InfoGuides: Policy and Government: Find Data

Methods

Sage Research Methods and Cases Online
Find summaries, book chapters, and case studies on research methods (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed). Includes some standard textbooks from SAGE.

Frequently used sources of data and statistics for the United States.

Social Explorer
The easiest way to access US Census & American Community Survey data.
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
ICPSR is a leading social science data repository. Mason Users Only. Must create MyData account to download data.
Census Data
Official site for accessing decennial Census Bureau data (1990, 2000, 2010), Economic Census (1997, 2002, 2007), Annual American Community Survey Data (2000-present) and more. Replaces American Factfinder, effective July 1, 2019.
Data.gov
Search datasets produced by US government agencies.
Sage Data
Search for data produced by U.S. Federal agencies, states, private organizations, and intergovernmental organizations.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Authoritative and comprehensive summary of current statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. Access earlier data (1878 - 2012) from the U.S. Census Bureau.

FRED: Federal Reserve Economic Data
Handy data search tool with easy-to-customize graphs. From the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis.

These are some starting points. For more information, see the Public Opinion Polls & Social Surveys InfoGuide.

Polling the Nations
Contains public opinion polls including full text of 600,000+ 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.

Discovering Government Data and Statistics
Additional methods and data sources from the University of Virginia