Research Guides: Political Science: Political Science Data

More Statistics Guides

Finding Statistics
Census Research Guide
The census research guide offers more background information on the census and tips for finding data and making maps

Social Science Data Archives

ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) Data Archive This link opens in a new window
Archive of computerized, numeric social science data, including demography, economics, health care, politics, social behavior, and more.

Qualitative Data Repository
QDR curates, stores, preserves, publishes, and enables the download of digital data generated through qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences. The repository develops and disseminates guidance for managing, sharing, citing, and reusing qualitative data, and contributes to the generation of common standards for doing so. QDR’s overarching goals are to make sharing qualitative data customary in the social sciences, to broaden access to social science data, and to strengthen qualitative and multi-method research.

Data on Opinions, Attitudes, Values

American National Election Studies (ANES)
Primary source for public opinion on elections, political participation, characteristics of voters, and for whom they voted. It also provides summary data on social, economic, partisanship, and public opinion, 1948 to present.
General Social Survey
The GSS contains a standard 'core' of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions, plus topics of special interest. Many of the core questions have remained unchanged since 1972 to facilitate time-trend studies as well as replication of earlier findings.
World Values Survey
"World Values Survey (WVS) is a global research project that explores people’s values and beliefs, their stability or change over time and their impact on social and political development of the societies in different countries of the world."

US Statistics

Data.gov
It is US government portal for data including geospatial data. Provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datastes.
Social Explorer
Social Explorer contains data from the first Census in 1790 to the present day. Using their data, the user can generate maps of population or specific demographic variables by location, as well as reports. It is important to remember that it can be difficult to map demographic data over time, since the questions asked and methods used have not remained consistent.
ProQuest Statistical Insight
Formerly called LexisNexis Statistical, ProQuest Statistical Insight indexes and abstracts federal statistical publications since 1974, business and state government publications since 1980, and international agency publications since 1983. Provides links to full text of 15% of federal publications.
Sage Data
Provides access to statistical information produced by U.S. Federal agencies, private companies, and intergovernmental organizations. Create maps and reports from data you select from over 640 datasets. Subjects include health, crime, population, finance, industry, and marketing.
Historical Statistics of the United States
A compendium of statistics from over 1,000 sources. Contains more than 37,000 annual time series of quantitative historical information covering virtually every quantifiable dimension of American history: population, work and welfare, economic structure and performance, governance, and international relations, all from the earliest times to the present. Tables can be downloaded in Excel or CSV format.

Statistics by Region or Country

ProQuest Statistical Insight
Provides general demographic data of federal government, state and local, and international level. Search abstract allows uses to search the abstracts of statistical publications from business and federal and state govrenment. This search engine provides outcomes based on keywords that users input. UM users only.
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Publisher:
ProQuest

Main Users:
Students and faculties of various social science departments.

Contents
**More specific information please see LexisNexis Satistical Insight Guide book :
http://www.lnstatistical.com/help/statistical/LN%20guidebook.pdf

* Source : Three optional abstracts modules titled American Statistics Index (ASI), Statisitical Reference Index (SRI), and Index to International Statistics (IIS) are available.

1) The American Statistics Index (ASI) abstracts and indexes statistical documents produced by the federal governments. (Coverage from 1973 onward)
2) The Statistical reference Index ( SRI) abstracts and indexes statistical documents from state, local, university and private sources including professional and trade associations,
independent research organizations, and consumer and trade magazines. (Coverage from
1980 onward)
3) The Index to International Statistics (IIS) abstracts and indexes statistical documents from
approximately 100 international intergovernmental organizations, including the United Nations, the European Union, and development banks. (Coverage from 1983 onward)

* Data Breakdowns by
Age/ Commodity/ disease or cause of death/ educational attainment/ government agency/ income/ individual company or institution/ industry/ martial status/ occupation/
race and ethnic group/ sex/ urban rural and metro nonmetro

* Subject
Animals/ Business income and expenses/ Employment and unemployment/ Business firms and establishments, number/ Veterinary medicine/ Animal diseases and zoonoses/ Population characteristics/ Pet food and supplies/ Statistical compendia/ Firearms

Data Format:
PDF, GIF, and excel(XLS)
The abstracts and citations can be printed; Users can export search results to Endnote and Refworks.
Cross National Time Series Data Set
CNTS is available as a downloadable spreadsheet of data covering many variables of interest to social scientists, especially those researching political conflicts and events. Data goes back to 1815 for some countries.
CIA World Factbook
Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
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Publisher:
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Main Users:
Academics who are interested in the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for worldwide countries.

Contents

* The World Factbook

-World readers
- CIA Maps & Publications
- Historical Collection Publications

- Additional Publications
UN Data
Statistics produced by countries and compiled by the United Nations data system, as well as estimates and projections. Covers agriculture, education, energy, industry, labour, national accounts, population and tourism. UM users only.
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Even though UNdata contains some trade data, it is not replacing COMTRADE. COMTRADE is a very comprehensive database for merchandise statistics containing around 1.5 billion trade records in 7 classifications up to 6 digit level of the Classification. UNdata contains only around 40 million trade records only in 2 digit HS 1992 classification and searchable only by reporters.
OECD iLibrary
OECD iLibrary is one of the most comprehensive online resources on the world economy, society, and environment. It contains all books and working papers published by OECD since 1998, as well as a vast of collection of statistics, with data going back to the early 1960s and more than 80 countries covered. UM users only.
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Publisher:
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Main Users:
Academics who are interested in the world economic, social, educational, en environmental issues such as agriculture and food, development, economics, education, employment, energy, environment, finance and investment, governance, industry and services, nuclear energy, science and technology, social issues, migration and health, taxation, trade, transport, and urban, rural, and regional development.

Contents

* Databases : OECD.Stat includes data and metadata for OECD countries and selected non-member economies. OECD.Stat enables users to search for and extract data from across many databases under different themes such as agriculture and fisheries, development, economic projections, education and training, energy, environment, finance, globalisation, health, national accounts, productivity, regional statistics, social and welfare, etc.

* Key Tables : The key tables by country statistical profiles include a wide range of indicators on economy, education, energy, environment, foreign aid, health, information and communication, labour, migration, R&D, trade and society. Historical data refer to the latest eight time periods.

Data Format:
WEB, PDF, and excel(XLS)
The citation tool is compatible with popular bibliographical reference software such as Endnote, RefManager, Procite and Refworks.
World Bank eLibrary
Online, fully searchable and browsable collection of over 3,900 World Bank documents. Includes over 1,600 World Bank publications and over 2,300 Policy Research Working Papers, plus each new book and paper as they are published. UM users only.
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Publisher:
The World bank

Main Users:
Academics who are interested in agriculture, community and human settlements, conflict and development, education, energy, environment, finance and financial sector development, gender, governance, health, nutrition and population, industry, information and communication technologies, infrastructure economics and finance, international economics & trade, Law and development, macroeconomics and economic growth, poverty reduction, private sector development, public sector development, rural development, science and technology development, social development, social protection and labor, transport, urban development, water resources, water supply and sanitation issues.

Data Format:
PDF
World Development Indicators (World Bank)
The World Bank eLibrary is the World Bank’s subscription-based collection of nearly 6,000 books, reports, journals, and working papers. Each article, book, and working paper is enriched with semantic and bibliographic metadata, including topics, regions, countries, abstracts and keywords using a controlled vocabulary. For public, elibrary permitted to search, view, and download all free publications within eLibrary. However, paid content is only available by UM users, so the pdfs will not appear for those publications.
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Publisher:
The World bank

Main Users:
Academics who are interested in agriculture and rural development, aid effectiveness, climate change, economic policy and external debt, education, energy and mining, environment, financial sector, gender, health, infrastructure, labor& social protection, poverty, private sector, public sector, science and technology, social development, urban development.

Contents
-By country
-By topic
-Indicators
-Data Catalog
-Microdata

Data Format:
EXCEL, CSV, PDF
Balance of Payment Statistics (IMF)
BOP statistics is a part of IMF eLibrary data set. It contains international economic transaction data and international investment position, with history to 1960. The strength of this data set is good for quick fact check for fiscal conditions in worldwide countries.
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Main Users:

Subscribers only. Economics, Comparative Political economy, and International Political Economy, especially researches related fiscal policy

Contents

* Balance of Payments Analytic Presentation
* Balance of Payments Selected Standard Components
* BOPS Summary of International transactions
* G-20 & FSB Countries Export, Import and Current Accounts
* Global Discrepancies
* World and Region Account Balances
* World and Region Capital Account
* World and Region Current Account
* World and Region Financial Account
* World and Region Net IIP* (International Investment Position)
* World and Region Total IIP
Global Development Finance
The data covers portions of World Bank’s investments, assets it manages on behalf of global funds, and the World banks’ own financial statements. Users can share visualizations they create through social media. Open to public.
(Caution:the datasets are raw and may not have been audited yet. For official data on the World Bank’s finances please refer to the bank’s Annual report and the Global Partnership and Trust Fund operations site. )
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Publisher:
The World bank

Main Users:
Students and faculties of Economics, Comparative/International Political Economies.

Contents

* Country Summaries : The list include current and former members, borrower, and donors of the World Bank. Key financial visualizations for the country, displaying fresh data straight from open data sets. The charts update every time the source data updates.

* World bank Summery : Key financial visualizations for the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

* Financial Intermediary Funds(FIFs) : FIFs represent a fast-growing business area fro the Bank, accounting for the majority of the Bank’s total trust fund portfolio. Many FIFs have been launched in the context of G7/G8 and G20 meetings. This page shows key financial visualizations for FIFs. The charts update every time the source data updates. This site contains four datasets on FIFs: Contributions, Funding Decisions, Commitments, and Cash Transfers. To explore and visualize detailed FIFs data, just access a source dataset.

* Financial Datasets : Please note that the data sets are raw and may not have been audited yet — our goal is to make raw data publicly available in open data format as soon as it is approved for public release through other channels. For official data on the Bank's finances please refer to our Annual Report and to the Global Partnership and Trust Fund Operations site.
Data Format:
CSV/ MS Excel XLS/MS Excel XLSX
XML/RDF/RSS/PDF

Election Studies

American National Election Studies (ANES)
Primary source for public opinion on elections, political participation, characteristics of voters, and for whom they voted, 1948-2016. It also provides summary data on social, economic, partisanship, and public opinion, 1948 to present.

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)
CSES is a collaborative program of research among election study teams from around the world. Participating countries include a common module of survey questions in their post-election studies.
Cooperative Election Study (CCES)
The CCES is a 30,000+ person national stratified sample survey administered by YouGov Polimetrix. Half of the questionnaire consists of Common Content asked of all 30,000+ people, and half of the questionnaire consists of Team Content designed by each individual participating team and asked of a subset of 1,000 people.
Comparative Candidate Survey (CCS)
A joint multi-national project with the goal of collecting data on candidates running for national parliamentary elections in different countries using a common core questionnaire to allow for cross-country comparison. Data collection comprises surveys among candidates as well as relevant context information concerning the constituency of the candidate and the political system at large.

For data on election results see the Elections Research Guide

Data on Peace, Conflict and Violence

xSub (Cross-National Data on Sub-National Violence)
xSub is a repository of micro-level, subnational event data on armed conflict and political violence around the world. The archive currently includes data on armed conflict and protests from 195 countries (1968-2019), from 22 event data sources, including both large data collections and individual scholars.
Minorities at Risk (MAR)
MAR tracks 284 politically-active ethnic groups throughout the world from 1945 to the present -- identifying where they are, what they do, and what happens to them. MAR focuses specifically on ethnopolitical groups, non-state communal groups that have "political significance" in the contemporary world because of their status and political actions.
Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
ACLED collects information on the dates, actors, locations, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events around the world.
Ethnic Power Relations (EPR) Datasets
The EPR Dataset Family provides data on ethnic groups’ access to state power, their settlement patterns, links to rebel organizations, transborder ethnic kin relations, and intraethnic cleavages.
Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP)
Data on organized violence and civil war.