Test
- Statista This link opens in a new windowQuantitative data, statistics, infographics, and related information compiled from market research institutes, trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases.
If you decide to search for data on your own, add the word "data" or "statistics" to your search. If you need a phrase, use quotes around that phrase. Pay particular attention to the who is producing the data and use the guidelines for evaluation.
There is a lot of data out there, some of it easily findable and freely available via search engines, such as Google. Does that mean you can't use it? Not necessarily. Ask yourself a few questions to evaluate the data. You might also want to use the SIFT Method to help evaulate.
- Who? Who is supplying the data? Is the data producer considered an authority on the matter?
- Why? Why is the data being collected? What is the purpose? Is there incentive for bias (politics, influencing public opinion, lobbying)?
- When was the data collected? Is it current?
- How were the data collected?
Below are some categories of who and why.
- A Government Agency that collects the data as part of its mission (e.g. Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA, United Nations, etc.)
- A Non Profit or Non Government Organization whose mission includes information and data about a topic or issue
- An Educational Institution, such as a research lab or institute
- A Researcher who collects data for scholarly research, as part of a lab, etc. (Data sources often described in the "methods" section of scholarly articles)
- A Private Firm? (Data like this often found in paid databases, such as Statista)
If the data you find helps answer your question, make a point and it meets one of the criteria above, it should be OK to use. When in doubt, ask your professor!
