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Sociology 209: Social Inequality

Who am I and why should you care?• Dawn Stahura

• I’m your Sociology Librarian/Liaison/Superhero

Today’s Class:

• Peer-reviewed, scholarly articles

• Libguide (what it is and how to use it)

• Database searching (SocINDEX and PAIS)

• Statistics and Government Data

• Break-out sessions

Numerical Terminology

Data: refers to individual numbers, like the original computer file of all the numerically coded responses to a survey.

• Looks like a series of numbers. This is a DATA FILE, usually called a DATA SET.

• Data are actual values. One value in a data set is a data point.

• When you process data, grouping the data points and expressing them as percentages, then you have STATISTICS.

Statistics: groups of numbers, usually expressed in terms of percentages.

The data (numbers) and the statistical percentage it represents both appear here:

“Almost 9 million (data) young Americans, or about 15 percent (statistic) of all children, are overweight.”

Statistics are easier to find.

But if you want to analyze a series of values, then you want a DATA SET.

Collection of Numbers

When thinking about a numerical question, consider whether or not it would be worth someone’s time to collect the information and make it available in a way that is useful.

It is costly to collect, analyze, and interpret data.

So, if the government does not have it, and a nonprofit or possibly a trade organization does not provide the information you are looking for, then it means it would have to be information collected by a FOR-profit organization.

So think about what type of information you want to find about poverty and then consider whether or not someone would be interested in collecting that data, and WHO it might be.

Categories of Numbers

Collected numbers fall under three main categories:

• People population counts, demographics (race, income), immigration and migration, and vital statistics (births, deaths).

• Business broad information about business such as numbers of companies, production, and workers in various industries, as well as numbers related to doing business (market research, or sales figures for a particular company).

• Financial “business numbers” that are financial in nature (historical stock prices), money or monetary equivalents (stocks), information such as the GDP, banking data (total currency in circulation, total value of money in savings accounts), exchange rates, and aggregate numbers associated with stock markets (Dow Jones Industrial Averages).

• **Knowing where your “number question” fits into one of these categories will help you decide what agency collects these numbers.**

Who Collects Numbers?

In the United States, the U.S. Government is probably the largest collector and publisher of “numbers.” This is true of other developed countries.

These organizations are termed the “public sector” and usually the information they make available is free (tax dollars at work).

The private sector, comprises of trade or business organizations, professional associations, market research companies, and polling and surveying organizations.

Usually information produced by the private sector is NOT free, although some trade and professional groups may provide some statistics on their websites.

What’s this peer-reviewed business?

Scholarly vs. general interest magazines:

The Sociology 209 Libguide:

http://libguides.wellesley.edu/soc209

Trouble finding information on your topic?

Think about your topic and where it fits in the hierarchy. What higher class does your topic belong to? Are their subclasses of your topic that could become factors to consider? Encyclopedias can help with this! So can concept mapping!

Homelessness

Housing issues

Social work

Education of homeless children

Gov’t policy

Sociology of cities

Sociology

Finding articles in databases:

SocINDEX: to locate articles on sociological topics.

PAIS to locate articles on political science.

ERIC to locate articles on education.

PolicyFile to locate articles from think-tanks, NGOs and research institutes.

Academic Search Complete broad, multidisciplinary database.

Statistics and Government Data

• OFFSTATS can search by country and subject.

• Statistical Abstract authoritative summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the U.S.

• American FactFinder U.S. government source for population, housing, economic, and geographic information.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.

• NCES The primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S.

• Data.gov Increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government.

Questions? Help?

• I’m available for one-on-one consultations.

• Email, Google chat, visit the help desk, phone me.

Good luck on your research projects!