Public Services Librarian
Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to connect you with raw datasets that can help support your Sociology research.
Many decisions are based on data. Many articles or sites will offer statistical analysis of these raw datasets. While useful, even the best analysis may not be enough for your needs. There are times that you need to go directly to the source. Below you will find agencies at the federal and international levels that have made their raw datasets available for download.
Bias Notice: Even though we go to data to remove others' opinions from our interpretations, always be mindful of the methods of data collection. Even the base datasets can be biased by how it was collected. Beware of "bad data" with outright flaws in the collection method, but you also want to note that even "good data" can be biased. You always want to think critically about where these numbers are coming from and account for that in your analysis.
General
- The General Social SurveyThe General Social Survey (GSS) is a nationally representative survey of adults in the United States conducted since 1972. The GSS collects data on contemporary American society in order to monitor and explain trends in opinions, attitudes and behaviors.
- UNESCO Institute of StatisticsThe UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the official and trusted source of internationally-comparable data on education, science, culture and communication.
Crime Statistics
- Bureau of Justice StatisticsThe Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the primary statistical agency of the Department of Justice. BJS collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, crime victims, and criminal justice operations.
- Campus Safety and SecurityThis analysis cutting tool was designed to provide rapid customized reports for public inquiries relating to campus crime and fire data. The data are drawn from the OPE Campus Safety and Security Statistics website database to which crime statistics and fire statistics
- Carp-Manning U.S. District Court Case DatabaseThe Carp-Manning U.S. District Court Case Database contains decision-making data on 110,000+ decisions by federal district court judges handed down from 1927 to 2012.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation - Crime Data ExplorerThe CDE pages provide a view of estimated national and state data, reported agency-level crime statistics, and graphs of specific variables from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). You can also download bulk datasets from a variety of UCR topics. In addition, the Crime Data API (application programming interface) provides a way for developers to access and share large amounts of data in significant ways.
- Historical Violence DatabaseThe Historical Violence Database gathers qualitative as well as quantitative data on each suspected act of violence that appears in the historical record.
Education Statistics
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. NCES fulfills a Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally.
- National Student Clearinghouse Research CenterNational Student Clearinghouse Research Center is a nationwide network of nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions provides up-to-date student-level data that represents 97 percent of the postsecondary enrollment today.
Public Health Statistics
- City Health DashboardEasy to read dashboards put together through a partnership with the National Resource Network, the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Health and the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. For each city, search by various metrics to find visual representations of the statistic. If you scroll down, you can also download the raw datasets.
- World Health OrganizationWHO maintains numerous datasets on the spread of disease and health outcomes worldwide. On their Data page, you can find links to COVID resources, along with reports and original datasets.
- National Center for Health StatisticsAs part of the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics supplies statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the health of the population. On their pages, you can find raw datasets on public health outcomes in the United States.
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