The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is the world’s largest archive of digital social science data. ICPSR provides data and resources to a community of hundreds of institutions around the world including students, scholars, policy analysts, policymakers, government officials, and the media. It is available to all Connecticut College students, faculty and staff through the library’s databases.
Information Services recently hosted a workshop to introduce the community to this invaluable resource. Representatives from ICPSR demonstrated how to access data using their Open Data Flint Collection, which serves as a central location for housing Flint-based data gathered from academic institutions, local organizations, and federal agencies. This particular collection was highlighted as an extension of this year’s Summer Reading selection, What the Eyes Don’t See by Mona Hanna- Attisha, which focuses on the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan. You can view the workshop recording here.
If you would like to learn more about exploring ICPSR’s vast collection, this guide can help you set up your account and begin exploring. And if you have students using ICPSR for research this semester be sure to let them know about the ICPSR Data Communication Scholarship.
