FINDING STATISTICS

Strategies and Resources for

Data versus Statistics The terms are used interchangeably, and that’s

okay, but there are important differences

Data: The data as it was collected. Untabulated. Unanalyzed. Individual responses or observations. Raw datasets require statistical software, codebooks, and the necessary skills to use them.

Statistics are aggregated, analyzed data, generally answering the question, how many? (numbers/figures/percents)

A Dataset txt file

Data as it appears in SPSS

Statistics: In a static table

Statistics from a dynamic database

What you want – What there is

Finding statistics or data is often an exercise in making compromises between what you want and what there is.

Some statistical collections won’t go back as far as you need

Some data collections are restricted (to protect respondent’s privacy)

Some data is proprietary and only sold at a steep price (this is true especially for business data).

And sometimes the data you want was never collected

Migrant Farm Labor, State Data

Strategies Mine the source notes in relevant secondary sources

(books, journal articles, etc.)

Is there a governmental department, business association, think tank, or international agency that might be interested in gathering the information, e.g. United Nations, World Bank, World Health Information, UNESCO, US Census Bureau, etc. Ex. UNESCO report, “

International Student Mobility in sub-Saharan Africa ”

Search an index to statistical sources, such as Statistical Abstract of the United States, Proquest Statistical Insight, International Statistics Sources, etc. Example: “Native Americans”

More strategies…

Find a statistics database

Statistics Sources for the Social Sciences

US Crime

NCJRS National Criminal Justice Reference System

US Economy

Bureau of Labor StatisticsLocal Area Unemployment Statistics

International Social Indicators UNESCO – Data Centre – China

And more… Search a major statistics portal, such as the UN Statistics

Resource Guide to find things like Economics – IMF Data and Statistics: “Natural Disasters Hitting More People, Becoming More Costly”

Search the web, adding the terms “statistics portal” “data repository” etc. to find things like East Africa Community Statistics Portal

For raw datasets, search a data repository such as CISER, Databib, Dataverse, AidData, and on, and on…

Mine the Secondary Sources

Select a discipline-specific database

In most cases, you will need to choose the Advanced Search

Add statistics OR data OR table or graph along with your topic search terms.

Sometimes, the data was collected by the author; other times the researcher is using data from another source. These source notes can be great clues!

Statistics embedded in an articleFURNHAM, ADRIAN, and STEPHANIE PALTZER. "The Portrayal Of Men And Women In Television Advertisements: An Updated Review Of 30 Studies Published Since 2000." Scandinavian Journal Of Psychology 51.3 (2010): 216-236.

"In Japan (Furnham & Imadzu, 2002), the only difference was seen in the home category where 19.35% of women and 9% of men advertised home products. Men and women were just as likely to advertise body products and it was the most common product advertised for both sex (28% of males and 30.97% of females.“

Article referencing a data source

National Agricultural Workers Survey

Article reporting on a study…

Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity: An Application to American Indians in the USA Source: Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Jan., 2008), pp. 191-215. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40344400 .

Summary

Was the data collected? Who might have collected the data?

Search major indexes and statistics portals

Mine the secondary literature! Follow the source notes.