Welcome to our Social Science Data Guide: A guide for quantitative and qualitative data on our areas of research strength in the School of Social Sciences.
This page is meant to orient students and researchers interested in empirical research on democracy, peace, human rights or development to several well-known global datasets.
Each link provides information on: where to download the data, short description of the dataset, key variables covered, the time period covered by the data, the geographical coverage of the data, and what sources the data is based on. In additional information we provide brief background information on methodology, institutional support, and funding of the datasets; and references provides references to codebooks and articles presenting the datasets.
Please note that this Data Guide is meant to inform students and researchers about what datasets are available, we do not endorse or critique particular datasets. For discussions on validity and reliability of particular datasets, please be referred to the academic literature on conceptualisation and measurement of democracy, peace, human rights and development indicators.
If you find an important dataset is missing from our list, please get in touch.
Below you can find more information on datasets in each of our areas of research strength.
Searching data
To search for data in particular countries, time-periods or topics, please go to the Social Science Data Guide repository.
Search the Social Science Data Guide repository
Visualising data
Visualising your data is key to telling your story. Here are some links to excellent (free) web resources to create data visualisations, ranging from pie charts, to world maps to word cloud images.
If you have found resources on visualisation that you think are useful for others and you would like to share, please get in touch.
Analysing data
If you are new to statistical analysis, UNSW Stats Central offers statistical advice and short courses on a variety of statistical methods.