International Integrated Microdata Access System

该项目将建立和传播一个综合性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。这将是世界上最大的公共人口数据库，每个国家都有多个样本，可以进行跨时间和空间的分析。该项目涉及两项相辅相成的任务：第一，收集和保存数据，以支持在社会和行为科学领域进行基础广泛的调查;第二，建立一个创新系统，在全世界范围内通过网络获取元数据和微观数据，世界各地许多国家都有大量机器可读的普查微观数据样本，但获取这些数据的机会非常有限，而且文件往往不足。即使在有微观数据的少数情况下，由于数据集之间的不一致和对可比性问题的记录不足，进行跨国家或跨时期的比较也是一项挑战。正因为如此，很少有人尝试基于汇总的微观数据进行国际比较研究。该项目将通过保存微观数据样本并向公众提供，将其转换为统一格式，提供全面的文件，以及通过开发新的网络工具在互联网上传播微观数据和文件，减少国际研究的障碍。该项目以综合公共使用微数据系列（IPUMS）为模型，该系列是从1850年至1990年的13个人口普查年份中提取的个人层面的美国人口普查数据的连贯系列。通过将所有普查样本以兼容的格式放置并整合其文件，IPUMS大大简化了多个普查年份的使用。同样重要的是，新的电子传播方法使这些资源的获取更加民主化（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).