About the Project

Overview of Project

The Minority Data Resource Center (MDRC) is a new initiative of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. Our goal is to provide educators, researchers and students with data resources that can be used in the analysis of issues affecting racial and ethnic minority populations in the United States.

MDRC provides access and analytic tools intended to enhance the usability of the vast array of data available for comparative research. These data include large on-going national surveys and administrative records that allow researchers to track changes in outcomes for members of minority populations.

Download an MDRC brochure (PDF 1.9M).

Site Highlights

Featured Findings

The Featured Findings section displays tables and charts accompanied by brief descriptions, to illustrate the types of analyses that can be conducted using ICPSR datasets available through MDRC.

Featured Dataset

Data available for secondary analysis through MDRC span a variety of topics including housing, health, education, crime, income and wealth, youth behavior, and politics. Ethnic and racial oversampling, as well as large sample sizes permit opportunities to analyze and learn about issues that affect race and ethnic minority populations. For many datasets, researchers can quickly assess the feasibility of comparative research by viewing the collection's sample characteristics.

Resources for Educators

To highlight the analytic and educational opportunities within the field of minority research, MDRC provides tools and resources for use by instructors to improve their students' knowledge of the field and to prepare empirical applications. Ultimately, instructional modules to facilitate use of these data in the classroom will be available.

Resources for Researchers

Data available for secondary analysis through MDRC span a variety of topics including housing, health, education, crime, income and wealth, youth behavior and politics. Ethnic and racial oversampling, as well as large sample sizes permits interesting comparative analytic opportunities to learn about issues that affect race and ethnic minority populations. For many datasets, researchers can quickly assess the feasibility of comparative research by viewing the collection's sample characteristics.

Resources for Students

Students interested in minority research will benefit from access to research data that can be analyzed for use in papers, reports, and dissertations. In addition, students can learn how to recode data and download extracts or subsamples from major national studies using the research tools available through MDRC.