Start your research odyssey with odesi

<odesi>, a web-based data exploration, extraction, and analysis tool, lets you search for survey questions across thousands of datasets held in a growing number of collections, and supports basic tabulation and analysis online. It also allows for the downloading of most datasets into statistical software for further analysis.  

<odesi> gathers data from a number of sources.  You have the option to search across all data sets, or to narrow your focus to certain collections, which include:

• Statistics Canada: Public-use microdata files (PUMFs) and aggregate data products made available to subscribers of the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). Data includes socio-economic indicators, business and financial databases, census microdata and aggregate data, social surveys, education, crime, health, and more.
• Public Opinion Polls: Historical Canadian public opinion polling data from Gallup.
• Other Canadian Data: Studies from other Canadian data sources, including the Canadian Millenial Scholarship Foundation, the Canadian Policy Research Network, and the Institute for Social Research.
• CORA: Researcher data and surveys from the Canadian Opinion Research Archive.
• ICPSR: Metadata from the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research.  Note that while the metadata is available to everyone through <odesi>, only some schools will have access to the actual data files. These must be accessed through the ICPSR website. Links are provided where possible.

<odesi> is always expanding its survey data to include other national and international data sources.

<odesi> can be used for all types of research; some example topics include education, health, the environment, social, and economic well-being of populations within Canada and abroad. In <odesi> it is possible to build charts, tables, look at trends over time, and produce correlations.

• Access <odesi> through the University of Alberta Libraries web site.
• Request an appointment with one of the members of our Data Library to get help using <odesi>.