Resources

The Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site to provide easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by more than 70 U.S. Federal agencies for public use.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is the Federal Government's principal vital and health statistics agency.  NCHS is a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  To meet priority data needs for public health, NCHS works closely with other Federal agencies as well as researchers and academic institutions.  NCHS data systems include data on vital events as well as information on health status, lifestyle and exposure to unhealthy influences, the onset and diagnosis of illness and disability, and the use of health care.  These data are used by policy makers in Congress, medical researchers, and others in the health community.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Data Holdings is a division of the U.S. Department of Education.  NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. The Center fulfills a Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education.  In addition, they conduct and publish reports, and review and report on educational activities internationally.

This site, developed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, contains statistical information, allows access to electronic publications and data, and offers general information on the Bureau and its current programs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor organizations.  BLS data must satisfy a number of criteria, including relevance to current social and economic issues, timeliness in reflecting today’s rapidly changing economic conditions, accuracy and consistently high statistical quality, and impartiality in both subject matter and presentation.

The mission of the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) is to facilitate the secondary analysis of research data relevant to the study of child abuse and neglect. By making data available to a larger number of researchers, NDACAN seeks to provide a relatively inexpensive and scientifically productive means toward the exploration of child maltreatment.

The U.S. Census Bureau is thought to be the preeminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data concerning the population and economy of the United States.  The Bureau’s Geography page includes Census Bureau products, a map gallery, a Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA), and Census Bureau employment opportunities.

U.S. Census Data on 100 Largest Cities: 1790-1990  Sponsored by the Population Division of the U.S. Bureau of the Census, this site includes historical information on population figures for the 100 largest U.S. cities from 1790-1990. It also includes data on the land area of these cities from 1910 onward. This collection represents the first time that the populations of the largest urban places at each decennial census from 1790 have been published at a single site.

Located at Queens College, CUNY, The Social Explorer website provides easy access to demographic information about the United States, from 1790 to present. It contains both a free and a subscription edition. Social Explorer was designed by Professor Andrew Beveridge.

The Integrated Public Use Microdata Series was created at the University of Minnesota in October 1997. Directed by Steven Ruggles at the Minnesota Population Center, IPUMS has expanded from being just U.S. Census Data to include ACS and CPS data. There is also an IPUMS international that covers 130 censuses from around the world.

Population Studies Center Data Archive (PSC) at the University of Michigan is one of the oldest population centers in the United States, with a distinguished record in both domestic and international population research.  Established in 1961, the Center has a rich history as the main workplace for an interdisciplinary community of scholars in the field of population studies.  PSC is one of four centers within the Institute for Social Research.

The U.S. Demography Homepage is part of an initiative to identify, document, and provide simple access to demographic information concerning the U.S.  This site consists of a series of cascading hypertext links that provide access to national data resources, on-line supporting documentation (codebooks, data dictionaries, citations), and extraction tools for data access.  Connection to an anonymous ftp service for data file retrieval is also available.  Indexed source documents allow for full or partial text searches.  In addition, this page provides links to numerous web and gophers sites.

The USGenWeb Census Project began in February 1997 with the mission of transcribing all U.S. Federal Censuses. As part of the USGenWeb Project Archives, the Census Project’s goal is to provide free online research data.  All transcriptions are uploaded to the USGenWeb Census Project Archives and the USGenWeb Archives. If searching for already transcribed Census information, the On-Line Inventory of Transcribed Census Links lists completed files by Census Project volunteers.  An inventory of Transcribed Census Links is updated weekly.

Under maintenance by the Census Dissemination Unit, the Census Knowledge Base website contains a wealth of information regarding the UK Census of Population datasets.  This page includes a search function, as well as information on new software and data sets.

The General Social Survey (GSS) conducts basic scientific research on the structure and development of American society with a data-collection program designed to both monitor social change within the United States and to compare the United States to other nations.

The International Social Survey Program (ISSP) is a continuing, annual program of cross-national collaboration. By bringing together pre-existing, social science projects and coordinating research goals, ISSP adds a cross-national perspective to individual national studies.  Over 25 countries are current ISSP members.

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is a longitudinal survey of a representative sample of U.S. individuals and their respective families.  The study has been ongoing since 1968, with data collected annually.  PSID data may be used for cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intergenerational analysis, and for studying both individuals and families.  This site includes a number of resources, including a data center, downloadable datasets, codebooks, and questionnaires.

The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, located at the University of Connecticut, is the largest library of public opinion data in the world. The Center's mission focuses on data preservation, access, education, and research.  Available at this site are over 10,000 survey files from the Roper Center Library, comprehensive resources of U.S. opinion data, and new data releases.

Databank for China Studies (DCS) DCS was established in 1995 to serve scholars of China worldwide by collecting and disseminating computerized social science data on the People's Republic of China. The aim of the site is to promote data-sharing among the academic community.  Currently, DCS has over 20 datasets containing useful socio-economic information on various regions of China. 

The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) is a branch of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. NACJD acquires, archives, processes, and provides access to computer-readable criminal justice data collections for research and instruction. The NACJD website provides downloadable access to over 550 criminal justice data collections free of charge.

This site presents the 26th edition of The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, published in October 1999. Sourcebook  brings together data presented in over 600 tables from more than 100  U.S. sources. Although the publication of Sourcebook is an annual event, its compilation is an ongoing process. As such, updates of tables and new data sources are continually received and prepared for presentation in the next edition. This site will be updated regularly to reflect these new data as they will appear in the next edition, which will be published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the summer of 2000.

The Data and Information Services Center (DISC), is the central repository of data collections used by the social science research community at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  Its mission is to promote academic research by facilitating the use of secondary research materials. Toward this end, the library acquires, preserves, and facilitates access to social science data resources, provides reference and technical services to researchers, and assists in the archiving of locally produced data.

The General Social Survey Resources (GSS), website contains a standard 'core' of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions, plus topics of special interest. Many of the core questions have remained unchanged since 1972 to facilitate time-trend studies as well as replication of earlier findings. The downloadable GSS data from 1972 to 2010 in SPSS and Stata formats and documentation are available from their website. Quick tables are also available from Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) website.

The Government Information Sharing Project was initiated with funding from the U.S. Department of Education and is administered at Oregon State University Libraries.  The Project's goal is to create an easy-to-understand, intuitive interface that nearly anyone can use to access government information. The interface relies on an interactive, graphical format that is both concise and consistent. Care is also taken to provide adequate documentation, metadata, and context-sensitive help to guide the user in accessing and understanding data.

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), located within the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization serving member colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.  ICPSR provides access to the world's largest archive of computerized social science data, offers training facilities for the study of quantitative social analysis techniques, and shares resources for social scientists using advanced computer technologies.