UBC Vancouver
Humanities & Social Sciences Division
Koerner Library
hssd.library@ubc.ca
UBC Okanagan
Marjorie Mitchell - On leave 2023.
marjorie.mitchell@ubc.ca
Strictly speaking, data are the raw information from which statistics are derived. A data file (example) requires a computer application to analyze data. Statistics are the results of the analysis. In practice, the terms data and statistics are often used interchangeably.
Abacus Dataverse Network
Datasets from Statistics Canada, Linguistic Data Consortium, etc., licensed for use by UBC students, faculty and staff.
UBC Dataverse@ Scholars Portal
Archive of datasets produced by UBC researchers. Most datasets are Open Access (available to all).
General Guides
Topic/Format Guides
Many Research Guides include a section for data and statistics..
The resources listed below include survey data collected by organizations, companies or other groups. For surveys conducted by governments, please refer to Survey Data - Data and Statistics.
ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research)
"Repository and dissemination service for machine-readable social science datasets with more than 500,000 machine-readable files covering 130 countries in 7,500 research studies." Most data is from the US, but there is content from Canada, Mexico, Europe and beyond. Provides a comprehensive search by variable.
Google Dataset Search (in Beta)
"Surfaces information about datasets hosted in thousands of [data] repositories across the Web".
Canadian data is included in these resources, some of which are international in scope.
Association of Religion Data Archive (ARDA)
More than 700 data files, primarily US, but with international content including Canada. Well known surveys include the Baylor Religion Surveys, (US) Religious Congregation and Membership Surveys and the (US) National Congregations Study. Includes instructional files.
Berman Jewish Databank @ the Jewish Federations of North America
Acquires, archives and provides open access to quantitative studies and related materials on North American Jews and Jewish communities; promotes use of its resources by its stakeholders; and encourages transparency in the public release and reporting of research on North American Jewry.
Canadian Opinion Research Archive (CORA)
Founded in 1992, CORA contains hundreds of surveys including thousands of discrete items collected by major commercial Canadian firms dating back to the 1970s.
Canadian Public Opinion Polls Collection (in <odesi>, a digital repository for social science data)
Freely available results from than 1000 polls, primarily of Canadians, dating from 1945 -
DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys)
Demographic information and health survey results from most of the world's countries.
First Nations Data Centre
Unpublished and record-level data from First Nations Information Governance Centre surveys on health, education and employment.
Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO)
Independent knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) organization that aims to eliminate harm from gambling.
International Social Survey Program
Continuing annual programme of surveys administered researchers in more than 40 countries on topics including family and gender roles, social inequality, work orientation, etc.
Ipsos Canadian Public Affairs Dataverse
More than 70 Canadian opinion polls about voting intentions public policy issues. Graciously donated to Wilfrid Laurier University by Ipsos Canada.
IMF Data
Includes sections on Gender Budgeting and Gender Equality and Gender and IMF.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (licensed database)
The most complete collection of public opinion information in existence, from the United States and international sources. Special features include iPOLL,a database organized at the question-level providing the tools to sift through nearly a half million questions asked on [U.S.] national public opinion surveys since 1935. Most recent survey of Canadians is from 2003.
Pew Research Center (US)
"Public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research." Includes some international survey data in its Global Indicators database.
Polling the Nations (licensed database)
The most comprehensive collection of public opinion, with information primarily the United States and more than 90 other countries around the world, covering Europe, Canada, Mexico, Africa, and Asia.
TESS (Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences)
Survey data from a wide selection of Social Sciences research projects. Qualified researchers who use this free, online data collection platform, must share their survey data after 1 year.
World Values Survey
Data from national surveys carried out more than 100 countries containing almost 90 percent of the world's population, executed in six waves, beginning in 1981.
Afrobarometers
Continuing series of surveys conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on topics such as civil society, government, and state-society relations. Data from the Afrobarometers are available from the project site and also via the ICPSR ICPSR
Council of European Social Sciences Data Archives (CESSDA)
An informal umbrella organization for European national data archives, with a goal of creating a unified data portal.
Eurobarometers
Since the early 70’s Eurobarometers have been measuring attitudes to a number of social, economic and political issues as expressed by citizens of the current EU. Available via the ICPSR, with additional capacities for searching by variable at the Eurobarometer Data Source.
Latinobarómetro (including Microdata)
Latinobarómetro is an annual public opinion survey that involves some 19,000 interviews in 18 Latin American countries, representing more than 400 million inhabitants. Data from a number of years are available through Abacus.
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (UNICEF)
Key indicators on the well-being of children and women over more than two decades and 100 countries
National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program (US)
NAHDAP acquires, preserves and disseminates data relevant to drug addiction and HIV research.
National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (US)
Datasets containing information about American children and young adults.
National Transgender Discrimination Survey (US)
Released in 2011 by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National LGBTQ Task Force. Data from interviews with 6,400+ transgender and gender non-conforming people. Topics include public accommodations, identity documents, police and jails, health care, family, and suicide.
2015 U.S. Transgender Survey
The 2015 U.S. Trans Survey (USTS) is the follow up to the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey. With almost 28,000 respondents, it is the largest survey ever devoted to the lives and experiences of trans people.
The Research Commons at Koerner Library offers workshops and one-on-one consultations on SPSS nad R statistical analysis software and NVivo qualitative data analysis software.
UBC’s Research Data Centre (RDC), located in Koerner Library, provides faculty, graduate students, and other qualified researchers with access to detailed, comprehensive and confidential Statistics Canada microdata that are not not available from other sites.
Interested in learning more? Check out the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN)
Wondering which datasets are available? Search a list of RDC datasets here OR here.
Ready to apply for access? Review the Statistics Canada RDC Application Process and Guidelines
Connect directly with UBC’s Research Data Centre on the web or via email to rdcadmin@mail.ubc.ca.
Statistical analysis software
Several statistical analysis tools are available on public computer workstations in Koerner and Woodward Libraries:
Workshops and consultations
Graduate student experts in the Research Commons provide free one-on-one consultations and workshops on data analysis topics including R, Python, SPSS, and NVivo.
Online books, training videos, and practice exercises in a wide range of topics. Includes self-paced learning paths and interactive tutorials to help users develop technical skills.
A program that helps graduate students formulate and understand the statistical issues involved in their research. Interested students may submit a description of their work and meet a consultant to discuss their project and address their statistical questions. The program is offered by UBC's Applied Statistics and Data Science Group at no charge to students.