Identifying Data Needs
It's important to think about what data you think you will need and the sources where you might find this data. An advantage of being a university student is that you have a wealth of information at your fingertips.
Where to find data
As you consider which data sources you need you may have to be flexible in how you approach finding data. For example, you may want to employee satisfaction at a specific company after moving to a four-day work week. Data from that company might not be available, however, research might have been done about four-day work weeks, flexible schedules, or non-traditional work weeks. You may have to consider these outside sources as you approach your research question:
- Other Researchers - look through our article databases or the Research a Topic tab for this information.
- Government Data - think U.S. Census, federal, and local agencies
- Organization/Association Data - Non-profit centers, foundations, trade associations, and advocacy groups
- Data Repositories - Researchers, government agencies, universities, etc.
- DataPlanet Data Basics: I need data, where do I start? This link opens in a new window
Types of data
There are many different types of data to identify, understand and process. Watch the SAGE Research Methods video Data Types: Textual, Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio This link opens in a new window below to learn more.
