The Social Science Data Archive has been operating at UCLA since 1961 when political science professor Dwaine Marvick established the Political Behavior Archive (PBA); through his efforts, UCLA was one of the 8 founding members of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) in 1962. When the Survey Research Center (SRC) was formed in 1964, under the direction of Eve Fielder, the PBA was merged with a planned Archive Data Library the SRC was to house. In 1977, the research support framework of the Data Archive was designed by Professor Donald Treiman and implemented until it was re-organized into the UCLA Library in 2014.

The mission of the Social Science Data Archive has been and continues to be to provide a foundation for social science research with faculty support throughout an entire research project involving original data collection or the reuse of publicly available studies. Data Archive staff and researchers work as partners throughout all stages of the research process, beginning when a hypothesis or area of study is being developed, during grant and funding activities, while data collection and/or analysis is ongoing, and finally in long term preservation of research results. Our role is to provide a collaborative environment where the focus is on understanding the nature and scope of research approach and management of research output throughout the entire life cycle of the project.

Our Dataverse consists of unique surveys, enumerations, public opinion polls, and de-identified administrative records. Topics of studies include political attitudes and behavior; social and economic attitudes and behaviors; studies of health status and health outcomes; families, children, and women; international surveys of occupational and social mobility; the Los Angeles County Social Surveys; California Polls; and, census data for the United States and other countries. In addition, the SSDA provides access to data from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. Materials from SSDA are used with software programs, such as SPSS, SAS, STATA, and R to carry out statistical analysis. Assistance in using statistical packages is provided by the IDRE Statistical consulting office.

Instructional support, especially support that links research with instruction is also a mainstay of operations. The Data Archive is one of the key support components in those disciplines that provide instruction in research methods, survey design and methods, statistics, and data analysis. Throughout the campus, data provided by the Archive is used by faculty in courses to transmit pedagogy, illustrate theory and develop understanding of social, political, demographic, economic, geographic and historical trends and issues. throughout the entire life cycle of the project.

Our Dataverse contains resources to help you find and analyze data, and tutorials to enrich your knowledge of data management practices and procedures. We provide advice in preparing data management plans and in applying for access to secure or restricted access datasets. If you are interested in sharing your data and need assistance in finding an appropriate archive, or would like help to document your data for the purpose of sharing, please contact us. For more information, see our Dataverse on Tutorials and Resources.