International Integrated Microdata Access System

该项目将创建和传播一个综合的国际人口普查数据库，其中包括来自7个国家的高精度、高密度的个人和家庭样本。它将是世界上最大的公共使用人口数据库，每个国家都有多个样本，可以进行跨时间和空间的分析。该项目需要两项相辅相成的任务：第一，收集和保存数据，以支持社会和行为科学的广泛调查；第二，创建一个创新的系统，以便在全世界范围内通过网络获取元数据和微观数据。世界上许多国家都有大量机器可读的人口普查微数据样本，但这些数据的获取非常有限，文件往往不够充分。即使在少数可获得微观数据的情况下，由于数据集之间的不一致和对可比性问题的记录不足，跨国家或跨时间段的比较也具有挑战性。正因为如此，很少有人尝试基于汇集微观数据的国际比较研究。该项目将通过保存微数据样本并将其公之于众，将其转换为一致的格式，提供全面的文件，以及开发在因特网上传播微数据和文件的新的网络工具，从而减少国际研究的障碍。该项目是以综合公共用途微数据系列(IPUMS)为蓝本的，这是一系列连贯的个人层面的美国人口普查数据，来自1850年至1990年的13个人口普查年。通过将所有人口普查样本放入一种兼容的格式并整合其文件，综合人口普查系统极大地简化了多个人口普查年的使用。同样重要的是，电子传播的新方法使对这些资源的访问民主化(http://www.ipums.umn.edu).

This project will create and disseminate an integrated international census database composed of high-precision, high-density samples of individuals and households from seven countries. It will be the world's largest public-use demographic database, with multiple samples from each country enabling analyses across time and space. The project entails two complementary tasks: first, the collection and preservation of data that will support broad-based investigations in the social and behavioral sciences; second, the creation of an innovative system for worldwide web-based access to both metadata and microdata.Large machine-readable census microdata samples exist for many countries around the world, but access to these data is highly limited and the documentation is often inadequate. Even in the few cases where microdata are available, comparison across countries or time periods is challenging owing to inconsistencies between datasets and inadequate documentation of comparability problems. Because of this, comparative international research based on pooled microdata is rarely attempted. This project will reduce barriers to international research by preserving the microdata samples and making them publicly available, converting them to a consistent format, providing comprehensive documentation, and by developing new web-based tools for disseminating microdata and documentation over the Internet. The project is modeled on the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), a coherent series of individual-level U.S. census data drawn from 13 census years between 1850 and 1990. By putting all the census samples in a compatible format and integrating their documentation, the IPUMS greatly simplifies the use of multiple census years. Just as important, new methods of electronic dissemination have democratized access to these resources (http://www.ipums.umn.edu).