Research project H-DATA
The Historical Data Archive (H-DATA) is a hub of historical country-level data going as far back as the French revolution or even further and offers unparalleled depth of data and temporality, enabling researchers to answer critical questions about the past but to also understand the origins of, and find historical parallels to, present-day problems.
H-DATA is part of the Demscore data infrastructure project, which is building a world-leading social science hub that brings together some of the world’s largest databases on Democracy, Environment, Migration, Social Policy, Conflict, and Representation. H-DATA works to collect, integrate, and curate historical data from Demscore’s other modules.
By adding this long-term historical dimension, H-DATA makes it possible for researchers to study the path dependency of political institutions where changes are incremental or rare thus making long time-series essential to understanding their causes and consequences. By extending data back into time, H-DATA helps deepen and further our understanding of the conditions of the complex global challenges that we face today.
The project is lead by Principal Investigator Professor Jan Teorell and is based out of Stockholm University. Funding has been provided with a grant from The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).