Citing
Don't forget to cite your data sources.
APA Style - Online Data Sets
Point readers to raw data by providing a Web address
- use "Retrieved from"
or a general place that houses data sets on the site
- use "Available from"
example:
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2008). Indiana income limits [Data file]. Retrieved from https://www.huduser.org/Datasets/
IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf
Types
Time Series - same phenomina over specificed length of time
Cross Section - 1 point of time in multiple places
Pooled - combination of time series and cross section data
Polls
- Pew Research Centerinternational polls, publications and data
- World Values SurveyValues and their impact on social and political life.
General Data Sources
Before starting consider which government, agency or organization might have collected data on this topic.
Also consider the time period -- current or historical, and the format -- table to print or data to download to a spreadsheet.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States- socio-economic and demographic indicators data tables
{paper editions at Tutt go back to 1893}
- Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Times to the Present This link opens in a new windowCoverage: 1600s - current. Annual time series of the U.S. population, economic indicators, social conditions, and government. From colonial times to the present.
- ICPSR: International Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new windowCoverage: N/A. Provides large data sets such as public opinion polls, attitude surveys, health information, results of research projects. Data may require use of specialized software such as SPSS or SAS.
- International Financial StatisticsCoverage: 1948 - current; time series which summarize each country's balance of payments, with collateral data on its principal components (trade and reserves), and data on the principal cause and effect elements (monetary expansion and contraction, government surpluses and deficits, production, prices and interest rates).
Helpful Links
EconLit, Business Source Complete (Ebsco Databases)
- show graphs in results list
Wolfram Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine, www.wolframalpha.com/
- gives access to the world's facts and data and calculates answers across a range of topics
Government Sources - ".gov"
- census (population, economic, agricultural, etc.), statistical branches (Education, health, Commerce, etc.)