Some old data sets from ICPSR may be in a format called "Osiris". Osiris was a software package developed in the 1960s and 1970s at the Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan. Each Osiris dataset has two parts: the data file and the dictionary file with information about the variables in the data file.

You can convert Orisis data and dictionary files to another, more modern format with Stat/Transfer. The file extensions must be ".dat" for the data and either ".dct" or ".dict" for the dictionary file. The filenames of the data and dictionary files must be the same. If your files don't conform to these rules, just rename them.

You only need to use the dictionary file name in the Stat/transfer command, i.e., in the PC version, the ".dict" file is the one to be in the "File Specification" box. The data file that goes with the ".dict" file should be in the same folder.

Here is an example of the command using the cunix version of Stat/Transfer:

   st> copy 07656-0001.dict ny_drug73.dta

The data file that goes with the ".dict" file is "07656-0001.dat" and is in the same cunix directory.

Note for SAS users: you must change the filename of the output file to begin with a letter. SAS doesn't permit filenames that begin with a number. It doesn't like minus signs, either, so, for example, use d07656_0001.sas7bdat, not 07656-0001.sas7bdat.