CPR Database

Welcome to the Common-Pool-Resource (CPR) Database.

The CPR database was developed in the 1980s by Elinor Ostrom and her collaborators, and contains coded answers to specific questions on a set of forms that were used to analyze systematically 86 case studies of social-ecological systems. The data was organized into tables based on responses to 10 forms: Country, Region, Time (CRT), Document Citation (DOC), Location (LOCATION), Operational Level (OPLEVEL), Operational Rules (OPRULES), Organizational Inventory (ORGINVEN), Organizational Structure (ORGSTRUCT), Appropriation Resource (RESOURCE), Case Screening Form (SCREENER), and Subgroup (SUBGROUP). For each form, there are a number of variables that contain responses to specific questions. To see the question for which a variable contains the answer, simply mouse over the variable name. In the SES Library, these variables have been translated back into prose for each case. Thus, a researcher can get a quick overview of a case by selecting "View Case from CPR Database" and inspecting the CPR reports. In addition, this screen provides access to the CPR raw data, which may be used for comparative statistical analysis across subsets of the 86 cases. To generate data:

1. Choose the tables from which you wish to extract data from the drop down menu at the top of the list.
2. Choose the variables you wish include from the list (click for a single variable, Shift-click to select a contiguous subset of variables, Control or Command-click to select multiple non-contiguous variables.)
3. When you have finished your selection, press "Submit".

The results will appear in a new window or tab, depending on your browser settings. To view detailed description of the data, simply mouse over it. To save the results in a tab-delimited text file, easily transferred to a statistical application or a spreadsheet, just follow the link in the upper left corner.