Re: st: Census/Demographics Datasets

["Robert O'Reilly" <robert.francis.oreilly@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 11:37 AM, frank.lopresti@nyu.edu <fl2@nyu.edu> wrote:
> Census data.  Geolytics is a favorite quick/easy source of census data
> - decades and same variables across decades (reliability is always a
> question).   Many universities own this data.  Frank


A potential alternate to Geolytics for (U.S.) Census data that
likewise standardizes tract boundaries is the US2010 project at Brown
University:

http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Researcher/Bridging.htm


To refer back to the DataFerrett, I would echo Lauren's comments that
it can also be a useful tool for getting data from the U.S. Census and
from some non-Census data collections.  As an FYI, there was a limit
on the # of variables you could extract when creating data files to
import into Stata or the like - 50 or something like that.  That limit
may since have been lifted.


For those of a more international orientation in terms of their
preferences for census data, the IPUMS Project that Stas mentioned has
an international component as well, from the same folks at the
University of Minnesota (who also produce the NHGIS for U.S. Census
data):

https://international.ipums.org/international/ - microdata samples
from population censuses in different countries, with both harmonized
and unharmonized versions available
https://international.ipums.org/international/samples.shtml - the list
of available microdata samples

As with the U.S.-themed data at IPUMS and the NHGIS, you can create
ASCII files with syntax to import the data into Stata.


The following are also helpful for locating microdata samples in
different countries, with the usual caveats about data access and so
on:

http://go.worldbank.org/IPLXWMCNJ0 - the Living Standards Measurement
Study, from the World Bank.  See the "LSMS Survey Finder" to search
through their inventory of studies.  Note that the site also offers
tips and methodological guidance for working with microdata files and
for conducting household surveys.  Records for individual studies will
provide documentation (e.g. user guides, survey instruments) and
information about access to the data themselves.

http://www.surveynetwork.org/home/ - the International Household
Survey Network.  See their catalog at http://catalog.ihsn.org/.  Note
that the IHSN allows users to search through information on the actual
variables in the data collections, so that you can search for
particular terms or phrases in survey questions and variable
descriptions.

http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php and
http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/central - the World
Bank's Microdata Library and Central Microdata Catalog.  The focus
here is on data collected by the World Bank itself (with some
exceptions).  As with the IHSN, users can search through
variable-level information (e.g. survey questions) for particular
terms and phrases and the like.


There's also the CensusInfo interface that the UN helped develop:

http://www.censusinfo.net/
http://devinfo.info/censusinfo2010/

I haven't used the interface in a while, but my recollection is that
it doesn't output data in the most Stata-friendly of formats.






Rob
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