![iPoll (from the Roper
Center)
iPoll
[search] gun control
[organization] Gallup
Note the “crosstabs” symbol
1. Which regions of the country more strongly oppose gun
control?
2. Is a person’s income bracket a good predictor of
whether they support or oppose gun control?](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/findingstatistics2-130326164753-phpapp01/85/Finding-statistics2-10-320.jpg)
Finding statistics2
- 1. Strategies and Resources for
- 2. Learning Outcomes In this session, you will… Increase your knowledge of statistics sources Learn several strategies for finding statistics Develop some ideas about how/when statistics may be helpful for different kinds of research
- 3. Data versus Statistics The terms are used interchangeably, but there are important differences The term statistics is used to describe aggregated, analyzed data, generally answering the question, how many? (numbers/figures/percents) Data refers to the individual responses or observations as collected. Untabulated. Unanalyzed. “Raw data” Raw datasets generally require statistical software and the use of codebooks to interpret the data.
- 4. Statistics: In a static table Daoud, A. M. (2002). "The ESL kids are over there": Social and language boundaries between immigrant latino and white high school students. University of California, Santa Barbara). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 198-198 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/252128757?accountid=10267. (252128757).
- 5. Statistics from a Database
- 6. Raw data….
- 7. SPSS (Stastical Software) for Raw Data
- 8. What kind of statistics? Point-in-time measurements (e.g., how may people are above/below the poverty line in…?) Time series (same data point represented over a period of time – years, quarterly, months) Geographic area – By country, state, city, smaller?
- 9. Poll data Which regions of the country more strongly oppose gun control? Is a person’s income bracket a good predictor of whether they support or oppose gun control?
- 10. iPoll (from the Roper Center) iPoll [search] gun control [organization] Gallup Note the “crosstabs” symbol 1. Which regions of the country more strongly oppose gun control? 2. Is a person’s income bracket a good predictor of whether they support or oppose gun control?
- 11. What you want – What there is Finding statistics or data is often an exercise in making compromises between what you want and what there is. Some statistical collections won’t go back as far as you need Some data collections are restricted (to protect respondent’s privacy) Some data is proprietary and only sold at a steep price (this is especially true for business data).
- 12. Before the internet… There are lots of statistics available on the web, and in library subscription databases, but many of these sources will not go back as far as you need. Example: National Crime Victimization Survey
- 13. But we may have it in print!
- 14. Strategies Search an index or compendia or portal to statistical sources, such as the Statistical Abstract of the United States, OECD iLibrary, and more. Find a statistics database Search for “statistics” in the library’s “library guides” Scholar’s trick: Mine the source notes in relevant secondary sources (books, journal articles, etc.)
- 15. More strategies… Search the web, adding the terms “statistics portal” “data repository” etc. , but be prepared to find both statistics and raw data. For raw data, search a data repository such as CISER, Databib, Dataverse, AidData, and on, and on…
- 16. Mine the Secondary Sources Select a database. For this exercise, let’s use Academic Search Premier Add some search terms Add statistics OR data OR table or graph in the line below your topic search terms. Review what you have found.
- 17. Keep an eye out New data sources are popping up all the time If your work will be data-heavy, look for an option to be added to an email list of organizations or projects that you have found. For example, while working on this session, a note came through my email announcing this resource: LawAtlas.org LawAtlasSM is a gateway to key laws aimed at improving our health or access to health care.