The Center for Social Science Computation and Research

ICPSR Resources @ CSSCR

CSSCR Data Collection | Responsible Use of ICPSR and CSSCR Data | Other Resources of ICPSR

ICPSR is the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, located at the University of Michigan. ICPSR was organized in 1962 and now is a membership organization of over 740 universities and research institutions worldwide. The data archive at the ICPSR includes over 500,000 data files related to fields in social science research, including topics in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and so on. At the UW, CSSCR has been serving as the institutional liaison since the 1970s, providing access to the data, as well as support in finding, locating and using the data for students, faculty and staff.

Searching and Downloading ICPSR Data

Search or browse ICPSR online catalog of holdings. You can search by topic, principal investigator(s), date, series, geography, and many other fields. Also, you can use the tool Search/Compare Variables to examine and compare variables and questions across studies or series. Anyone can search the ICPSR catalog, but you must be a UW student, faculty, staff or affiliated with the UW campus to download files. Register for a MyData account from the login page and provide your academic status, department, and privacy setting preferences. After you register, log in using your e-mail address and password and then you can download data directly from ICPSR while on-campus.

ICPSR Direct

ICPSR Direct can be accessed from any computer that is on a University of Washington camps. Off-campus users looking to access ICPSR Direct have two options:

1. Using Husky OnNet, the University of Washington’s virtual private network (VPN) solution available to all UW affiliated persons at no cost. Install the Husky OnNet client, establish a virtual connection with campus after authenticating with your NetID credentials, and access ICPSR resources as needed. Note that this is the method preferred by ICPSR.

2. Using the UW Library proxy service. Provide your UW NetID/password, and download ICPSR files from off campus locations. Note: If the link does not work, visit the UW Library proxy page and provide the following URL: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/landing.jsp.

The majority of data files at ICPSR come with SAS, SPSS, and Stata setup files which enable you to read data into these statistical software packages. If a file isn’t in the format you need, contact Tina Tian for assistance. Also, see ICPSR’s YouTube channel for step by step instructions on reading data into a different statistical package using a setup file.

ICPSR Direct is a new service providing direct access to the ICPSR data holdings for all students, faculty, and staff at UW. ICPSR Direct also allows you to download the ICPSR data from off campus but you must first create an account on-campus and log in on-campus every 6 months. Using the UW Library proxy service and your UW NetID/password, it identifies you as a UW user and lets you download ICPSR files from off campus locations. (Note: If the link does not work, visit the UW Library proxy page and provide the following URL: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/landing.jsp.

CSSCR Data Collection

CSSCR also has many old ICPSR datasets and datasets from other sources in its collection. You can search our holdings by keywords, the ICPSR study number or the codename. The easiest way to view and access the CSSCR online holdings is using our Archive Browser. (NOTE Feb 2023: This link is presently broken. CSSCR is in the process of refreshing our web data hosting) On the browser page, studies are organized alphabetically by title. Under each title, information such as data source, codename, abstract and storage medium is displayed. On the bottom of each study, clicking “Get Files” allows you to access and download files from that study. If a data file is regenerated or purchased by CSSCR and not available via online, please contact our archive staff Tina Tian for access.

Responsible Use of ICPSR and CSSCR Data

As a student, faculty or staff member at University of Washington, you are authorized to access the data resources of ICPSR and CSSCR. By downloading the data, you signify that you agree not to share the data with anyone other than faculty members, students, or staff of UW.

Other Resources of ICPSR

- Resources for Instructors helps instructors integrate quantitative literacy into their curricula.
- Summer training program offers workshops and courses on social science research methods. UW students, faculty, and staff can attend these programs at a reduced tuition rate.
- Data Management & Curation provides handy documents for researchers on preparing Data for archiving, curating data, and preparing Data Management Plans, etc.
  - UW library Data Service term provides consultation on data management planning: http://guides.lib.washington.edu/dmg
- ICPSR Data Deposit provides services on depositing your research data with ICPSR. ICPSR is a worldwide dissemination repository site. There are two options to archive your data with ICPSR:
  - Classic ICPSR Repository: Your data will be available only to ICPSR members if you do not pay ICPSR for curation; if you pay for curation, your data will be freely available to the general public.
  - openICPSR Repository : Free for self deposit as UW is a member institution. Your data are freely and immediately available to the general public but will be distributed as-is, exactly as you deposit.

For more consultation on how to deposit your research data please contact Tina Tian.