Identifying Data

• What kind of data do I need?


• How do I find out what the Library has?


• How do I find out what's available on the Web?


• How do I find out what's at ICPSR?


• What if I still can't find anything appropriate?

What Kind of Data do you Need? 

Do you need quick answers?

One or two numbers to plug into a report, such as how many Americans support abortion, the latest value for the Consumer Price Index, or voter turnout in the 1996 Presidential Election.

• Statistical Universe contains bibliographic references to tables of statistics published by the U.S. Government, international and intergovernmental agencies, U.S. state governments and private organizations. About 15% of the statistics from the U.S. Government are included in full-text formats. A Guide on Statistical Universe is available.
  
• A Matter of Fact contains citations and substantive abstracts from 300 newspapers and periodicals, the Congressional Record, and Congressional hearings. AMOF functions as a handy, current source of statistics and facts, much like an almanac. AMOF is one of the index files in MIRLYN.
  
• Stat-USA is an online source to many U.S. Government statistical series.
  
• Statistical Resources on the Web, maintained by the Documents Center, contains links to web sites with statistics that can be copied or downloaded.

Do you need data for statistical analysis?

Data that you will use with a statistical package, for example to analyze trends in opposition to abortion since 1972, or monthly Consumer Price Indexes for the United States since 1948, or to compare demographic characteristics of voters in the 1992 Presidential Election and their party identification. Continue reading for guidance on locating a dataset.

What does the library already have?

The Library may already have data that you can use.

The Numeric Data Catalog contains records for numeric data that the Library owns such as data from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research or for which users have access, such as data available from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Other numeric data holdings will be added in the future.

The Documents Center receives many publications in electronic format. These holdings can also be searched in MIRLYN. The CD-ROM Technical Documentation Project contains a list of CD-ROMs distributed by the U.S. Government, many of which contain numeric data.

MIRLYN can be used to identify numeric data from such places as the Roper Center and the ICPSR. MIRLYN, the University of Michigan's online public access catalog, contains records for numeric data files that are included in the library collections.

Note: MIRLYN also contains many records for data files which are distributed by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). These files are not part of the library collections but may be acquired by UM faculty, students and staff through the ICPSR Direct program. These records can be identified by the location 'ICPSR (Ask at Grad Lib Reference)'.

Can't Find Anything Appropriate?

• Try a literature search using your favorite research sources: Networked Electronic Resources contains lists of electronic resources which may be helpful.
• Don't overlook human resources. A Subject Specialist can suggest printed and electronic resources on your topic.
• If you are doing research in an unfamiliar area, the Subject Resource Guides can identify sources to search.
• If you find an article that is based on quantitative research, it may identify an data file that you can search for in MIRLYN, the ICPSR database or through any of the search engines on the web. See hints on using MIRLYN to identify electronic resources in What Does the Library Already Have?