Help and User Guide

Browse Help Topics by Role

Use the sections below to find help based on your role.

Browse All Help Topics by Category

Use the topical sections below to find the help you need.

Getting Started with ICPSR.  Learn about ICPSR and membership.

• What is ICPSR?
• How to Log In or Create a New ICPSR Account
• What is membership at ICPSR?
• How do I know if I am an ICPSR member?

What can I do at ICPSR?  Search, share, and teach with data. The Bibliography. How to become a member.

• Search for Data
• Share Data
• Teach with Data
• What is ICPSR data used for? (Bibliography of Data-related Literature)
  • How do I use the Bibliography of Data-related Literature?
  • More about Bibliography reference types and an explanation of ICPSR’s search methodology
• Become a Member
  • How can my organization become a member of ICPSR?
  • Can I have a trial ICPSR membership for my institution? What about a personal membership?
  • How do I know if I am an ICPSR member?
  • How does ICPSR handle access to its data and members-only content?

Finding Data.  Access data and members-only content. Log in. View collections and projects.

• How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?
• How does ICPSR handle access to its data and members-only content?
• Accessing Data
  • Restricted-use Data
    • The dataset I wish to analyze is restricted. What do I have to do to get the data?
    • Questions about access to restricted data
    • How can I get the non-restricted version of a restricted dataset?
  • Questions about Logging In
    • What do I do if I'm having trouble logging in?
    • What is a proxy server? Why am I getting an odd message about proxy servers when I log in?
  • Other Data Access Questions
    • How do I decompress the files I download from your site?
    • The files I'm attempting to download are so large that my download never finishes. What can I do?
    • I'm trying to download data, but I'm not getting any data files. Why can't I download data?
    • Why and how should I cite data?
    • What is a persistent URL? What is a DOI?
    • I'm interested in replicating research that was conducted with an earlier version of an ICPSR study. Is it possible to get those data?
• Help with Collections at ICPSR
  • What are Thematic Collections? Why is this important?
  • Child and Family Data Archive (CFData) FAQs
  • Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR) FAQs
  • Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA) FAQs
  • National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program (NAHDAP) FAQs
  • National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) FAQs
  • National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) FAQs
  • Resource Center for Minority Data (RCMD) FAQs
  • Social Media Archive at ICPSR FAQs

Analysis and Research Basics.  Learn about data formats, codebooks, other software, setup files.

• What kind of data formats do you distribute? Do you have SPSS Portable files? SAS transport? Stata?
• What are setup files? How do I use them?
• There are no setup files available for my dataset. How do I create a setup file?
• Can I Use Large Language Models and Other AI (such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, etc.) with ICPSR Data?
• Can I use Excel to analyze the data?
• What is R? How do I use it?
• How can I use your data with GIS software, such as ArcView or MapInfo?
• What is a Codebook?
• Using ICPSR EPub Files FAQ
• How do I convert all variable names to lowercase in Stata?

Sharing Data.  How to prepare and share NIH (and other) data, report findings. Learn about confidential data and curation.

Overview & FAQs

• Register your proposed study with ICPSR
• Overview of sharing data with ICPSR - what does it mean to share data, why should I do it, and how much does it cost?
• Frequently asked questions about sharing data at ICPSR
• Step-by-step instructions: How to Use ICPSR's Online Deposit System
• Depositor's Checklist
• Where at ICPSR should I share my data?
• Why would I want ICPSR to curate my data?
• Request a professional curation cost estimate
• What is a codebook?
• Using ICPSR EPub Files FAQ
• What happens when someone shares data with ICPSR?
• How to report your research findings
• What kind of data does ICPSR look for?
• Can I deposit qualitative data?
• Does ICPSR offer self-deposit options? What is openICPSR?

Preparing Data

• What to include when you share data at ICPSR
• How to get your data ready to share: the Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving
• What form fields (aka “data deposit form fields”) should I include when I share my data? 

NIH Data

• How to share NIH data
• Additional Guidance for HEAL Researchers

Restricted-use Data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

• Sharing confidential or personally identifiable information at ICPSR
• Restricted-use Data Deposit and Dissemination Procedures
• How will ICPSR distribute my restricted-use data?
• Does ICPSR accept restricted-use data?

Resources

• Listing of all Health-related data at ICPSR
• Suggest data to archive
• News & Publications
• Interpreting SPSS Output
• A Brief Intro to Computer-aided Text Analysis (CATA)
• ICPSR Policies
  • What if I encounter language on ICPSR study home pages that is harmful or offensive? Please see the ICPSR Policy on Harmful Language.

Appendix.  Accessibility, glossary, index.

• Accessibility at ICPSR
• Glossary of Social Science Terms
• Index of Frequently Used Acronyms
• Social Sciences Research and Instructional Glossary

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