Social Science Data Services
Finding and Managing Data for Research

Data Services > Data Centers > ICPSR

See also: Harvard-MIT Data Center, Archiving & Disseminating Your Data, and Tutorials.

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

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data.

MIT affiliates can get access to ICPSR data via either:

1. The ICPSR web site (MIT only) or
2. the Harvard-MIT Data Center (MIT only).

Unique features on the ICPSR web site include:

• browsing data by subject
• Bibliography of Data-Related Literature (SFX-enabled)
• list of their series data
• Data Analysis System
• Archives and Research Projects

ICPSR also provides training in analysis through the ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research. Topics include:

• game theory
• time series analysis
• hierarchical linear models
• network analysis

ICPSR users should note the following:

• Use of ICPSR data requires compliance with their Responsible Use Statement; see also our page on responsible use of data.
• While authentication is based on IP address, direct access via the ICPSR site also requires creation of a personalized account.
• You might come across an ICPSR study whose access is restricted. See our page on restricted data.
• ICPSR studies are comprised of micro-level data sets whose analysis requires specialized software. For more information on this process, see our tutorials or the ICPSR Data Use Tutorial.