International data as a national resource

Abstract

Nation-states are increasingly recognizing that banks of knowledge, including social science data, are a national resource vital for understanding the course of events. Criteria for considering a dataset in the fields of cross-national and interstate politics to be a national resource include theoretic fertility, centrality in current research, cumulative contribution to knowledge, data quality, and methodological contribution. Published data-based research and responses to a questionnaire by leading North American researchers in the field indicate substantial consensus on the importance of maintaining and improving datasets on national attributes (such as the World Handbooks) and interstate conflict (especially the Correlates of War projects). Researchers should also pay attention to rethinking and generating enhanced datasets of both interstate events and the international political economy. © 1988, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.