Research Guides: Sociology: Methods/Stats/Datasets

Sage Research Methods

SAGE Research Methods provides a comprehensive view of research methods (qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods) across the social and behavioral sciences.

Researchers can:

explore methods and concepts to help them design research projects
understand particular methodology
identify a new method
find summaries, journal articles, concept maps, videos, etc.
access case studies

Surveys, focus groups, content analysis, empirical data and more!

Statistics

There are many sources of statistics available. Here are a few:

Statista
Great starting place for statistics; downloadable into Excel or Powerpoint
American FactFinder
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Ceased publication in 2012, but still a good resource.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Industry Statistics Portal - 2020 Census
CDC Faststats - A-Z
CDC Data & Statistics
County Health Rankings - Reports
Find reports by topic or by state.
FedStats
Google Public Data Explorer
National Institute of Mental Health - Statistics
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Social Science Datasets

American Sociological Association - Data about the Discipline
This collection of resources provides information about the discipline of sociology and ASA.
The CIRP Freshman Survey
Covers a wide range of student characteristics: parental income & education, ethnicity, other demographic items; financial aid; secondary school achievement & activities; educational & career plans; and values, attitudes, beliefs, and self-concept.
General Social Survey (GSS), 1972-2006
The 1972-2012 GSS cumulative data file for the National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Surveys (GSS) is available from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research via RoperExpress immediate download or on CD-ROM.
ICPSR data archive
From the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at Univ. of Michigan.
International Food Policy Research Institute datasets
Food policy issues at local (household and community), national, and global levels.
Pew Hispanic Center datasets
Education, religion, civic participation, immigration and more.
Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends
Datasets from the Pew Research Center.
U.S. Census economic datasets
World Bank Research datasets
Datasets on poverty, trade, development, sustainability, migration, finance and more.
World Resources Institute datasets
Specifically global warming and climate change.
World Values Survey
A worldwide network of social scientists studying changing values & their impact on social and political life. The WVS has carried out representative national surveys in 97 societies containing almost 90 percent of the world's population since 1981.

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Sociology

Sage Research Methods

Statistics

Social Science Datasets