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Ethnographic Information
Anthropological Fieldwork Online
This fully indexed, primary-source database documents the historical development of anthropology from a global perspective with archival collections from North America, Europe, and the Asian Pacific including field notebooks, images, and recordings from the early- to mid-20th century.
Anthropology Online
A full-text database of published ethnographies, memoirs, archival material, and selected images. Geographic coverage is global and all aspects of human behavior are covered including kinship, family, race, marriage, gender, material culture, religion, conflict resolution, economic systems, and more.
eHRAF World Cultures
A cross-cultural database that contains over 350,000 pages of ethnographic and other documents (including books, journal articles, and dissertations) on all aspects of cultural and social life. The information is organized and searchable by cultures/ethnic groups and the full-text sources are subject-indexed at the paragraph level. It is great for cross-cultural comparisons of customs and beliefs of groups all over the world.
Archaeological Data
- tDAR (The Digital Archaeological Record)An international digital repository for the digital records of archaeological investigations.
- Open ContextOpen Context reviews, edits, and publishes archaeological research data and archives data with university-backed repositories, including the California Digital Library.
Emory Resources
A great place to start: Emory's guide to Data Resources and Support is a collection of links to data sources and help for commonly used statistical packages (e.g. R, SAS, SPSS, Stata). Links to data sources are organized by subjects such as Health, Environment, Criminal Justice, Social Indicators, Census & Demography, and International Trade.
General Population Indicators
- World Development Indicators OnlineWorld Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's annual compilation of data/statistics about development; provides direct access to more than 550 development (economic and social) indicators for 208 countries from 1960 to 2001. Online format allows you to select the countries, indicators, and years in which you are interested and create customized tables.
- UNDP Human Development ReportsA collection of UN Reports on a variety of development topics. Also check the UN Statistical Commission for data on a variety of social indicators
- UNESCO Data CentreProvides access to a variety of key indicators and and raw data on education, literacy, and science and technology. The Global Rankings page is a good place to get a quick overview of an indicator across a region and the country profiles will provide more detailed information for an indicator.
- US Census BureauVital stats and context/socioeconomic data; not really health data. Data collected every 10 yrs; non-census years its often hard to get more detailed info. Most online data is from the 1990 and 2000 censuses, but there is some historical data (back to 1940s?) in some areas. Information can be viewed at the state level.
- Statistical Abstract of the United StatesFor older demographic/socioeconomic data broken down by state. Note: The U.S. Census Bureau terminated the collection of data for the Statistical Compendia program effective October 1, 2011.
Population and Longitudinal Datasets
- National Family Health Survey, IndiaThe National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics National Longitudinal SurveysA set of surveys designed to gather information at multiple points in time on the labor market activities and other significant life events of several groups of men and women.
- 1958 National Child Development StudyNCDS follows the lives of 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week of 1958. Also known as the 1958 Birth Cohort Study, it collects information on physical and educational development, economic circumstances, employment, family life, health behaviour, wellbeing, social participation and attitudes.
- Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and ChildrenCharting the health of 14,500 families in the Bristol area since the early 1990s.
- Millennium Cohort StudyIn response to concerns about the health effects of deployments following the 1991 Gulf War, the Congress and the Institute of Medicine recommended that DoD conduct prospective epidemiological research to evaluate the impact of military exposures, including deployment, on long-term health outcomes (more than 200,000 participants).
- Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS)A prospective cohort study, started in 2001 monitoring a group of young people from the Northern part of the Netherlands.
- US Decennial Census of Population and HousingThe U.S. census counts each resident of the country, where they live on April 1, every ten years ending in zero. The Constitution mandates the enumeration to determine how to apportion the House of Representatives among the states.
- Project on Human Development in Chicago NeighborhoodsAn interdisciplinary study of how families, schools, and neighborhoods affect child and adolescent development.
- Mexican Family Life Survey (MXFLS)A longitudinal, multi-thematic survey representative of the Mexican population at the national, urban, rural, and regional level.
- India Human Development Survey (IDHS)a nationally representative, multi-topic survey of 41,554 households in 1503 villages and 971 urban neighborhoods across India. The first round of interviews were completed in 2004-5; data are publicly available through ICPSR. A second round of IHDS is reinterviewing these households in 2011-12 to examine changes in an era of rapid economic growth. The second round also adds interviews with young people aged 15-18 to examine the process of transition to adulthood.
- Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)A medical research study involving more than 6,000 men and women from six communities in the United States. MESA is sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
International Health Data
- Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)The ICPSR is one of the largest archives of quantitative data in the world, including more than 500,000 research files. Its holdings cover a myriad of topics and include many health-themed data collections.
- Health, Nutrition, and Population Statistics (HNPStats)A World Bank site with much international/comparative time-series data on health indicators, as well as on various economic and demographic/population measures. Bulk downloads of HNPStats data are available at http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/health-nutrition-and-population-statistics.
- Human Mortality Database (HMD)Contains data tables with age and gender breakdowns for mortality and life expectancy in many countries (requires free registration; data largely from the OECD). The site also provides links to related external sites.
- National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program (NAHDAP)NAHDAP acquires, preserves and disseminates data relevant to drug addiction and HIV research (hosted by ICPSR).
- Social Science Electronic Data Library (SSEDL)An archive of over 300 data sets covering a variety of topic areas such as Adolescent Pregnancy, Aging, AIDS/STD's, the American Family, Disability in the US, and Maternal Drug Abuse. The archive is well-indexed and allows variable-level searches.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA)Provides "ready access to substance abuse and mental health research data." The archive contains data for survey series such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of the Lifestyles And Values Of Youth.
- UNDP Human Development ReportsReports from the UN Development Programme.
- USAID Demographic and Health SurveysAccurate and representative data on population, health, HIV, and nutrition through more than 300 surveys in over 90 countries.
- World Health Organization Mortality DatabaseThe WHO's Mortality Database provides aggregated mortality counts and cause-of-death statistics and (very large) raw data files for more advanced analysis.
- WHO's Global Health ObservatoryWHO portal providing access to data and analyses for monitoring the global health situation -- links to all kinds of data and statistics from countries around the world.
- World Health ReportPublished annually by WHO. Each year has a different focus (e.g. 2001 on mental health)
US Data and Statistics
Cancer Statistics Review (CSR)--This site is hosted by the National Cancer Institute. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (SEER) allows access to numerous cancer statistics and databases as well as to some limited online analysis.
CDC The website for the CDC includes a section devoted to data and statistics at both the national and state levels. The CDC's A-Z topic index is also useful for locating quantitative information on particular topics.
CDC Wonder is a portal to numerous studies concerning health-related topics such as AIDS/STDs, risk behaviors (the Behavioral Risk Surveillance System), mortality and natality statistics. There are several online data tools as well as a link to the SEER database.
NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the CDC) The three links below are some of the more useful links on the NCHS site:
- FASTSTATS A to Z (stats by subject and by state)
- Surveys and Data Collection Systems (ongoing/periodic suverys etc. collected by NCHS)
- NHIS Survey (National Health Interview Survey) is the principal source of information on the health of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States and is one of the major data collection programs of the NCHS.
National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG)--The NSFG is an on-going survey series focusing on matters of family history and reproductive history (e.g. marital history, childbirth, usage of contraceptives) as well as more general matters such as employment history and demographics. The latest wave of the NSFG is also available on CD-ROM in the Data Center. Older waves are also available via the Social Science Electronic Data Library and in harmonized form via the Integrated Fertility Survey Series.
Georgia Division of Public Health is an excellent source for public health data as it relates specifically to the state of Georgia. Most states provide at least some data through their division of Public Health, but ease and efficiency of access can vary widely. Also check county and city departments of health for additional datasets.
USDA Data Services
- USDA Economic Research Service (ERS)The Economic Research Service provides key indicators, outlook analysis, and a wealth of data on the U.S. food and agricultural system. Along with information on farming practices, structure, and performance, ERS produces data on such diverse topics as farm and rural households, commodity markets, food marketing, agricultural trade, diet and health, food safety, food and nutrition assistance programs, natural resources and the environment, and the rural economy.
- USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FSA)Foreign Agricultural Service maintains a global agricultural market intelligence and commodity reporting service to provide U.S. farmers and traders with information on world agricultural production and trade for use in adjusting to changes in world demand for U.S. agricultural products. Reporting includes data on foreign government policies, analysis of supply and demand conditions, commercial trade relationships, and market opportunities. In addition to survey data, crop condition assessment relies heavily on computer-aided analyses of satellite, meteorological, agricultural, and related data.
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)National Agricultural Statistics Service collects, summarizes, analyzes, and publishes agricultural production and marketing data on a wide range of items, including number of farms and land in farms, acreage, yield, production, stocks of grains, and numerous commodities. The Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years to collect information on the number of farms, land use, production expenses, value of land, buildings, and farm products, farm size, characteristics of farm operators, market value of agricultural production sold, acreage of major crops, inventory of livestock and poultry, and farm irrigation practices.
- USDA Rural DevelopmentRural Business-Cooperative Service collects, summarizes, analyzes, and publishes data from annual surveys of U.S. farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives. The data is published in RBS Service Reports. The data is also available in Excel spreadsheets by state and type of cooperative. The Cooperative Directory presents a listing of those cooperatives willing to be listed, by State. The directory contains: contact information, type of cooperative, and products sold, and is updated monthly.