ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

Overview

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is the world's largest archive of digital social science data, based at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. ICPSR acquires, preserves, enhances, and distributes original social and behavioral science research data for use by researchers, students, and policymakers globally, and provides extensive training in quantitative research methods.

History and Founding

ICPSR was founded in 1962 by political scientist Warren E. Miller at the University of Michigan as the Inter-university Consortium for Political Research (ICPR), initially as the data dissemination arm of the American National Election Studies. Miller served as its first director until 1970. The first Summer Program in Quantitative Methods was held in 1963, attended by 21 faculty members and 41 graduate students. The word "Social" was added to the consortium's name in 1975, reflecting its expanded scope. In 1994, federated memberships were phased out. In 2006, ICPSR was assessed under the Trustworthy Repositories Audit and Certification (TRAC) framework and received the Data Seal of Approval in 2010. ICPSR's first female director, economist Margaret Levenstein, began her role in 2016 and was reappointed for a second five-year term in 2021.

Collections and Holdings

ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 350,000 to 400,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences, representing over 16,000 discrete studies. It hosts more than 25 specialized thematic data collections covering education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, mental health, and other fields. Data archives include the American National Election Studies, census and survey data, and specialized collections from U.S. statistical agencies. The Social Science Variables Database (SSVD) contains over five million variables from across studies. ICPSR is a membership-based consortium with more than 800 academic institutions and research organizations worldwide. Journalists and media researchers benefit from ICPSR's holdings of public opinion survey data, election data, and demographic research datasets relevant to investigative and data journalism.

Access and Usage

Many ICPSR datasets are publicly accessible without charge; others require institutional membership or a download fee. Institutional membership ranges from approximately $1,765 to $17,400 annually. Researchers may also deposit data at no cost. The annual Summer Program in Quantitative Methods offers intensive training in statistics, data analysis, and research methods. ICPSR is located at P.O. Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248.