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George Mason University | University Libraries
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Find Data for Analysis

Popular sources for accessing research data sets for dissertations or class projects

Limited Access Data Sets

This page describes limited access data sets purchased by Data & Digital Scholarship Services. Limited access data sets have licenses that restrict use to a single computer and prohibits linking through the library website. To use these data sources, please contact us at datahelp@gmu.edu. Use of these data sources are restricted to current George Mason University students, staff and faculty.

For access to each of the following datasets, contact datahelp@gmu.edu.

David Leip Election Data
These very detailed election data sets, are compiled from official sources. The files are in Excel and .csv format and can be used with Microsoft Excel and related programs.

  • US House of Representatives General - County & Congressional District Level Vote Data, 1992 - 2016 (documentation). 
  • US Senate General - County Level Vote Data, 1990 - 2016 (documentation).

Euratlas Georeferenced Historical Vector Data
Georeferenced historical vector data of Europe for the year 1600. Contains 21 georeferenced maps. Data is for use with geographical information systems (GIS) software. Available in shapefile format.

Gallup Analytics Microdata
The University Libraries’ license with Gallup requires us to manage access to the microdata (individual response-level data). These data are to be used with statistical software, such as SPSS or Stata. Data sets included are: Gallup World Poll, Gallup Poll Social Series, Gallup U.S. Daily, and Gallup Panel COVID-19 Survey. To request access to the data, please follow these instructions. Use Gallup Analytics summary data to generate tables and comparisons based on locations (country, state, etc.).

GeoLytics Census Collection
Contain detailed population data from the American Community Survey, the decennial Census of Population and Housing, and other U.S. Census Bureau sources.

  • Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB): 1970 - 2010.  Census tract-level variables and boundaries normalized to 2010 tract boundaries. 1970 - 2000 NCDB is normalized to Census 2000 tract boundaries.
  • GeoLytics titles will be installed upon request. E-mail datahelp@gmu.edu to submit a request. Data will be available after 2 business days. Complete list of GeoLytics titles purchased by the library.

ITERATE: International Terrorism:  Attributes of Terrorist Events
Vinyard Software. 1968-2018.

The ITERATE project is an attempt to quantify data on the characteristics of transnational terrorist groups, their activities which have international impact, and the environment in which they operate.  For additional data on terrorism, see: Conflict Analysis and Resolution Datasets Guide.  Data are in spreadsheet format.

Past Purchases

CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) Academic Community Supported Data Package
Carbon Disclosure Project. 2003 - 2013.

CDP's public data on self reported climate change, water and forest-risk data.  The purpose of this data set is for academic research only. Data used to compile the CDP Program Reports.  Data are in Excel format.

Current Population Survey. June Supplement. Marriage & Fertility
UNICON. 1971 - 2012.

CPS Utilities provide compressed data, documentation, and extraction software for the Current Population Surveys. Contains the basic data and marriage and fertility supplements, including: fertility and birth expectations, immigration, marriage and birth history, child care, marital history, and emigration.

Political Risk Services, Researcher Dataset: Composite Risk, Table 2B
PRS. 2012 and 2013.

Format: Excel / spreadsheet. These are data from the International Country Risk Guide Researcher's Dataset - Composite Risk provides annual averages of the composite risk rating by county. See library's subscription to the ICRG for information on country risk analysis and ratings. ICRG monitors 140 countries and provides financial, political, and economic risk information and forecasts.

Thomson/Refinitiv & Datastream

Thomson/Refinitiv and Refinitiv Datastream provide significant current and historical data for securities markets worldwide; equity coverage; comprehensive market indices; fixed income securities and more. Note: Available online through the WRDS portal. WRDS is a restricted resource so please only sign up for an account if your need is specifically for these data. Unsure? Please email Kayla Gourlay, Business and Economics Librarian, or datahelp@gmu.edu for information. 

Data on CD/DVD

The library owns several hundred CD-ROM and DVD electronic databases and datasets that were received through the Federal Depository Library Program or purchased in the past. Most of these titles are shelved in cabinets in the Government Documents area of the first floor, Wing C, Fenwick Library. A small subset of titles are located in Data & Digital Scholarship Services. 

The CD-ROM/DVD titles along with location information are listed in the library catalog. Please search the Library Catalog or ask us for help if you need to find a specific title.

None of these titles are installed on our workstations. If you know in advance you will need access to a specific title, contact Data & Digital Scholarship Services and allow at least 2 business days turn around time. Increasingly, these data have been migrated to web-based archives. Send your question and we will check their availability.

Send questions to Data & Digital Scholarship Services: datahelp@gmu.edu