Sociology: Data

This list is not comprehensive—there are myriad sources of data you can get through your Berkeley affiliation as well as open data, government and otherwise!

As you look for a dataset to use, be sure to check out the UC Berkeley Library’s research guides, in particular Getting Started with the US Census, US Data and Statistical Sources, and GIS (Geographic Information Systems), for more in-depth information.  You can also ask your librarian!

General data resources:

• Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research  The place to start, ICPSR is the largest social science data archive in the US.  This consortium (of which Berkeley is a member) acquires and preserves social science data from 130 countries. Includes survey data, census records, election returns, economic data, and legislative records. Has some excellent help pages and tutorials, and its staff will consult with users.
• The General Social Survey  presents US opinion since 1972 and can be analyzed online and The World Values Survey  lets you explore human beliefs and values in 100 countries, online.
• The UN Population Division has datasets on Fertility and Contraception, Marriage and Divorce, Cross-country migration and rural-to-urban migration.
• Harvard Dataverse.  A Dataverse is an open source web application to share, preserve, cite, explore and analyze research data. Harvard's is the first and sort of like "dataverse central," with thousands of data sets across all academic fields but primarily in the social sciences.

US Census Data:

• American Factfinder  and Data.Census.Gov   Download US Census Bureau data from the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey, the Economic Census, and more.
• Social Explorer Data and interactive thematic maps from the U.S. Census from 1790-present
• National Historical Geographic Information System contains summary tables and time series of population, housing, agriculture, and economic data, along with GIS-compatible boundary files, for years from 1790 through the present and for all levels of U.S. census geography
• Neighborhood Change Database 

Statistics (aggregated, analyzed, and summarized data):

• Statistical Abstract of the United States (ProQuest) A comprehensive collection of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States, 1878 to present.
• Statista  has statistics on many topics in many countries, in an easy-to-use interface
• Statistical Abstracts of the World  has health, population, and culture stats for many countries.
• Data Planet  contains a wide variety of economic, social, political, and marketing indicators statistics. It allows for customization of the data by selecting subjects, and the ability to view your data in side-by-side tables, charts and maps. Also available to search using a ready reference interface..
• World Development Indicators  has population, birth and death, and fertility statistics for 207 countries

You have the data; now, how do you analyze it?  Here are some resources for assistance:

• Trainings from Berkeley’s own D-Lab
• Assistance from ICPSR: Getting Help with Data, and Resources for Students
• SAGE Research Methods Online books, videos, reference, and project planning resources
• Encyclopedia of Social Measurement
• Wiley Stats Ref for background information on statistics topics
• Berkeley library guide: Text Mining and Computational Text Analysis
• Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA). Program for easy web-based analysis of survey data.

• D-Lab

  Supports Berkeley faculty, staff, and graduate students with research in data intensive social science.
• Dryad

  Dash is a simple self-service tool for researchers to use in publishing their datasets. It provides tools for the effective publication of and access to research data.
• Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF)

  Provides leadership and training across a broad array of integrated mapping technologies on campus.
• Library GIS Services

  Geographic information system (GIS) software and data support. GIS datasets for areas around the world, with an emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area and northern California.
• Research Data Management

  A UC Berkeley guide and consulting service for research data management issues.
• Statistics Department Consulting Services

  A service in which advanced graduate students, under faculty supervision, are available to consult during specified hours in the Fall and Spring semesters.

See researchdata.berkeley.edu for more information.