Statistics VS Data
Statistics VS Data
Do you know the difference between statistics and data?
Data is the raw information from which statistics are created. It is usually gathered through studies or surveys. If you are interested in a phenomenon, or want to answer a "why" or "how" question, you want to use raw data, which is in the form of machine-readable data files or datasets.
Statistics provide an interpretation and summary of data. If you want to know "how much," you probably want statistical data which usually is displayed in tables or charts and can be numbers or percentages.
Business Research Librarian
Betty Garrison
she/her/hers
Large Dataset Archives
- FRED Economic DataDownload, graph, and track 418,000 US and international time series from 79 sources.
- Data.GovOfficial U.S. government site providing increased public access to federal government datasets.
- EconData.Net1,000 links to socioeconomic data sources, arranged by subject and provider.
- OECD StatsOECD.Stat includes data and metadata for OECD countries and selected non-member economies.
- Pew Research CenterPew Research Center makes its data available to the public for secondary analysis after a period of time.
- Harvard Dataverse NetworkFind and cite data across all research fields.
- GeoCommonsGeoCommons is a community contributed collection of open data from around the world.
- Roper Center for Public Opinion Research This link opens in a new windowOne of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. 1930- present. Available only to Elon students, faculty and staff
- Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new windowThese are statistics from the US Census and Statistical Abstracts from 1790 to 1990 or later. This includes the population census, which includes information on housing, economic conditions and much more.
- Google Dataset SearchFind references to many datasets in environmental and social sciences, as well as data from other disciplines including government data and data provided by news organizations.
Country Data
- UNDataUseful features like Country Profiles, Advanced Search and Glossaries are also provided to aid research. The numerous databases, tables and glossaries containing over 60 million data points cover a wide range of themes including Agriculture, Crime, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Industry, Information and Communication Technology, National Accounts, Population, Refugees, Tourism, Trade, as well as the Millennium Development Goals indicators.
- World Bank Open DataFree and open access to global development data
Demographics
- Integrated Public Use Microdata SeriesIPUMS-CPS is a project dedicated to integrating and disseminating
data from the Current Population Survey. - QuickFactsQuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more.
Society and Lifestyles
- General Social Survey Data ExplorerSince 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS) has been monitoring societal change and studying the growing complexity of American society. GSS Data Explorer, from NORC at the University of Chicago, makes it easier than ever to use the data collected by the GSS.
- Pew Research Center Social TrendsSocial and Demographic Trends
- World Values SurveyThe WVS consists of nationally representative surveys conducted in almost 100 countries which contain almost 90 percent of the world’s population, using a common questionnaire. The WVS is the largest non-commercial, cross-national, time series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed, currently including interviews with almost 400,000 respondents.
Weather
- Climate Data OnlineNCEI is the world’s largest provider of weather and climate data. Enter name of city, county, state, country or other geographic location. ZIP codes and FIPS identifiers are also valid.
Elections
- American National Election StudiesANES produces high quality data from its own surveys on voting, public opinion, and political participation
- Comparative Political Data SetA collection of political and institutional country-level data provided by Prof. Dr. Klaus Armingeon and collaborators at the University of Berne. It consists of annual data for 36 democratic countries for the period of 1960 to 2015 or since their transition to democracy.
Crime
- Key Statistics - Bureau of Justice StatisticsStatistics, data and charts for crime, victims and correction facilities and inmates.
Health Statistics
Sites for retrieving US and global health statistics are listed. Scroll down to see important public health organizations.
- Global Health Observatory from the World Health OrganizationInternational health indicators
- UNdataStatistical information from United Nations member states on a variety of topics including: Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Population, and Refugees, Tourism.
- Add Health DataThe Add Health study has collected data of interest to investigators from many disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences and from many theoretical traditions.
- FastStats: Centers for Disease Control and PreventionStatistics on topics of public health importance; organized alphabetically. Links are provided to publications that include the statistics presented, to sources of more data, and to related web pages.
- CDC Reproductive Health StatisticsCDC's Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) monitors maternal and infant mortality, the most serious reproductive health complications. In addition, attention is focused on gathering data to better understand the extent of maternal and infant morbidity, adverse behaviors during pregnancy, and long-term consequences of pregnancy.
- Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent HealthA project of the child and adolescent health measurement initiative.
- Polling the Nations This link opens in a new windowPublic opinion polls containing 350,000 questions and responses from 14,000 surveys in the U.S. and 80 other countries, 1986-present.
- Office of Minority Health Resource CenterMinority health resources from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
- USDA Economic Research ServiceUSDA reports and data on many topics related to food and agriculture.
Economics
- FRED Economic Data (Federal Reserve)Download, graph, and track 418,000 US and international time series from 79 sources.
- OECD StatExtractsOECD.Stat includes data and metadata for OECD countries and selected non-member economies
- International Monetary Fund DataTime series data on IMF lending, exchange rates and other economic and financial indicators.
- Survey of Income and Program ParticipationSIPP collects data and measures change for many topics including: economic well-being, family dynamics, education, assets, health insurance, childcare, and food security.
- Panel Study of Income DynamicsThe Panel Study of Income Dynamics - PSID - is the longest running longitudinal household survey in the world. Includes employment, income, wealth, expenditures, health, marriage, childbearing, child development, philanthropy, education, and numerous other topics.
- Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)The mission of the OECD is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.