Research Guides: Pursuing Primary Sources: Finding Data

Finding Data

This guide uses a lot of historical examples but the considerations and strategies we offer apply to data research, too. Data source research often looks different from other forms of research. I suggest organizing your data research into three phases. If at any point you have found the sources you need for your research, you do not need to continue on to later phases.

Search Library Databases

Start your research in library databases. Due to the nature of data collection library collections won't have all the data. The data they do collect may have added contextualization or may be easier to use. You'll want to take advantage of these features when available. The right databases will depend on your topic. Here are a few Shapiro Databases that include Data.

Datasets

SAGE Data
Provides access to more than 18.9 billion data points from more than 70 source organizations.
Statista
Statista is one of the leading statistics companies on the internet. With a team of over 200 statisticians, database experts, analysts, and editors, Statista provides users with an innovative and intuitive tool for researching quantitative data, statistics and related information.

Explore Aggregators and Large Collections

Next, you'll venture out to publicly available aggregators and large collections.

Data.Gov This link opens in a new window
The home of the U.S. Government’s open data.

Look for Relevant Independent Collections

Finally, identify research groups collecting or creating data relevant to your research. Try some free web searches to discover collections and datasets. Think about what you know about your topic from background research and who might have collected data. Here are some searches to consider:

[likely data creator] and dataset
[likely data creator] and data
[your broad topic] dataset
[your broad topic] data

Pew Research Center This link opens in a new window
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.