Stats
Data Tips
- ALWAYS consider the potential bias of the statistics-gathering agency
- Search Data.gov for government data
- To find stats related to a particular topic (e.g. bicycle share programs)…
- Search for organizations interested in it and skim their reports to identify related factors that could become data points (e.g. showers for cyclists in DC). Then check their references for leads to data!
- Search for stats gathered by related government agencies and NGO’s
- Search for data gathered by industry groups (e.g. American Public Transportation Association) or special interest groups (e.g. International Bicycle Fund)
- Cite your data sources. Check this Quick Guide for citing data or the detailed How to Cite Data guide from librarian Hailey Mooney at Michigan State
Slideshow for Math Modeling
Click on image of title slide to open slideshow in PowerPoint Online.
Here’s a back-up link to the Google Fusion Tables video.
Data Blogs
Andrew Gelman (Columbia)
FiveThirtyEight (Nate Silver)
The Guardian‘s (UK) Datablog
Paul Krugman (NYT)
Data Sources for Multiple Topics
Amazon Public Data (AWS)
Data.gov (U.S. open data)
OFFStats (global)
Scientific Data(VCU LibGuide)
Statista (portal for market and consumer data)
Statistic Brain (tables not exportable)
The World Bank Data Center
Crime
Campus Safety – campus crime for one university or a group
Crime in the U.S. (FBI) – includes hate crime statistics
Demographics
American Community Survey (ACS) – annual survey; see questions and why each is asked; searchable by 1-yr, 3-yr, and 5-yr estimates – shorter period includes fewer geo areas
American FactFinder (search by state, city, county, zip code) – interactive ACS data
Census Quick Facts (states, counties, and towns of 5000+)
Census Explorer – more visual – download icon at top right
Immigration Data – U.S.
Kids Count (U.S. Census data)
Population Ref Bureau (Intl)
Tax Stats (IRS)
UN Population Division (right menu)
Virginia Demographics (UVA)
Education and Health
Food Environment Atlas (USDA) – food insecurity, cost, etc.
Project TYCHO (UPitt) – public health data – req. registration
State Cancer Profiles (CDC)
Youth Risk Survey (CDC)
Energy and Environment
Agriculture
USDA Data Topics – a guide to which agency of the USDA gathers what data
USDA Economic Research Service – Data Products
Energy
Environment (General)
EnviroFacts (EPA)
Natural Disasters
Declared Disasters (FEMA)
FEMA Data Feeds (Open FEMA)- data in a variety of formats
Policy and Claims for Flood Insurance (FEMA) – summaries; data in OpenFEMA
Seismic Hazard Data (USGS)
Oceans/Water
Oceanic Data (NOAA)
Weather
Labor and Trade
Business Data and Stats-USA.gov (another way to find BLS info)
Economic Data (FRED)
Exports.gov – incl. state data
VA Economy at a Glance (BLS)
Politics and Social Science
American Natl Election Studies – req. registration for download
ASEP/JDS – intl social science
Election and Campaign Stats (Harvard)
Global Indicators (PEW) – opinion of US and of China, confidence in American president
International Elections Data Guide (Penn)
Internet Crossroads in Social Science Data (UW-Madison)
Public Opinion (VCU LibGuide)
U.S. Politics Data Sets (PEW)
World Values Survey (req. registration for downloads)
Sports
Sports Stat Guide (Cornell) – select under Information by Sport
Statistics in Sports (ASA) – some links are outdated but others OK
Yahoo! Sports (only male stats)
Data Visualization
Public Table Search (Google)
Data and Code Sharing
Resources for R and Git
Cookbook for R (Winston Chang)
Git Cheat Sheet (from GitHub)
Quick-R (Rob Kabacoff)
R Quick Reference card (PDF)
How to retrieve block level data from the ACS
The American Community Survey is one of the richest data sets compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and is used by local governments, emergency services, and non-profit organizations to anticipate community needs. The most granular level of data is by Census Tract or Block Group. The tutorial below demonstrates how to use the Summary File Retrieval Tool (in conjunction with the Tech Document related to the Summary File you’re using) to retrieve this CSV formatted data using Excel 2007 (or higher).
