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ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social Research)

What Is ICPSR

The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is an organization of member institutions working together to acquire and preserve social science data, to provide open and equitable access to these data, and to promote effective data use.

The ICPSR data archive and holdings encompass a range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, demography, economics, history, education, gerontology, criminal justice, public health, foreign policy, health and medical care, education, child care research, law, and substance abuse.

While the ICPSR holdings include several time series and other types of aggregate data, the holdings consist mainly of raw data derived from surveys, censuses, and administrative records. These data were originally collected for specific research or administrative purposes. However, the data have research potential that outlives the original purposes for which they were collected. ICPSR preserves these valuable data resources and makes them publicly available for secondary analysis.

Understanding ICPSR