The McMaster Library Data Service serves as a central point of access to a wide assortment of digital numeric research data files, including both aggregate data and microdata. The collection covers a broad range of subject areas with an emphasis on Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Business, and Economics. Access to the numeric microdata files is restricted to current McMaster University faculty, staff and students for the purposes of teaching, research and private study only. The Library Data Service provides access to aggregate data (Canadian, US & International) through the self-serve websites.
The Research Data Centre at McMaster University is a member of the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN) that provides researchers with access to Statistics Canada’s microdata 'masterfiles'. The master files of a large number of Statistics Canada’s population, social, and health surveys, as well as the Census and administrative databases, are housed in the RDC. Access is free of charge to all faculty, students and staff affiliated with McMaster. All work must be conducted in the RDC and only vetted output is released. To protect the confidentiality of survey respondents, data in any form cannot be released or made accessible outside of the centre.
Odesi (Ontario Data Documentation, Extraction Service and Infrastructure) is a digital repository for social science data, including polling data. It is a web-based data exploration, extraction and analysis tool. Odesi provides researchers the ability to search for survey questions (variables) across thousands of datasets. There are both microdata and aggregate data available, in a range of formats. Odesi datasets are now available in Borealis Dataverse.
