Home: Sociology: Data Sources

General Considerations: Finding Statistics

1. Explore the web sites of specific government/private agencies based on your topic, e.g. U.S. Department of Labor.

2. Explore research articles on your topic and identify the datasets that are commonly used.

3. When searching the Internet using Google.com, includes site:.gov or site:.edu in your search phrase (to limit your results to governmental or educational web sites, respectively).

Example: "higher education" and (statistics or dataset or "data set") and site:.gov

Selected Web Sites

Current Population Survey (CPS)
“The Current Population Survey (CPS), sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is the primary source of labor force statistics for the population of the United States.”
Eurostat
"Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union situated in Luxembourg."
Gapminder
Presents statistical data on Global trends and issues with animated presentations, and interactive, customizable charts.
NORC [National Opinion Research Center] at the University of Chicago
See General Social Survey.
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take positions on policy issues. Click on Datasets link to find statistical reports arranged by broad research areas and to download data sets. Select Topics link to search by subject or among polling questions.
The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
Cornell University
U.S. Census Bureau
UNdata: A World of Information
Searches include a keyword Data search (default), a Glossary, and a Country Profiles search (found under More options). Direct links to the national statistics offices of many countries are available in the Country Data Services section.United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
WDI World Development Indicators (The World Bank Group)
World Bank Group's World Development Indicators.
World Health Organization (WHO)
Explore especially the Health Topics, Countries, and Emergencies drop down menus. Click the Regions tab at the homepage's extreme upper left to select WHO pages for specific geographical areas.

Gateways/Directories/Research Guides

Data.gov
"The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government." Click the Data tab to conduct a keyword search of datasets. Narrow your search or browse by filters on the left.
Links to Data Sets and Repositories
American Psychological Association
Guide to International and US Statistics Sources
Cornell University Library
Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM)
"The FCSM was created by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to inform and advise OMB and the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP) on methodological and statistical issues that affect the quality of Federal data."
List of Foreign and International Governmental Statistical Agencies
“Provides access to statistical websites from foreign and international government organizations.” Foreign language sites here provide an option to translate into English; look for small print along the top of the page. Maintained by Purdue University.
Data Sets for Quantitative Research: Public Use Datasets
University of Missouri Libraries