Data sources

Below we have compiled some suggestions for retrieving research data that may be relevant to your research. Our classification is based on “Auffinden-Zitieren-Dokumentieren: Forschungsdaten in den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften”, a guide published by the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten, RatSWD). The guide uses the following classifications: aggregate statistical data, survey data, and process-produced microdata. Additional sources of research data are available under qualitative data and data portals.

Note: research data marked with a star * are already at the WZB.

This page lists the following five kinds of data Sources:

a) Aggregate statistical data

b) Survey data

c) Process-produced microdata

d) Qualitative Data

e) Data portals

a) Aggregate statistical data

national:

• Destatis (FDZ Bund)

  • Current data publications [pdf - German]

    • Statistische Jahrbücher (ab 1980)

• GENESIS Online (FDZ Bund)

• German Demographic Portal (Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB))

• Inkar (Indicators and maps for spatial and urban development) (Source: Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development)

• Statistikportal (FDZ Bund und Länder)

• StatistikCampus (FDZ Bund)

• Overview of official statistics portals (Source: Statistische Ämter)

international:

-  AmericanFactFinder (United States Census Bureau)

• Eurostat (European Commission)

• Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)

• FedStats (The gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies)

• FORSbase (Research information and data access portal in Switzerland)

• FRED Federal Reserve Economic Data

• OECD iLibrary

• UN data (The United Nations Statistics Division [UNSD] of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs [DESA])

• UK DATA Service

• Statistical Abstracts of the United States (United States Census Bureau)

• usa.gov Data and Statistics (Government Information and Services)

• World Data Bank (world bank group)

• Varieties of Democracy Report (V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg)

b) Survey data

• Allbus (GESIS)

• American Trends Panel

• BHPS (British Household Panel Study)

• BSA (British Social Attitudes)

• Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU)

• Community Innovation Survey (ZEW)

• Current Population Survey (CPS) (IPUMS CPS)

• CSES (Comparative Study of Electoral Systems)

• DSZ-BO (Datenzentrum Betriebs- und Organisationsdaten der Uni Bielefeld)

• FDZ DZHW

• Deutsche Alterssurvey (FDZ DEAS)

• ECS (European Company Survey)

• EES (European Election Study)

• EQLS (European Quality of Life Survey)

• ESS (European Social Survey)

• ESS * (European Statistical System)

• EU-LFS * (European Union Labour Force Survey)

• Eurobarometer (GESIS)

• EU-SILC * (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions)

• EVS (European Values Study)

• EWCS (European Working Conditions Study)

• Research Data Centers (FDZ) of the German Data Forum - RatSWD

• GIP (German Internet Panel)

• GLES (German Longitudinal Election Study / Nationale Wahlstudie)

• Gruppenbezogene Menschenfeindlichkeit (GESIS)

• GSS (The General Social Survey)

• IAB-Establishment Panel (Institute for Employment Research)

• ISSP (International Social Survey Programme)

• Mannheimer Innovationspanel (ZEW)

• Mikrozensus/Microcensus * (FDZ Bund)

• German Mobility Panel  (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

• MTUS - Multinational Time Use Study  (Institute of Education (UCL)])

• NEPS * (National Educational Panel Study / Nationales Bildungspanel)

• PAIRFAM * (Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics)

• PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies)

• PIRLS (Programme for International Student Assessment)

• SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe)

• Shell Jugendstudie (2010)

• SOEP * (DIW)

• WVS (World Values Survey)

• Wahlstudien (GESIS)

c) Process-produced microdata

• Bloomberg

• Bundesanzeiger (Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz)

• Edgar (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system -  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)

• Hoppenstedt (Bisnode)

• Rentenversicherung

• Thomson Reuters Datastream

d) Qualitative data

• Data-PASS (The Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences)

• Qualitative Data Repository (QDR)

• UK DATA Service

e) Data portals

• BAMF-FDZ (Forschungsdatenzentrum des Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge)

• cessda data catalogue (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives)

• da|ra (Gesis [metadata search])

• Data Catalogue Search (Gesis)

• DeZIM-FDZ (Das Forschungsdatenzentrum am Deutschen Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung )

• DataCite Metadata Search beta

• GesisDataSearch (Search for social and economic research data across a diverse portfolio of data repositories and metadata services)

• Google Public Data [international statistics]

• GOVDATA (The data portal for Germany:  access to administrative data from federal, state and local governments)

• histat (Gesis [international historic statistics])

• ICPSR Data (Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research)

• missy (Gesis [microdata information system])

• Wolfram alpha [international statistics]

• World Economic Outlook database (selected macroeconomic data series from the statistical appendix of the World Economic Outlook report - International Monetary Fund)

• Statista

• Umweltbundesamt (Office for the Environment, German only)

• ZACAT (international social science data portal)

• ZANRAN [international statistics]

Furthermore, re3data.org offers an overview of various repositories holding research data. Elsevier’s Mendeley Data site allows searching for various data sets that sometimes are available as raw data but also had to be submitted as supplementary materials accompanying publications.