I am doing a project for a class where I am trying to look at the rate of change of business majors in New York from 2013-2017. I am trying to select the data for this problem, but everytime I do it comes out with data that is not readable and does not help me with my problem. What data should I be selecting for this?
It sounds like you are referring to your recent data extracts from IPUMS USA. I just looked into your account and was successfully able to download and load your data into Stata. Although I can’t be sure what is causing the problem, it sounds like you might not be properly decompressing (e.g., unzipping) the compressed data file. If you are using a Windows machine, we tend to recommend 7zip as a decompression software. Here are some detailed instructions for how to download and load IPUMS data into your preferred statistical software. Additionally, this page includes several links to video tutorials that may be helpful.