Research Habits and Strategies
- Ask LOTS of questions and regularly examine your assumptions
- Build a foundational understanding of your topic/problem, familiarize yourself with the context(s) within which it is studied, and learn related terminology
- When researching how to address a problem, consider both direct and indirect factors and solutions. For instance, increasing access to food assistance like foodbanks could reduce food insecurity, but what factors lead to a family to need food assistance? Could addressing these factors have more impact?
- Skim relevant literature reviews (found in library databases, PubMed Central, Google Scholar, etc.) to learn what’s known and debated about the topic among scholars
- To find models, search for your topic/problem plus words like model, index, indicator(s), etc.
- Consider the potential bias of the statistics-gathering or model-creating agency
- Strategies for finding datasets
- Some experts recommend defining your problem, variables or units of analysis (e.g., college students), time frame, and location of interest first; however, examining available data may also inform these decisions (note: some locations may be statistical, such as block groups)
- Search/browse relevant data repositories (note: you may be able to search/limit by variable, raw data, etc.; data access may require registration)
- Search sites of related government agencies, trade/industry groups, NGO’s, research centers or institutes at universities, or other organizations likely to gather data on the topic to see if data sets are available (note: it’s rare for private companies to make data available for free)
- Find relevant scholarly research in library databases, Google Scholar, open source databases (e.g., PubMed Central), and elsewhere (note: in PMC, you can limit to articles with “Associated Data” as shown below). Check references for leads to datasets. For more tips about leveraging studies to find health/medical datasets, see this guide from Yale Libraries. You can even search a special database from ICPSR designed to help you “discover data via the literature.”
- Strategies for finding statistics (or using stats as an indirect route to finding data)
- Search for your topic along with words like statistics, data, report, analysis, findings, etc., or possibly surveillance, monitoring, or a unit of analysis related to your topic (e.g., accidents)
- Few or no results? Try synonyms or related terms for a data point you’re seeking (e.g., fatalities, deaths, mortality rate) as well as broader terms for your topic (e.g., crops instead of corn)
- Check the sites of government agencies and university research centers or institutes with a stake in your topic (e.g., bicycle share program) for reports, research, publications, or white papers – sometimes under subtopics like education or advocacy – and skim for factors that could become data points (e.g. showers for cyclists in DC). Then check the references for additional leads.
- Repeat previous step on sites of NGO’s, trade/industry groups (e.g. American Public Transportation Association), advocacy groups, or special interest groups (e.g. International Bicycle Fund)
- You may wish limit results by desired file format (e.g. filetype:xls, filetype:pdf)
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
