Looking for Numeric Data Sets?
A Strategy

Many types of numeric data used in academic research are available at minimal cost. The range and variety of such data, however, is so great that the data cannot readily be characterized or catalogued. Also, researchers collect and “make” data all the time; much of the time they do not freely distribute the data, perhaps for reasons of cost, to protect the confidentiality of research sources or subjects, or to retain a proprietary interest in the data while they continue to publish from it.

However, a great deal of numeric data is freely open to the public because it is produced and distributed by public institutions to serve public purposes. Governments (local, state, national, and international) produce data based on vital statistics, censuses, surveys, public services provided, economic activity and many other sources.

Also a lot of publicly available data is produced and distributed by non-governmental organizations. Some of the most prominent examples include the Freedom House “democracy” indexes, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and the public opinion surveys administered by the Pew Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Hispanic Center.

Search Strategy

Suppose you are looking for numeric data on a particular subject. Where would you start? In some cases, you will know of a particular database because you’ve read about it in a book, research paper or news source. But in general if you’re looking for archived data on a given subject, we suggest three interrelated approaches.

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