Library Liaison
Best Bet Data Sources
Search for Data Sets
- Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)US and international census and health microdata, SPSS/SAS/STATA downloads.
- Social Explorer1790 - present. A premier U.S. demographics website with online tools help you visually analyze and understand the demography of the United States through the use of interactive maps and data reports. SPSS/SAS/STATA/Excel/CSV downloads.
- PolicyMap This link opens in a new windowEasy-to-use online mapping with data on demographics, real estate, health, jobs and more in communities across the US.
- ICPSRThe Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research is located at the University of Michigan. Look a "Browse by Thematic Collection" to see the partners of the ICPSR.
- World Bank DataRecognizing that transparency and accountability are essential to development, the World Bank Group provides free access to its comprehensive set of data on living standards around the globe--some 2,000 indicators, including hundreds that go back 50 years. The data is available in Arabic, French, and Spanish in addition to English.
- Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and iPOLL This link opens in a new windowCoverage: 1930-present. 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. Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented.
Terms of use
Search for Data Repositories and Data Sources
- Registry of Research Data RepositoriesProduct of network including US and European universities.
- Data-PassFrom the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences, a shared catalog to look at holdings of Data-Pass partners.
- Google Dataset SearchA developing tool that will search datasets using Google Search.
Data tips
- Be realistic in what you expect to find.
- Read any methodological or technical documentation and note the method by which the data have been gathered.
- If the data have been aggregated, identify the original sources.
- Match variables closely in time.
Data at Colgate
- Colgate SOAN Student Data RepositoryThis contains data from Colgate SOAN senior seminar projects. The project descriptions are public, but you must contact Chris Henke in SOAN, or Mark Sandford in the Libraries for access to the projects' data.
- Colgate GIS Data SourcesA guide for GEOG 245 originally created by Daisaku Yamamoto and maintained by Myongsun Kong.
- Upstate InstituteColgate faculty and students do local research in cooperation with community partners. Data from many of these projects may be obtained by contacting the community partner.
- Upstate Institute in Digital CommonsUpstate Institute research reports available in Colgate's Digital Commons.
Data Citation
If you use data collected by another person or organization, it is important that you cite your source. Creators of datasets should receive the same credit as creators of any other intellectual property. Here are some guides to data citation.
- ICPSR Quick Guide to Data CitationA short overview of the approach recommended by the ICPSR.
- How to Cite DatasetsA longer and more compete guide from the UK Data Curation Centre.