SOC 201: Introductory Sociology
Key Sources
- Statistical Abstract of the U.S. [1878 - current edition] This link opens in a new windowAuthoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States
- ICPSR [Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research]Established in 1962, ICPSR is the world's largest archive of digital social science data. We acquire, preserve, and distribute original research data and provide training in its analysis.
Public Opinion Polls
- Pew Research CenterPew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world by conducting public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
- Polling the Nations This link opens in a new windowAn online database of public opinion polls containing the full text of 600,000+ questions and responses, from 18,000+ surveys and 1,700+ polling organizations, conducted from 1986 through the present in the United States and more than 100 other countries around the world.
- The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [Cornell University]The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research is one of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. The data held by the Roper Center range from the 1930s to the present.
International Data
- Human Development Reports [United Nations]Each year the Human Development Report (HDR) presents a wealth of statistical information on different aspects of human development. All these data are available for download here in several different ways.
- EurostatProcesses and publishes comparable statistical information about EU countries.
- OECD - StatisticsStatistics on developed countries, including data on demography and population, labour, education and training, health, environment, and social protection and wellbeing.
- OECD Better Life IndexAllows the user to compare well-being across countries, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life.
- World Development IndicatorsFrom the World Bank, macro data on economic, social, educational, financial, labor, poverty, environmental, health and other social science indicators for more 150 countries.
General Sources
- ARDA (Association of Religion Data Archives)This data archive is a collection of surveys, polls, & other data on religion, made available online. There are nearly 400 data files included in the ARDA collection.
from Pennsylvania State University - Bureau of Justice Statisticsfrom the U.S. Department of Justice; datasets include Census of Jails, Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies, Survey on Police-Public Contacts, and more.
- Data.govHome of the U.S. government's open data, including over 200,000 datasets from various government agencies, published jointly by OMB, GSA, and the Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives.
- The General Social Survey (GSS)GSS is the most frequently analyzed source of information in the social sciences, apart from the U.S.Census.
from University of Chicago/National Science Foundation - Internet Crossroads in Social Science Datafrom the Data & Information Services Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
- PRB Data Sheets (Population Reference Bureau)This collection includes the PRB's World Population Data Sheet, and other data sets comparing demographic and health indicators by country and region.
from the Population Reference Bureau - U.S. Census DataExplore Census data on various aspects of the United States' people, places, and economy.
from the U.S. Census Bureau - Uniform Crime ReportsTools include: National Incident-Based Reporting System, the National Use-of-Force Data Collection, and the FBI Crime Data Explorer
from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Statista This link opens in a new windowStatista integrates statistical data from over 80,000 topics in areas such as business, education, finance, media, politics, society, and technology. Statista gathers data from over 18,000 sources, including market reports, trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases. The reports, charts, infographics, and statistics found in the database can be downloaded in Excel, PDF, PNG, or PowerPoint formats or embedded in web pages.
- Institution for Social and Policy Studies [Yale University]The overall mission of the ISPS Data Archive is to promote the preservation of data in the social sciences, with an emphasis on data from randomized controlled trials.
- University of Texas Inequality ProjectUTIP is a small research group concerned with measuring and explaining movements of inequality in wages and earnings and patterns of industrial change around the world.
- Social Progress IndexThe Social Progress Index, designed by Michael Porter of Harvard Business School, uses noneconomic measures to gauge the well-being of a country's inhabitants. It consists of 52 indicators, divided into three major categories: basic human needs (shelter, sanitation), foundations of well-being (life-expectancy, school enrollment), and opportunity (tolerance, political rights).
