Research Data Access Resources: General Data Sources

The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

The University of Wisconsin's Data and Information Services Center's Internet Crossroads contains over 950 annotated links to data-related resources on the Internet.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.

USITC DataWeb provides U.S. merchandise trade and tariff data in a user friendly web interface. Trade data for 1989 to the present are available on a monthly, quarterly, annual, or year-to-date basis and can be retrieved using a sophisticated querying tool with features such as user defined country and commodity groups.

The Pew Research Center for The People & The Press offers free access (with registration) to its data archive. Datasets are currently available dating back to January 1997.Datasets include: Hispanic Center; Global Attitudes Project; Pew Internet & American Life; Social & Demographic Trends; and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Nexis Uni is an easy-to-use academic search engine. It delivers relevant content that makes scholarly research more efficient, and it provides personalization, discovery, and collaboration features that students and university faculty want in a student research tool.

Choose among over 70,000 free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for you to enjoy.

Almost all agencies of the United States Government provide access to related data at their agency websites. If an agency is not listed on this FedStats Webpage, you can do a Google search for the agency and 'data' or 'statistics.'

Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. The easy-to-use Web interface lets users create maps and reports to better illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change.

The GSS 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 GSS takes the pulse of America, and is a unique and valuable resource.

The series is designed to enable a crossnational comparison of values and norms on a wide variety of topics and to monitor changes in values and attitudes across the globe. A variety of questions on religion and morality were included. Data is currently available at ICPSR for 1981-1984, 1990-1993, 1995-1997, and 1999-2004.

contains population panel data from Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, Switzerland and the United States. Each of these countries undertakes a longitudinal household economic survey. The data are made equivalent, providing a reference dataset which cross-links each of the individual studies and allowing cross-national comparisons. The CNEF is managed by the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University. Data Services must be contacted to use the data.

The European Social Survey (the ESS) is a biennial multi-country survey covering over 30 nations. The project is funded jointly by the European Commission, the European Science Foundation and academic funding bodies in each participating country, and is designed and carried out to exceptionally high standards. The project is directed by a Central Co-ordinating Team led by Roger Jowell at the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys, City University, London.

This LibGuide provides access to NUL resources as well as online resources for statistical data on economics, education, health, environment, immigration and a host of other topics.

The ISSP is a continuing annual programme of cross-national collaboration on surveys covering topics important for social science research

"LIS is a data archive and research center dedicated to cross-national analysis. Our mission is to enable, facilitate, promote, and conduct cross-national comparative research on socio-economic outcomes and on the institutional factors that shape those outcomes."

OECD.Stat includes data and metadata for OECD countries and selected non-member economies.

From the U.S. Census Bureau

The World Bank's Open Data initiative is intended to provide all users with access to World Bank data. The data catalog is a listing of available World Bank datasets, including databases, pre-formatted tables and reports.

Most of the datasets in the DSDR archive are raw data from surveys, censuses, and administrative records. Topic areas include:
* Fertility
* Mortality
* Health
* Family and Household Structure
* Migration and Immigration
* Population Characteristics
* Population Growth and Decline

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) maintains and provides access to thousands of social science datasets for research and instruction. This is a first place to start in looking for social science data for secondary analysis.

"Serve(s) as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy." Includes the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey the Economic Census, and more.

The Home of the U.S. Government's Open Data:
Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more.