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How to access data
CDSP offers members of the academic community a support service to help them access robust social science data: first the CDSP databank, then other national and international data repositories.
The CDSP databank
CDSP’s databank provides free access to social science research data for the academic community (researchers, students, engineers), as well as to electoral results.
The whole catalogue can be accessed in a few clicks for downloading at data.sciencespo.fr (see the download procedure).
Research data
The CDSP databank contains a large number of major surveys in the sociopolitical field such as the series of pre- and post-electoral French surveys from 1958 to 2012, surveys conducted with elected representatives and officials of political parties (https://data.sciencespo.fr/dataverse/enquetesdirigeants), or the surveys conducted by the Interregional Politics Observatory (OIP).
Finally, CDSP provides interested parties with free access to simplified databases for use as teaching aids.
Longitudinal Online Survey for the Social Sciences (ELIPSS)
Finally, the catalogue also includes questionnaire-based surveys conducted by researchers in sociology and political science, particularly surveys conducted through the ELIPSS panel. These deal with a range of topics: science, environment, health, sexuality, cultural practices, relations between the generations, etc.
Data on institutions
CDSP provides access to a collection of reconstructed historical data covering the parliamentary, presidential, regional, European, municipal and cantonal elections from 1958 to 2012. The results are available for the different types of election (Cantonal, European, Parliamentary, Municipal, Residential, Referendum, Regional) at different scales.
Among the datasets that CDSP makes available, you will find databases produced by researchers, on subjects as varied as European decisions, North Indian members of Parliament, or else income inequalities in the United States.
Qualitative data
A set of qualitative surveys – documented as part of the BeQuali project – includes data collected by qualitative methods such as interviews, observation, document searches. It currently contains sociological and political science surveys on topics such as Europe, institutions, gender, the family, immigration, education, etc.
Social science repositories as resources for your research
CDSP can support your research on social science data platforms both in France and abroad (nonexhaustive list). In order to receive individual support, you can sign up for METAT, Sciences Po’s methods workshop to meet us or contact us directly.
French Resources
- Secure Data Access Centre ,
- Isidore,
- Quetelet-PROGEDO Diffusion,
- The Recherche Data Gouv national repository (a rich source of general data).
International Resources
- CESSDA catalogue, European archive network (see list of data sources recommended by CESSDA)
- ICPSR catalogue, a consortium based at the University of Michigan that brings together more than 750 academic institutions and research bodies working in the field of social and political sciences.
