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Frequently Used Tools:


Data Sources

Many studies exist for which machine-readable data are available for secondary data analysis.

  • Producers/distributors/sponsors of these studies include U.S. federal statistical agencies, nonprofit organizations and foundations, research centers, and individual researchers.

  • Many of the data are freely available to anyone, and some are available to UT faculty, staff, and students through memberships, subscriptions, and/or purchases.

  • While data in an electronic format are usually desirable when doing secondary data analysis, it may be necessary to find data in print sources.

The list of data resources below is by no means comprehensive. It is an attempt to link users with commonly used and readily available data from a variety of sources. If you do not find what you need, feel free to contact the Data Services Librarian.

Data Archives

Broad-based Archives

  • Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

    • One of our major sources of data. The data holdings cover a broad range of disciplines, including criminal justice, demography, economics, education, foreign policy, gerontology, law, political science, public health, and sociology. Resources are obtained from government, academic, and private organizations throughout the world. Visit the ICPSR information page to learn more about access at UT Knoxville.

  • Social Science Electronic Data Library (SSEDL)

    • A health, social, and behavioral science data resource consisting of data sets from more than 250 different studies in eight topically-focused collections: Adolescent Pregnancy and Pregnancy Prevention; Aging; AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases; American Families; Child Well-Being and Poverty; Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Disability; and Maternal Drug Abuse.

Subject-Oriented Archives

  • The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)

    • Provides access to high quality data on American and international religion. Online features include generating national profiles, maps, church membership overviews, denominational heritage trees, tables, charts, and other summary reports. Over 350 data files are available for online preview and most can be downloaded for additional research.

  • Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA)

    • A digital archive of policy-relevant data on the arts and cultural policy in the United States. CPANDA acquires, archives, documents, and preserves high quality data sets on key topics in arts and cultural policy, and makes them available in a user-friendly format.

Census

  • U.S. Census Bureau

  • American FactFinder

    • Provides quick and easy access to population, housing, economic, and geographic data from the Decennial Census, Economic Census, and American Community Survey.

  • Historical Census Data

    • Provides scanned images of some original decennial census publications. Not all years are available yet.

  • Selected Historical Census Data (Census Bureau)

  • Historical Census Data Browser (1790-1960) (University of Virginia)

  • Census 2000 at ICPSR

    • Has links to the latest Census data releases from ICPSR as well as information on aggregate data and microdata, descriptions of training opportunities, announcements concerning Census 2000, and links to other Census sites.

  • Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB), from Geolytics

    • Facilitates comparisons of neighborhood-level data from the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 decennial censuses. The data are on a CD-ROM in the Hodges Periodicals, Documents, and Microforms room with call number HA181.C462, and must be used on the "govstand" computer.

  • 1990 Long Form in 2000 Boundaries CD-ROM (HA201 1990.C465 2004) and 1980 Long Form in 2000 Boundaries CD-ROM (HA201 1980.C37 2004) from Geolytics facilitate comparisons between 2000 and 1990 or 1980, respectively. Must be used on the "govstand" computer.

International Data

Online Databases

  • China Data Online

    • A collection of statistics about China from various yearbooks and sources.

  • Global Development Finance (GDF)

    • From the World Bank, provides access to more than 200 debt and financial flows indicators for the 135 countries that report public and publicly-guaranteed debt to the World Bank Debtor Reporting System. These data run from 1970 to 2014, where available.

  • UNdata

    • Provides access to a wide range of statistics from throughout the United Nations system, with some series going back to 1948.

  • World Development Indicators (WDI)

    • From the World Bank, provides hundreds of time series indicators covering people, environment, economy, and states and markets, for more than 200 countries. Coverage starts with 1960. WDI is also available on two CD-ROMs in the Hodges Periodicals, Documents, and Microforms room with call number HC59.15.W657, (the CD must be used on the "govstand" computer). The 2001 and 2004 CD-ROMs cover 1960-1999 and 1960-2002, respectively.

  • ICPSR

    • Is also a source of data from all over the world.

CD-ROM Databases

  • UNIDO INDSTAT3 2006 provides access to UNIDO's industrial statistics database at the 3-digit level of Revision 2 of the ISIC code. It includes data for 29 industries in the manufacuring sector, from 1963 onward. INDSTAT3 is on a CD-ROM in the Periodicals, Documents, and Microforms room with call number HD2329.U55, and must be used on the "govstand" computer.

  • Cross-National Time Series (CNTS) contains statistical information for more than 250 countries, with data ranging from 1815 to the present. More than 150 variables provide information about such topics as population, revenue and expenditures, trade, energy production and consumption, labor force, military size, transportation, communications, education, domestic conflict, elections and the legislative process, and income and currency. CNTS is on a CD-ROM in the Hodges Periodicals, Documents, and Microforms room with call number JF51.B36, and must be used on the "govstand" computer.

Public Opinion Data


Page last updated August 28, 2009.

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