LibGuides: Statistics: Home

Statistics and Data

Data vs. Statistics by Haley Mooney
Author is based at Michigan State University.

The terms "statistics" and "data" are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Data are the raw numbers and from which statistics are created. Statistics are data analyzed.

Sources of statistics

Census Population Profile Map, 2010
See demographics down to the Census Block level including population, ethnicity, race, age, and household, and compare to other locations.

Various sources of general statistics. See also specific areas, such as Business, for statistics in those areas. Here's where to go to learn to use SPSS.

CIA - The World Factbook
The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

City and County Data Book
U.S. government compilation of statistics on all U.S. counties and parishes, cities with more than 25,000 inhabitants, and places with more than 2500 inhabitants.
Data Center
An independent non-profit organization that collects, analyzes and publishes demographic, economic and related data about Southeast Louisiana, including the Greater New Orleans area.

500 Cities
"...City- and census tract-level small area estimates for chronic disease risk factors, health outcomes, and clinical preventive service use for the largest 500 cities in the United States."
Data USA
Data and data visualizations from government and other sources.
GSS (General Social Survey)
From the University of Chicago. "Since 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS) has provided politicians, policymakers, and scholars with a clear and unbiased perspective on what Americans think and feel about such issues as national spending priorities, crime and punishment, intergroup relations, and confidence in institutions." Click "Get the Data."
IPUMS (Integrated Public use Microdata Service) USA
"IPUMS-USA is a project dedicated to collecting and distributing United States census data." Registration required to search.
National Center for Education Statistics
The primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.

National Statistics Online (U.K.)
"Britain's economy, population and society at national and local level. Summaries and detailed data releases are published free of charge." Note the "UK at a glance" section for brief information. (PDF formed used for some documents)

Statistical Abstract of the United States
Statistical tables for the U.S. and some international stats for 1879 to 2012.
University of Michigan Research Data
Finding sources of data for statistical analysis.
WONDER
Locate public health data sets. From the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
World Wealth & Income Database
"Source for global inequality data."
Google Datasets Search
Locate open datasets.

Data Sets and Web Sites

Bureau of Economic Analysis (U.S. Dept. Commerce)

Collections of data sets for analysis with SPSS or other statistical software. Be on the lookout for data and for codebooks, which explain the data format.

CAUSEweb.org
From Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Epidemiology, etc.
City of New Orleans Open Data
Data.gov
U.S. federal government data sets and more.
Drexel University
Gap Minder
Gender Equality Data and Statistics
From the World Bank: "This gender data portal is a one-stop shop for gender information, catering to a wide range of users and providing data from a variety of sources. Data at the country level are organized under six thematic headings, which are aligned to the themes identified by the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics."
George Washington University Libraries
Google Public Data Explorer
GSS (General Social Survey)
International Monetary Fund
James Madison University Libraries
LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxemourg
"LIS acquires datasets with income, wealth, employment, and demographic data from a large number of countries, harmonises them to enable cross-national comparisons, and makes them available for public use by providing registered users with remote access."
Louisiana Sunshine Open Government Website
Created by the Pelican Institute for Public Policy; includes searchable databases and downloadable spreadsheets for Payroll, Legislative Spending, Pensions, and Vendor Payments for the state of Louisiana.
Magazine of Early American Datasets (MEAD)
Online repository of datasets compiled by historians of early North America.
Many Eyes
Milne Library Data Collections: Open Data Sets by topic
open NASA
StatSci.org
Links to datasets.
Stetson University - Dr. John Rasp
U.K. Office for National Statistics
World Bank

Related Guides

Business

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