Selected Resources for POLS 309 (Survey Research and Political Analysis)
Spring
2005
Emory's Electronic Data Center
General Social Science Data Resources
Domestic and International Polling/Survey Data
Other Survey Data Sources
Non-Survey/Contextual Data
CD-ROM/Non-Web Databases
Emory's Electronic Data Center (217 Woodruff Library)
http://einstein.library.emory.edu - The Data Center home page
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/links.shtml - The Data Freeway, a thematically-organized collection of links to on-line data sources
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/help_index.shtml - Help Pages for databases and data management
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/citation_guide.html - Guide for citation of electronic data sources
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/contact.shtml - Data Center contact information and hours
GENERAL SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA RESOURCES
ICPSR (Inter-University
Consortium for Political and Social Research)
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/
The ICPSR is the largest collection of Social Science Data in the world. Topics included in the archive
include: economics, government, health care, crime, education, etc. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory. The Data Center
also maintains an archive of ready-to-use ICPSR datasets which are accessible via the search engine on the Data
Center home page.
DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL POLLING/SURVEY DATA
Domestic Polling/Survey Data:
American National Election Studies (NES)
http://www.electionstudies.org/
The National Election Studies series is one of the premier sources for data on voting behavior and poltical
attitudes in the post-WWII United States. Upon registering (which is free), users can download data and SAS/SPSS/Stata
program files and documentation for any of the various NES studies. The
SDA Archive at UC-Berkeley also allows
users to access recent versions of the NES and extract particular variables from them for those who have
specific questions in which they are interested.
Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)
http://www.thearda.com/
The ARDA contains many datasets pertaining to religion, including both surveys on religious attitudes and data
on denominations and denomination membership.
Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA)
http://www.cpanda.org/data/
Princeton University's Cultural Policy and the Arts National
Data Archive contains many datasets pertaining to participation in
the arts and to "cultural policy."
General Social Survey (GSS)
http://www.norc.org/projects/General+Social+Survey.htm
The GSS measures public opinion in the United States on a wide variety of topics of interest to social scientists. The survey,
which began in the early 1970's, provides a (nearly) annual perspective on American attitudes toward government, life, race,
religion, and other social issues. The link here is to the GSS homepage within the National Opinion Research Center.
Sites where researchers can extract and download
specific variables of interest are listed here. The
SDA Archive at Berkeley also holds GSS data from 1972 to 2006.
National Election Pool (NEP) 2004 Exit Polls
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/nep2004.shtml
National Election Pool exit polls are available through the
ICPSR, the
Roper Center, and Emory's Electronic Data
Center. The link above provides access to the (even more controversial) election results provided by the NEP for the
2004 election.
Odum Institute Data Archive
http://152.2.32.107/odum/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=7
The Odum Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill has a large catalog of holdings for polling, including surveys from
Louis Harris & Associates. Their
Public Opinion Poll Question
Database allows users to search through the texts
of questions for more refined queries.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
http://people-press.org/
The Pew Research Center is a major center for the study of public opinion and regularly conducts polls (both
at home and abroad) about various social and political topics and contemporary issues. They make many of their
studies available for download here.
Many of the more recent datafiles are in SPSS format. Users are required to register before downloading a
dataset, but registration is free. Users should also check out the resources available via the
Pew Research Center homepage.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/
The Roper Center is one of the country's premier centers for polling data. The
iPOLL interface may be of particular
use because it allows users to search through surveys at the question level. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory.
Voter News Service (VNS) 2000 Exit Polls
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/vns2000.shtml
Voter News Service exit polls are available through the
ICPSR, the
Roper Center, and Emory's Electronic Data
Center. The link above provides access to the (highly controversial) election results provided by the VNS for the
2000 election.
International Polling/Survey Data:
Afrobarometers
http://www.afrobarometer.org/
The Afrobarometers are a series of surveys conducted across a dozen Sub-Saharan African countries with the
intent of gathering data on social and political attitudes towards subjects such as political participation,
national identity, civil society, and other such topics. The series is modelled in part after the Eurobarometer
series (see below). The Data Center has many Afrobarometer data files available
here.
Comparative Study of Electoral Systems
http://www.cses.org
This site contains data and documentation for a cross-national collection of election studies. The CSES
combines microdata on respondents with data at different levels of geography (i.e. data on respondents' electoral
districts and on the political institutions of their countries) and focuses on themes such as how macro-level
variables such as electoral systems affect political attitudes.
Eurobarometer Homepage
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg10/epo/eb.html
Homepage for the Eurobarometer series of European public opinion polls. Many Eurobarometers are also available
from the ICPSR. The
Data Center has an extensive
collection of Eurobarometers, including studies conducted in Central and Eastern European countries. The Central Archive for Empirical Social Research
also has a search engine for locating Eurobarometers that might be applicable for your research; this engine is
located at http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/.
European Social Survey (ESS)
http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/
To quote the website, the ESS is "designed to chart and explain the interaction between Europe's changing
institutions and the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of its diverse populations." The data are
available for both
on-line analysis and direct download into SAS/SPSS/Stata.
International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
http://www.issp.org/
The ISSP is an ongoing effort devoted to cross-national research on social attitudes. In addition to asking
general questions about attitudes towards various social issues, the ISSP series also includes special topic modules
focusing on matters such as national idenitity, the role of government, and gender roles. The Data Center has
many ISSP data files available
here.
Latinobarómetro Data
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/Latinobarometro-Data.shtml
The Latinobarómetro is an annual survey conducted amongst 18 countries in Latin America. The survey, which has been
conducted since 1995, asks respondents about topics such as globalization, democratic governance and political institutions,
"social capital," the environment, and gender issues. The Data Center has microdata files for this survey from 1995 through
2005.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
http://people-press.org/
The Pew Research Center is a major center for the study of public opinion and regularly conducts polls (both
at home and abroad) about various social and political topics and contemporary issues. They make many of their
studies available for download here.
Many of the more recent datafiles are in SPSS format. Users are required to register before downloading a
dataset, but registration is free. Users should also check out the resources available via the
Pew Research Center homepage.
World Values Surveys Series
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/
The World Values Survey is "a worldwide investigation of sociocultural and political change. It is conducted by a
network of social scientist at leading universities all around world. The survey is performed on nationally
representative samples in almost 80 societies on all six inhabited continents." It is an excellent source for
cross-national survey data and is a widely-referenced resource. The Data Center has all four "waves" of the World
Values Survey available here.
OTHER SURVEY DATA SOURCES
Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
http://www.measuredhs.com/
The DHS is a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development to promote better
gathering of survey data on health issues pertaining to family life and reproductive health in developing
countries. Many of the surveys that DHS has conducted are available
on-line. Note that registration
and application are required to access data files.
National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS)
http://www.bls.gov/nls/home.htm
The National Longitudinal Surveys series contain survey data on the labor-market experiences and "significant life
events" of several different co-horts of men and women. The data, documentation, and an extraction program are
available for downloading. Be aware that some of the variables in the surveys require approval from the BLS for
access and that the surveys are very complex. The ICPSR also has some NLS surveys available
here.
Social Science Electronic Data Library (SSEDL)
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/emory?id=emory&db=SSEDL
The Social Science Electronic Data Library is an archive of over 300 survey datasets covering a variety of topic
areas, including Adolescent Pregnancy, Aging, AIDS/STD's, the American Family, Disability in the US, and Maternal
Drug Abuse. The archive is well-indexed and allows variable-level searches. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory. Many of the
older studies are also available on CD-ROM's in the Data Center.
NON-SURVEY/CONTEXTUAL DATA
American Fact Finder
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
The American Fact Finder is an excellent starting point for data from the 1990 and 2000 versions of the U.S.
Census.
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
http://www.bea.gov/
The BEA is an excellent source for economic data at both the national and subnational (state/local) level.
Database of Political Institutions
http://go.worldbank.org/2EAGGLRZ40
This database was put together in part by Phillip Keefer at the World Bank and provides data on the political
institutions and structures of different countries in the world from 1975 to 2006. Additional documentation are also available
here. Please note the authors' preferred
format for citing their data.
World Development Indicators (World Bank)
http://devdata.worldbank.org/dataonline/
The World Development Indicators Website provides convenient access to nearly 600 indicators on over
200 countries. Data is generally available from 1960 forward. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory. There is also a CD
version of the WDI available in the Data Center.
CD-ROM/NON-WEB DATABASES
DataFerrett
The DataFerrett is an excellent
tool for creating subsets of data from the
Current Population Surveys. The Ferrett also allows for easy access to data from series such as the
Behavior Risk Factor Survey Series and the Survey of Income and Program Participation. The files that the Ferrett
creates can be exported into SAS, SPSS, or Stata.
National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle 6, 2002 (NSFG)
The NSFG is an on-going survey series focusing on matters of family life/history and reproductive health. The
topics covered include schooling, family background, marriage histories, contraceptive use, and pregnancy outcomes,
with addtional variables for religion, race/ethnicity, and employment.
The EDC has the latest version of the NSFG availabe on CD with the data ready for use in SAS, SPSS, or Stata
formats. You can read more about the NSFG here.
Earlier versions of the SSEDL are accessible via the Social Science Electronic Data Library (see above).
A complete list of the Data Center's non-web databases is available here. The databases are accessible via the Data Center's public workstations.
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