Research Guides: Data and Statistics: Finding Data

Before Starting...

Consider what kind of data you are looking for:

Do I want time series data (data that is measured over time) or not?
What is my research area? Do I need a specific geographic coverage?
Am I looking for data on a specific population?
What format of data do I need? A .csv? A geospatial file?

Once you have determined the type of data you need, consider where this data may be found - who might collect this data?

If you are looking for a data on a specific population, consider whether or not the government might collect this data.
If you are looking for geographical or historical data, consider what organization might also be interested in this information.

If you are interested in using someone else's data set, make sure that you either have permission or that you are using a data set from an open access website.

Remember...

Raw data is unprocessed or unedited data.
Data is a set of values of either quantitative or qualitative variables. Once data has been collected, it is cleaned up for analysis.

30 Resources to Find the Data You Need

Types of Data

Qualitative Data: Non-numerical data.
- Ex: eye color, socioeconomic status
Quantitative Data: Numerical data.
- Ex: height, shoe size
Continuous Data: Data which can have an infinite number of values and therefore 0 is not meaningful.
- Ex: weight, height
Discrete Data: Discrete data has finite values and a meaningful 0.
- Ex: number of people living in a household
Time-Series: Studying the same variable over time; the instrument is the same but different people will be used.
Longitudinal: Typically are surveys that are taken over time with the same people, but not always the same survey or instrument.

Open Access Data

Open access refers to online research that is freely accessible to everyone. For finding data, check out any of these open access resources listed below:

ArcGIS Open Data
Open data can be found on ArcGIS Hub, an easy-to-configure cloud platform that organizes people, data, and tools
DataONE
Find data related to environmental sciences. Includes features such as data provenance, location search, data attribute and more.
DataCite
Search hundreds of data repositories to find, access, and reuse data. Also provides persistent identifiers (DOIs) for research data.
Data.gov
Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government.
Population Reference Bureau
Population, health, and the environment data worldwide.
Data Repository Directory
From Open Access Directory
Data USA
Purpose is to understand and visualize critical issues facing the United States such as jobs, skills, and education. Data and data visualizations cover a large variety of industries and topics.
European data
data.europa.eu commitment to open data research and learning is paramount. In this section you will find the full collection of the outputs of the research that the project has developed since its inception, up to the most recent reports and the renown Open Data Maturity landscaping exercise we perform yearly. In addition to that, we offer a selection of relevant research and papers by other institutions
Figshare
Digital repository where researchers can preserve and share their research including figures, datasets, images, and videos
Google Dataset Search
Find datasets stored across thousands of repositories online using Google's platform.
Registry of Research Data Repositories
Re3data is a global registry of research data repositories that covers research data repositories from different academic disciplines. It includes repositories that enable permanent storage of and access to data sets to researchers, funding bodies, publishers, and scholarly institutions.

SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
Contains data collections related to substance abuse and mental health. Data collections include emergency department data (DAWN), client-level mental health data (MH-CLD), mental health and substance use facilities data (N-MHSS, N-SSATS, N-SUMHSS), population data (NSDUH), and more.

UNdata
Statistical information from member states on agriculture, crime, education, employment, energy, environment, health, HIV/AIDS, human development, industry, information and communication technology, national accounts, population, refugees, tourism, trade, as well as the Millennium Development Goals indicators.
Datahub
The Data Hub contains 2392 datasets that you can browse, learn about and download.
Dissemination and Sharing of Research Results
From the National Science Foundation
World Bank Open Data
Data about development in countries around the globe by country, topic, indicator, and more.

Data and Statistics

Best Practices for Data

Data in Auraria Library Databases

Before Starting...

Types of Data

Open Access Data