Data (Quantitative and Qualitative)

For general methods resources, visit the Methods page. For resources specifically on Qualitative Methods and Statistical Analysis, visit those respective pages. For advice on doing presentations and writing for public audiences, visit the Writing and Presentations page.

Data sources

General resources

Data repositories

Datasets

Advice on finding datasets

Strategy 1: Use relevant questions from a popular dataset

To find a dataset relevant to your research project, a good place to start is the list of popular datasets above (under Datasets). Also, under General resources you will see a number of links to pages on the VCU Libraries site that have other suggestions for frequently used datasets. 

Codebooks/questionnaires should be available on each survey’s website. Some regularly conducted surveys will have modules on specific topics. For instance, the General Social Survey asks many of the same questions every time it is fielded, but it will occasionally ask a set of questions about beliefs about science, views on the economy, etc., just for that year’s survey. Browse a survey’s website to find out what modules or supplements it has done.

The data on a survey's website may or may not be in SPSS format, and getting access to some datasets may require registration. Let your professor know if you need help.

Strategy 2: Search for a dataset focused on your topic 

In the Data repositories section above you will find a number of online catalogs where you can search for and download relevant datasets. Below are instructions on how to use ICPSR, which stores datasets on a wide range of social-science topics: 

https://www.icpsr.umich.edu 

You will need to register for a free ICPSR account to access the data. When registering, make sure to use your VCU email address so that you have university privileges and can get access to more of the data. (Note: You have to be connected to the VCU network to access certain datasets on ICPSR.) During the registration, it will ask you if you want to "allow your campus Official Representative (OR) to view your name and email address"; choose whichever option you prefer, as it does not matter. You will receive an email from ICPSR that you will need to click on in order to activate your account; check your spam folder if you do not receive it. 

Use the search engine under Find Data to find datasets, which you can then download. Click on the name of the study in the search results. You will want to skim the description of the study, particularly any details about the survey’s sample and its questions. You will also want to look at the survey’s questionnaire and/or codebook. (A questionnaire—also known as an interview protocol, interview schedule, or survey instrument—has a list of all the questions in the survey; a codebook has a list of all the variable names corresponding to those questions. Sometimes the two are combined into a single codebook file.) Questionnaires and codebooks are usually provided on the study’s ICPSR page, or you can just Google them: search for the name of the study and “questionnaire” or “codebook.” 

On ICPSR, you can choose to download the dataset along with the study’s questionnaire/codebook all at once, or just the questionnaire/codebook by itself (which makes sense if the dataset is large). Click on the Download button and select either SPSS (to download both) or Documentation Only (to download just the questionnaire/codebook). If there is a list of multiple datasets and questionnaires to choose from, pick the one that seems most relevant to you, choose the most recent year, or just go with the general one that includes most or all of the data (called “main data,” “main study,” etc.). 

You will need to click agree on the Terms of Use page that appears. Then the file(s) will be downloaded in a compressed file. You will need to extract its contents. In Windows, just right-click the file and then select Extract All. Put it on your Desktop or wherever you wish. In a Mac, double-click the file to extract it. The extracted data file will be in a folder called ICPSR_[some number]. You will have to click on multiple folders (e.g., ICPSR_21600, then ICPSR_21600 again, then DS0002) to find the SPSS data file and/or the PDF of the questionnaire/codebook.

If there is no SPSS option for your dataset, you can click on the ASCII link (or the link for another file type), download the file in that format, and then have SPSS convert the file to its own format. Follow the instructions in Chapter 2 of the SPSS Statistics Brief Guide (see the link on the Methods page) for the appropriate file type; you may just want to find another dataset if you do not want to go to the trouble of converting the file. If the dataset is located on a different website, follow the link to download that dataset from the other site (it will usually be a university or other institutional website). 

Let your professor know if you want to use a dataset but are having problems getting access or converting it to SPSS format.

To open a dataset you have downloaded, see the instructions on the Statistical Analysis page under SPSS > Opening a dataset.

Data collection

Data analysis

For resources on collecting and coding qualitative data, visit the Qualitative Methods page. For resources on statistics and SPSS, visit the Statistical Analysis page.

Software for download