LibGuides: Sociology: Online Resources

Online Resources

Online Resources for Sociology

The Brookings Institute
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
An international consortium of more than 750 academic institutions and research organizations, ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for the social science research community. ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
International Monetary Fund
"Contains approximately 32,000 time series (monthly, quarterly, and annually) covering more than 200 countries and areas. IFS is a standard source of statistics on international and domestic finance, and reports, for most countries of the world." International Financial Statistics (IFS)
National Institute of Aging
NIA, one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of NIH, leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. NIA is the primary Federal agency supporting and conducting Alzheimer's disease research.
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the lead federal agency for research on mental disorders. NIMH is one of the 27 Institutes and Centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest biomedical research agency in the world. NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
NORC at the University of Chicago is an objective non-partisan research institution that delivers reliable data and rigorous analysis to guide critical programmatic, business, and policy decisions.
National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH)
The NSFH was designed to provide a broad range of information on family life to serve as a resource for research across disciplinary perspectives. A considerable amount of life-history information was collected, including: the respondent's family living arrangements in childhood, departures and returns to the parental home, and histories of marriage, cohabitation, education, fertility, and employment. The design permits the detailed description of past and current living arrangements and other characteristics and experiences, as well as the analysis of the consequences of earlier patterns on current states, marital and parenting relationships, kin contact, and economic and psychological well-being. Interviews were conducted in 1987-88, 1992-94, and 2001-2003.
Polling the Nation
Polling the Nations is an online database of public opinion polls containing the full text of 700,000+ questions and responses, from 18,000+ surveys and 1,700+ polling organizations, conducted from 1986 through the present in the United States and more than 100 other countries around the world.
Popline
"The NSFH was designed to provide a broad range of information on family life to serve as a resource for research across disciplinary perspectives. A considerable amount of life-history information was collected, including: the respondent's family living arrangements in childhood, departures and returns to the parental home, and histories of marriage, cohabitation, education, fertility, and employment."
Population Council
The Population Council conducts research to address critical health and development issues. Our work allows couples to plan their families and chart their futures. We help people avoid HIV infection and access life-saving HIV services. And we empower girls to protect themselves and have a say in their own lives.
Population Reference Bureau
"Informs people around the world about population, health, and the environment, and empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and future generations. Data is focused around four "core themes": Reproductive Health and Fertility; Children and Families; Population and the Environment; and Population Futures—Aging, Inequality and Poverty, Migration and Urbanization, and Gender."
RAND
The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.
United Nations Statistics Devision (UNSD): Demographic and Social Statistics
The United Nations Statistics Division collects, compiles and disseminates official national statistics on births, deaths and life expectancy through the Demographic Yearbook data collection system. The Demographic Yearbook vital statistics questionnaire is used to collect these data. A more detailed description of these statistics can be found on the natality and mortality web sites.

Government Resources

United States Census Bureau
Find popular facts (population, income, etc.) and frequently requested data about your community.
Data Tools and Apps from the United States Census Bureau
Provides links to the various tools that can be used to access and manipulate Census data.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Statistics
Find employment diversity statistics as well as statistics on EEOC enforcement.
FedStats
The Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM) is an interagency committee dedicated to improving the quality of Federal statistics. The FCSM was created by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to inform and advise OMB and the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) on methodological and statistical issues that affect the quality of Federal data.
Immigration Data & Statistics
Since the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) has responsibility to carry out two statutory requirements: 1) to collect and disseminate to Congress and the public data and information useful in evaluating the social, economic, environmental, and demographic impact of immigration laws; and 2) to establish standards of reliability and validity for immigration statistics collected by the Department’s operational Components.
International Programs from the United States Census Bureau
Comprehensive list by country, compiled by the U. S. Census Bureau.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. NCES fulfills a Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally. The structure and activities of the center are as follows (click below for staff listings for each program):
National Center for Health Statistics (from CDC)
The mission of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is to provide statistical information that will guide actions and policies to improve the health of the American people. As the Nation's principal health statistics agency, NCHS leads the way with accurate, relevant, and timely data.
Social Security Administration Program Statistics and Data Files
The Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics produces numerous statistical reports that give a broad overview of the scope of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs. The data describe the characteristics of beneficiaries—for example, age, sex, income, and type of disability—and the type of benefits they receive (retired-worker, survivors, disabled-worker benefits, and so on). The data are also presented by state and, in some reports, by county or congressional district.
Statistical Abstract Series
The U.S. Census Bureau terminated the collection of data for the Statistical Compendia program effective October 1, 2011. The Statistical Compendia program is comprised of the Statistical Abstract of the United States and its supplemental products—the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book and the County and City Data Book. To access the most current data, please refer to the organizations cited in the source notes for each table of the Statistical Abstract. Statistical Abstract data present here ranges from our most recent edition to the historical abstracts compiled throughout the decades. Some of the data were scanned as an effort to make historical abstract information available to the public. The display of data will continue as historical records become available.
Statistics and Data, Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)
OSHA has statistics on workplace injury, illness and fatalities. It also provides establishment-level stats on inspections and investigations. The latter is a good place to find out whether an establishment is unionized. See the A to Z guide for statistics.
U.S. Department of Labor Statistics
Provides suggestions for finding labor-related statistics from the DOL and other government agencies.
U.S. Government’s Open Data
Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more.
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making. As an independent statistical agency, BLS serves its diverse user communities by providing products and services that are objective, timely, accurate, and relevant.
The United States Census Bureau
The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.
US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
The United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics. BJS mission: To collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. These data are critical to federal, state, and local policymakers in combating crime and ensuring that justice is both efficient and evenhanded.