Data Resources: Home

Finding Datasets

• Consider who might collect the data you're interested in. A government agency? A nonprofit organization? A company in the private industry? An academic researcher?
• Search scholarly publications or government reports. Some might cite the dataset and include a link.
• Search data or statistics databases that the University Libraries subscribe to.
• Search repositories that contain openly available datasets.
• Consider combining multiple datasets if one doesn't meet all of your needs.
• Look for data appropriate for your needs, e.g. geospatial data for creating a map.

Evaluating Datasets

Before using a dataset, consider the following:

• Is the source of the data reputable?
• Is there documentation, such as metadata, for the dataset? For example, a metadata record or a data dictionary should be provided to explain the structure of the dataset, missing data, abbreviations used, etc.
• Is the file format usable? Do you need additional software to use it?
• Are there restrictions on the use of the dataset?

Quantitative data: are usually numeric, can be counted or measured, and answer questions such as "how many" or "how much".

Qualitative data: are usually categorical and can describe characteristics.

Geospatial data: describe objects or events with a location on the surface of the earth and usually include coordinates, zip codes, etc.

Primary data: are original data collected or created by the researcher themselves while conducting research.

Secondary data: are data that were not collected or created by the researcher themselves, e.g. data from government agencies.