PLCY 581: Research Design for Public Policy: Data
Finding Data - Strategies
- Define the specific elements of your question: time, geography and subject matter.
- Consider what organizations might pay for data collection on your topic.
- government (international, national, state, local...)
- trade associations
- non-profits
- academe (directly from a researcher or indirectly from a repository)
- Read the literature for possible sources, but beware that sources noted in articles may not be openly available.
- Will data be costly in terms of money or time to obtain? Do you have the requisite knowledge to manipulate it?
- Cite your data to make them easier for others to find. See more below about how to format data citations.
Potential Sources
- PolicyMapAccess social, economic, health and demographic data about U.S. communities and markets in this online mapping tool. View data on map, in table or chart format, and download via the sidebar menu. Reports provide a summary snapshot of an area: Community Profile, Community Health Profile, Rental Housing Report, and Housing Mortgage Report.
- Centers for Disease ControlPremiere source of U.S. health data, including behavioral risk factors like smoking and social issues with public health implications like teen pregnancy.
- Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) from World Resources InstituteA set of comprehensive and comparable greenhouse gas inventories, together with other climate-relevant indicators. CAIT has been used to analyze a wide range of climate-related data questions and help support policy decision making and discussions under the Climate Convention and in other forums.
- Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial EditionCovers historical annual time series data on American economic, social, political, demographic, and institutional history. Essays place the data in historical context. Download data in Excel or CSV.
- ICPSRThe Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is the world's largest archive of computer readable social science data. ICPSR provides Web access to data files and documentation for use with statistical software, such as SAS, SPSS, and Stata. The ICPSR data holdings contains more than 500,000 files that cover a wide range of social science areas such as population, economics, education, health, social and political behavior, social and political attitudes, history, crime, aging, and substance abuse. Individual registration and adherence to responsible use statement are required.
Note: Off-campus access available if individual's account is created on campus or while authenticated. - International Historical StatisticsExtensive resource for countries' historical statistics across many subject areas.
- National Center for Education StatisticsExcellent source of education data from pre-K to post-graduate.
- NationMaster.comCommercial site (has ads) but cites its sources and is often useful for sub-country level data.
- Social ExplorerProvides web-based access to United States Census data from 1790 to the present, and to other U.S. and international data, with the ability to make tables and interactive maps easily or export data for analysis. Data include the most commonly used variables and geographies.
- StatistaContains statistics, infographics, industry and market research reports and publicly-available data for over 25 countries on all topics. Download statistics and charts in Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF.
Note: UNC Chapel Hill currently has full access to Statista with the exception of the Global Consumer Survey and Market Studies. - Statistical Abstract of the United StatesCites its sources. Rich historical data as well as current events.
Citing Data
- How to Cite DataThis guide provides guidance on how to construct a citation for data. Doing so is important to acknowledge the work of others if the data is not your own but, even if it is your own, to enable others to find (and perhaps re-use) your data.
Understanding Data
- Read the technical documentation!
- Consider the purpose for which data were collected, and their limitations.
- Ask the experts (both about finding and understanding data).
Data Librarian
Michele Hayslett
Contact:
Subjects
Data Management
Numeric Data
Census Data
Locating Data
If you would like to request we acquire data, please carefully read the guidelines at http://library.unc.edu/data/purchase/.
Website
Data Management
Numeric Data
Census Data
Locating Data
If you would like to request we acquire data, please carefully read the guidelines at http://library.unc.edu/data/purchase/.