Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is a membership-based organization providing access to the world's largest archive of research and instructional data for the social sciences. ICPSR is one of the most important sources of numeric data files available to researchers at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) who are involved in secondary research.
The data holdings cover a broad range of disciplines, including criminal justice, demography, economics, education, foreign policy, gerontology, history, law, political science, public health, and sociology. Resources are obtained from government, academic, and private organizations throughout the world. Some of the major data resources available from ICPSR are American National Election Studies, General Social Surveys, National Health Surveys, Current Population Surveys, U.S. Decennial Census, World Values Surveys, Eurobarometers, and various public opinion surveys.
The ICPSR website has a wealth of information about the studies in the data archive. You can search the entire archive or limit your search to one of five special topical archives: aging, criminal justice, education, health and medical care, and substance abuse and mental health. Each study has a codebook (searchable online), which provides critical information about the study and its data files, including sampling methodology, questions asked, and data layout. The ICPSR Direct service allows you to download ICPSR files directly to your computer (see instructions).
In addition to providing access to data, ICPSR offers its Summer Program in Quantitative Methods. Held each year from May through August, the program presents classes and workshops ranging from a few days to several weeks in research design, statistics, data analysis, and social methodology. For information about course offerings, fees, and registration, see http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/sumprog/.
If you would like additional information about ICPSR or any other data resources, please contact the Social Science Data Services Librarian, Eleanor Read.
4 April 2003
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