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Data Resources

Finding Data

There are many ways to find data. Here are a few possibilities to start out with:

  • Search for keywords in data repositories such as Harvard Dataverse, and other websites such as data.gov and Google Data Search. You'll want to think about who might be collecting the data (researchers, government agencies, etc.) and where it might be located.  
  • If there's a specific data set that you'd like to use, it might be freely available online, it might cost money, or it might not be available online.  Contact the data creator/principle investigator to find out if and how you're able to access to data that is not available online.  
  • Read data papers to give you a better understanding of important datasets in your field. 
  • Although Duquesne doesn't have access to datasets on ICPSR, you can still search this database to see what data exists.  ICPSR includes many social science datasets, and it is unique in that you are able to search by variable.  
  • If you find an interesting statistic while you're reading, look to see if the statistic is cited.  Statistics such as those found in the Statistical Abstract of the United States often cite the data that was used to create the statistic.

Evaluating Data

Once you find your data, make sure that it fits your need.  It often isn't possible to find the perfect data set with all the variables measured exactly how you'd like them, but there are certain measures that you will most likely need if you're studying a particular topic. Think about the year the data was collected, and whether the data is recent enough. Think about whether the data is relevant to your topic and whether the variables measure what you intend them to measure. What is the sample size? Does your data need to be longitudinal?  If you can't figure out certain details about the data that are important to you, contact the data creator.