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Pew Internet & American Life Project Data

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Project produces reports exploring the impact of the internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the internet through surveys that examine how Americans use the internet and how their activities affect their lives.

The Pew Internet Project takes no positions on policy issues related to the internet. It does not endorse technologies, industry sectors, companies, nonprofit organizations, or individuals.

The Project’s reports are based on nationwide random phone surveys, online surveys, and qualitative research. This data collection is supplemented with research from government agencies, technology firms, academia, and other expert venues. The Project releases 15-20 pieces of research a year, varying in size, scope, and ambition.

Download data

To search and download the Project's survey data—including data sets in SPSS and comma-delimited format, crosstab files and questionnaires—please visit our Data Sets page here .

Survey data overview

We are pleased to provide our raw data to scholars for their own research, and hope it will be useful in furthering our collective understanding about how Americans use the Internet. The Project staff is available to answer questions and to provide limited assistance in importing and analyzing data. However, we strongly recommend that only experienced analysts who are familiar with software analysis packages or large cross-tabulated data files attempt to download these data sets.

See below for additional details about the usage and availability of our data.

Files available for download

Each individual survey contains the following files:

  1. Raw survey data file in both SPSS and comma-delimited (.csv) formats. To protect the privacy of respondents, telephone numbers, county of residence and zip code have been removed from all public data files.
  2. Cross tabulation file of questions with basic demographics in Word format. Standard demographic categories include sex, race, age, household income, educational attainment, parental status and geographic location (i.e. urban/rural/suburban).
  3. Survey instrument/questionnaire in Word format. The survey questionnaire provides question and response labels for the raw data file. It also includes all interviewer prompts and programming filters for outside researchers who would like to see how our questions are constructed or use our questions in their own surveys.
  4. Topline data file in Word format that includes trend data to previous surveys in which we have asked each question, where applicable.

Important information about weighting of survey data

All raw data files include a weight variable that should be used in analysis and is identified in the SPSS and .csv files as the variable "WEIGHT." Please check and make sure that the weight variable is turned on before you begin your analysis.

Schedule of data availability

Individual surveys are generally released on the same day that the Project releases our final report based on that survey. If the information you are interested in is more than six months old but is not here, please contact us. You can also sign up to receive alerts when new data sets are published via email (last category on the sign-up form).

Usage and publication guidelines

All manuscripts, articles, books, and other papers and publications using Project data should reference the Pew Internet & American Life Project as the source of the data, and should acknowledge that the Project bears no responsibility for the interpretations presented or conclusions reached based on analysis of the data. More information about our use policy is available here. You can also contact [email protected] to request permission to use specific data, infographics, or reports.

For more information

Questions about the use of Pew Internet Project datasets may be directed to [email protected].

 

Organization

Pew Internet & American Life Project

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Project produces reports exploring the impact...

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