International Integrated Microdata Access System

这个项目将建立和传播一个综合的国际人口普查数据库，其中包括来自七个国家的高精度、高密度的个人和家庭样本。它将成为世界上最大的公共人口数据库，每个国家都有多个样本，可以跨时间和空间进行分析。该项目包括两项相互补充的任务：第一，收集和保存数据，以支持社会和行为科学领域的广泛调查；第二，建立一个创新的系统，在全球范围内通过网络访问元数据和微数据。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，但是获得这些数据的机会非常有限，而且文件往往不足。即使在有微数据的少数情况下，由于数据集之间的不一致和可比性问题的文件记录不足，跨国家或时间段的比较也具有挑战性。正因为如此，基于汇集的微数据的比较国际研究很少尝试。该项目将通过保存微数据样本并将其公开提供，将其转换为一致的格式，提供全面的文件，以及通过开发新的基于网络的工具在互联网上传播微数据和文件，来减少进行国际研究的障碍。该项目以综合公共使用微数据系列（IPUMS）为模型，IPUMS是一系列连贯的美国个人层面的人口普查数据，这些数据来自1850年至1990年之间的13个人口普查年份。IPUMS将所有人口普查样本以一种兼容的格式进行整理，并将其文件进行整合，从而大大简化了多个人口普查年份的使用。同样重要的是，电子传播的新方法使这些资源的获取民主化（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).