it possible to pull information from services like Google and OpenAI without having to search manually. In this beginner-friendly workshop, you’ll learn how to use the Google Cloud and OpenAI APIs to run automated Google searches, send questions to tools like ChatGPT, collect the results, and organize them into a usable dataset. Familiarity with Python is encouraged but not required, and all code will be provided.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand what APIs are and how they work
- Create accounts and use API keys
- Make API requests in Python and store the responses
- Know when to use APIs instead of web scraping
Pre requisites:
Helpful Information:
Instructor: Jacob Grippin
Introduction to Web Scraping in R | Feb 9 | 12:00pm - 1:15pm
Description:
Web scraping is the process of extracting text and numeric data from a webpage using statistical software applications like R. Join this workshop to discover how R makes it easy to extract the data you need from a webpage and store it in a data frame for further analysis. We recommend attendees arrive with R (windows, mac) and RStudio installed on their laptops and a basic understanding of how to run R code and open programming files.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify and extract HTML data from a webpage with the inspect feature.
- Use R’s Rvest package to extract data and store it in a data frame.
- Demonstrate how R’s RSelenium package allows for advanced data extraction using website interactions such as mouse clicks, filling out forms, etc.
- Understand HTML format, including tags, attributes, etc.
- Distinguish between extracting data through web scraping vs APIs.
Pre requisites:
- Install R (windows, mac)
- Install RStudio
- Basics of R (Open R File, Run code in RStudio)
Helpful Information:
- How to Install and load packages
- Basics of R
- HTML tags, HTML attributes, HTML tags vs elements vs attributes, HTML attributes list
- R and other similar software are available for free through CCSS Cloud Computing Accounts. Request a CCSS Cloud Computing account by filling out this form.
This workshop will have a 15-30 minute Q&A session afterwards where in-person attendees can ask the instructor questions and get personalized assistance with their research.
Instructor: Jacob Grippin
Introduction to Web Scraping in Python | Feb 10 | 12:00pm - 1:15pm
Description:
Web scraping is the process of extracting text and numeric data from a webpage using software. Join this workshop to discover how Python, the most popular software for web scraping, makes it easy to extract the data you need from a webpage and store it in a data frame for further analysis. We recommend attendees arrive with a basic understanding of how to run Python code to visualize data.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify and extract HTML data from a webpage with the inspect feature.
- Use Python’s BeautifulSoup library to extract data and store it in a data frame.
- Demonstrate how Python’s Selenium package allows for advanced data extraction using website interactions such as mouse clicks, filling out forms, etc.
- Understand HTML format, including tags, attributes, etc.
- Distinguish between extracting data through web scraping vs APIs.
Pre requisites:
Python basics. (how to run code using Google Colab)
Helpful Information:
- Python Google Colab. Allows users to run Python code without any setup required.
- Python web scraping packages (BeautifulSoup, Selenium)
- Python and other similar software are available for free through CCSS Cloud Computing Accounts. Request a CCSS Cloud Computing account by filling out this form.
This workshop will have a 15-30 minute Q&A session afterwards where in-person attendees can ask the instructor questions and get personalized assistance with their research.
Instructor: Jacob Grippin
Setting Up Selenium for Web Scraping in Python or R | Mar 3 | 12:00pm - 12:50pm
Description:
Selenium is a tool that enables researchers to perform advanced web scraping tasks through an automated web browser. This session will guide you through installing and configuring all required components for using Selenium in Python or R and launching your first automated browser session. No web scraping experience is required.
Learning Objectives:
- Install and configure required software (Java, Google Chrome, ChromeDriver)
- Launch a Selenium-controlled Chrome browser in Python or R
- Understand key advantages of using Selenium for web scraping
- Use Selenium to automate browser interactions such as clicking, typing, filling out forms, etc.
Pre requisites:
- Python or R installed
- R:
- Install R (windows, mac)
- Install RStudio
- Python:
- Install VSCode
Helpful Information:
This workshop will have a 15-30 minute Q&A session afterwards where in-person attendees can ask the instructor questions and get personalized assistance with their research.
Instructor: Jacob Grippin
Coding and Summarizing Qualitative Data with MaxQDA | Feb 3 | 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Description:
MaxQDA is a popular qualitative analysis software. This workshop covers importing qualitative data files into MaxQDA and using the software to identify themes and trends within text. It will also take participants through the steps of using MaxQDA’s AI features to summarize and explore their qualitative data materials. We recommend attendees arrive with MaxQDA installed on their laptops.
Learning Objectives:
- Explore the MaxQDA interface.
- Import qualitative files including interview transcripts, focus groups, and video and audio recordings into MaxQDA.
- Create and apply codes in MaxQDA to identify themes and trends.
- Generate reports for specific coded segments.
- Use MaxQDA’s AI Assist to summarize coded segments and documents, identify themes, and utilize suggested codes.
- Properly save and back up MaxQDA projects.
Pre requisites:
Make sure you have access to MaxQDA on your computer:
Install MaxQDA through the 14 day free trial before the start of the workshop to follow along and use during the session.
MaxQDA and other similar software are available for free through CCSS Cloud Computing Accounts. For extended software use, please request a CCSS Cloud Computing account by filling out this form.
Helpful Information:
This workshop will have a 15-30 minute Q&A session afterwards where in-person attendees can ask the instructor questions and get personalized assistance with their research.
Instructor: Florio Arguillas