Market Research Basics: Finding Psychographic Data

Psychographic Data

"Psychographics identifies lifestyle habits, values, attitudes, and other defining attributes" (source). This article from ESRI explains the difference between psychographic and demographic data. Free & public library data sources are listed first, or jump to UNC library sources

Free & Public Library Sources

American Time Use Survey (BLS)

The American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing.

Industry Associations/Trade Publications

Advanced Google search techniques will be helpful to locate articles and reports about your industry's customers. Trade publications often reference or summarize studies that are behind paywalls.

Independent Research Organizations

Research organizations like the Pew Research Center conduct national surveys and publish reports on many topics. Search for national surveys from reputable organizations to find additional psychographic information. Example report from the Pew Research Center: As Millennials Near 40, They’re Approaching Family Life Differently Than Previous Generations.

Data Axle Reference Solutions (formerly ReferenceUSA)

The U.S. Consumers/Lifestyles database in Data Axle provides psychographic data and market segments. Searching is very similar to searching for businesses.

Watch the video for a sample search or follow the instructions below.

• Once you are in the database, under “U.S. Consumers/ Lifestyles” click search
• Click on the “advanced search” tab
• Select your geography, ex. City/State
• After every data variable you add, go to the right hand side and click on “update count”
• Under “Lifestyles” you can select relevant data variables for your business. Ex. “Home Improvement” or “Motor Vehicles”.
• Update count. You can view results here or continue to add in more variables as necessary for the other datasets. Ex. “Home Owner” under “Consumer snapshot” update count if necessary and view results.
• If you added any data from the “consumer snapshot” you will not get a list of names but a summary of the data instead.
• You can rerun the data for different locations and data variables to get a better snapshot of who your customer is and where they live.

UNC Library Sources

You must have an active ONYEN and password to access these databases.