LibGuides: Public Policy: Find Statistics and Data

Data & Statistics

Datasets are the raw pieces of information that are collected through surveys and other research tools and analyzed through statistics like "55% of state prisoners were serving sentences for violent offenses at year-end 2016" (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2017). Researchers publish statistics from individual studies in academic journal articles, but comprehensive statistics are also collected by non-profit research groups and government agencies at the local, state, national, and international level and published on the web for the public.

When would I need to find statistics and datasets? If you're working on a research project about a community or social issue, you might use statistics collected by nonprofit or government researcher to describe your population/problem and show why its important.

Try searching in...

data.census.gov
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to many kinds of demographic data about peoples in the United States, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories. Check out the Tutorials and Data Gems for more info.

PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
An online mapping and GIS tool with data on a wide variety of topics including demographics, real estate, health, jobs, and more. Create, save, download, customized maps and tables, or upload your own data to map.

View all data and statistics databases

Statistical Methods

Statistical methods are formulas, models, and techniques researchers use to analyze raw data. Information on how to create your own statistics is usually found in background sources such as books, websites, and encyclopedias.

When would I need to find statistical methods? If you’re in a research methods or statistics course or sharing original research findings, these sources can tell you how to run a specific test, format data in SPSS, and more.

Try searching in...

SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new window
SAGE Research Methods contains lots of resources for understanding and running your own statistical tests. Search for a particular method or take their "Which Stats Test"
LinkedIn Learning This link opens in a new window
Online courses and videos to teach yourself software and other tools for business and education. Includes how-to information for Adobe design products, Excel, SPSS, and more.
Using LinkedIn Learning for CSUDH Students and Employees

School of Data
Helpful information on data fundamentals including cleaning your data, analysis, and data presentation

Public Policy datasets

General Social Survey (GSS)
Since 1972, the GSS has provided politicians, policymakers, and scholars with a clear and unbiased perspective on what Americans think and feel about such issues as national spending priorities, crime and punishment, intergroup relations, and confidence in institutions.
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)
- This link opens in a new window
"The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. We are dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research."
Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS)
- This link opens in a new window
The Office of Personnel Management Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (OPM FEVS) measures employees' perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions characteristic of successful organizations are present in their agencies. The OPM FEVS serves as a tool for employees to share their perceptions in many critical areas including their work experiences, their agency, and leadership.

Additional Datasets & Statistics

CIA World Factbook
information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
Eurostat
In partnership with National Statistical Institutes and other national authorities in EU member states, Eurostats provide statistics and data on Europe.
Global Election Results
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
A source for cross-nationally comparable statistics on education, science and technology, culture, and communication for more than 200 countries and territories.
World Bank Data
Data is accessible by country, indicator, or topic, or via a specific database such as World Development Indicators, Gender Statistics, Education Statistics, the Poverty and Equity Database, or one of many others.
World Health Organization Statistics
The World Health Statistics series is WHO’s annual compilation of health statistics for its 194 Member States.
Consortium of European Social Science Data (CESSDA) Archives
"[CESSDA] provide[s] a full scale sustainable research infrastructure enabling the research community to conduct high-quality research in the social sciences contributing to the production of effective solutions to the major challenges facing society today and to facilitate teaching and learning in the social sciences."

Bureau of Justice Statistics
Provides statistics on crime trends, homicide trends and characteristics, law enforcement management and administration.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Statistics on inflation, career outlook, unemployment, pay, and productivity.
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
"The NBER data collection here is an eclectic mix of public use economic, demographic, and enterprise data obtained over the years to satisfy the specific requests of NBER affiliated researchers for particular projects."
National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES)
Educational statistics from early childhood through postsecondary education.

Census Bureau
- This link opens in a new window
Offers population, housing, economic, trends, and geographic data.
Census Survey of Business Owners
The Survey of Business Owners (SBO) provides the only comprehensive, regularly collected source of information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status.
Data.Gov
"The home of the U.S. Government’s open data, [h]ere you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more."
General Social Survey (GSS)
Since 1972, the GSS has provided politicians, policymakers, and scholars with a clear and unbiased perspective on what Americans think and feel about such issues as national spending priorities, crime and punishment, intergroup relations, and confidence in institutions.
ICPSR
Social Science datasets and codebooks; some are only available to subscribers.
Open States
Provides data and tools regarding state legislatures from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Pew Research Center US Politics
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
"The mission of the Roper Center is to collect, preserve, and disseminate public opinion data; to serve as a resource to help improve the practice of survey research; and to broaden the understanding of public opinion through the use of survey data in the United States and around the world."
UC Presidency Project Election Results
The American Presidency Project (americanpresidency.org), was established in 1999 as a collaboration between John T. Woolley & Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The archives contain 117,603 documents related to the study of the Presidency including election statistics.

CA Dept of Education Statistics
Data and statistics collected from California schools and learning support resources to identify trends and educational needs and to measure performance.
California Open Data Portal
Open data sets from various California State agencies.
Data LA
Open datasets to analyze and create visualizations with from all LA agencies.
Health City
HealthyCity.org is an easy-to-use online platform for accessing data, creating maps, and working collaboratively. It allows users to theme and filter data, conduct research, and connect with their communities.
LA County Elections
RegistrarRecorderCounty Clerk
The Los Angeles County Registrar's office is responsible for the registration of voters, maintenance of voter files, conduct of federal, state, local and special elections and the verification of initiative, referendum and recall petitions.
LA County Open Data Portal
County of Los Angeles data portal
LA Homeless Services Authority Count
Data sets and service planning areas for homelessness in LA.
LA Neighborhood Councils
Neighborhood Councils are the closest form of government to the people. They are advisory bodies, who advocate for their communities with City Hall on important issues like development, homelessness, and emergency preparedness.
LA Open Data
Open Data is raw data generated or collected by government agencies made freely available for use by the public, subject only to valid privacy, confidentiality, security, and other legal restrictions.
Port of LA Facts and Figures
Quick statistics about the Port of LA

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
An online mapping and GIS tool with data on a wide variety of topics including demographics, real estate, health, jobs, and more. Create, save, download, customized maps and tables, or upload your own data to map.

HealthyCity
- This link opens in a new window
HealthyCity.org is an easy-to-use online platform for accessing data, creating maps, and working collaboratively. It allows users to theme and filter data, conduct research, and connect with their communities.

GIS and Public Health at CDC
These data include anything that can be associated with a location on the globe, or more simply anything that can be mapped. For example, roads, country boundaries, and address are all types of spatial data. At the CDC, we use GIS to help answer questions about how location impacts disease and disability.
GIS Data Pathfinder
Our vision is to identify and deliver high value Earth Science data in formats compliant and compatible with GIS standards; to ensure data are interactive, interoperable, accessible, and GIS-enabled through primary GIS platforms; and to provide the maximum impact to research, education, and public user communities requiring visualization and spatial analysis.
USGS Geographic Information Systems
USGS is a primary source of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Data. Our data and information is presented both spatially and geographically including The National Map, Earth Explorer, GloVIS, LandsatLook, and much more. Start exploring by topic below.

Google My Maps
You can create and share your own maps online with My Maps.
Open Street Map
OpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world.
QGIS
Create, edit, visualise, analyse and publish geospatial information on Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and mobile devices
Software of the Center for Spatial Data Science
At the Center for Spatial Data Science (CSDS), we think spatially about research problems:
We develop state-of-the-art methods for geospatial analysis; implement them through open source software tools; apply them to policy-relevant research in the social sciences; and disseminate them through education and support to a growing worldwide community of over 330,000 spatial analysts.
Story Map
The Lab provides an open, collaborative environment for interdisciplinary exploration and conversation, where students and professionals learn together and from one another. In short, we’re energized by hard questions worth answering; we believe in the process as much as the product.