WWII data needed for thesis

World War II General WWII Discussion
#1

Hi everyone,

I am graduate student in the social sciences quantitative field (the broad category). For my thesis, I would LOVE to somehow integrate WWII history with some kind of statistical evaluation.

I still don’t know exactly what I am going to analyze but thinking quickly, I’ve thought of analyzing various types of things of people serving in the military during the war.

The problem is, I have no idea where to even start to see if data like this is available. I’ve done some digging and even checked with the librarian at my university but have come up mostly empty.

Does anyone know if this type of data exists? If so, where can I find it or where can I look? Even if there was data for the race and occupation of military personnel compared to the US or people not in the military, that would at least be a starting point for me.

Thanks very much in advance!!!

#2

Here’s some stats http://www.usaaf.net/digest/index.htm

#3

Where are you living? Best bet is to contact the public records office for whatever country you’re in (e.g. for the UK it would be at Kew) and ask what they’ve got available. You may have to pay a fee for the data, but they’re usually quite good.

#4

Thanks guys. I will check those out.

I live in New York City so I am hoping that I can find data somewhere. Of course, if it is electronic data that would make things easier as I can just format the data in the way that I need to analyze it.

#5

It would be helpful if you could be more specific about the information/data you are looking for. There is so much information on WW2 that you are going to be swamped when you tap into the stream you are trying to reach. It will be like trying to take a sip from a fire hydrant. This has to especially be the case in NYC, but would be even more the case in DC.

#6

Searcher:

Your request is too vague. I wrote a sociological theses. You must have a definite set of questions. You have one of the best libraries in the world in front of you…The world wide web. Type into Google your questions; you will be surprised what you’ll find. You want to study WW II sociologically? No problem. I found tons of statistics in Wikepedia and surfing Google. Start there. There’s a wealth of information online.

---- Wordsmith

#7

Thanks again for the help and suggestions everyone. They were very helpful.

After contacting and working with scholars at various universities in the U.S., it looks like the biggest problem that I am going to run into is that while the data does exist, most of the data is not in electronic format. I’m still working on the thesis but it has taken on a more general exploration of the effect of WWII on veterans. I’ll let everyone know if I have any other questions.