SOC 215: Statistics & Data Analysis
The resources on this page were curated to assist students in Dr. Jenoch's SOC 215 class.
Databases - Best Bets
- Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new window
An international consortium of more than 750 academic institutions and research organizations, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for the social science research community.
- Roper Center iPoll This link opens in a new windowFrom the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, Roper iPoll is the largest collection of poll data anywhere—from 1935 to present. Contains data from U.S. and international polling firms with broad topical coverage of opinions and behavior on social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, and more. Datasets available for download.
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
SocINDEX with Full Text features more than 2.1 million records with subject headings from a 20,000+ term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. Access contains full text for more than 860 journals dating back to 1908, 830 books and monographs, and over 16,800 conference papers.
- Statista This link opens in a new window
Provides access to quantitative facts by market sector. Statista is a statistics portal that integrates thousands of diverse topics of data and facts from a wide range of sources onto a single platform. Sources of information include market research, trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases.
Databases - Additional Options
- APA PsycARTICLES This link opens in a new window
This database offers full-text articles for journals published by the American Psychological Association, the APA Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association and Hogrefe & Huber, including all material from the print journals going as far back as to volume 1, issue 1.
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Ultimate offers an extensive collection of peer-reviewed journals, magazines, reports, books, and videos covering various subjects like astronomy, engineering, health, law, mathematics, and more. It's a comprehensive resource for scholars in many fields.
- ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
Articles from scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers, in many different subject areas.
- AnthroSource This link opens in a new windowAnthroSource is a collection of all past and current publications of the American Anthropological Association, including journals, newsletters, bulletins, and conference proceedings. This includes the entire publication history of each title; the earliest journals in the collection date back to the late 19th century.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
The Web of Science provides access to multiple databases that provide reference and citation data from academic journals, conference proceedings, and other documents in various academic disciplines.
Datasets
To create any data visualization, you need to find and access data.
Any data you use in a data visualization must be reliable and accurate.
The links below will point you to data repositories, or storage sites, where data is available for download.
Open data refers to datasets that are shared in some way with the general public. They are freely accessible data that was created for a specific purpose.
Social Science and Humanities Data
- DSDR: Data Sharing for Demographic Research(DSDR) aims to serve the demographic community by archiving, preserving, and disseminating data relevant for population studies.
- ERIC (Educational Research Information CenterThe premier database for education research in the US.
- The General Social SurveyFor more than four decades, the General Social Survey (GSS) has studied the growing complexity of American society. It is the only full-probability, personal-interview survey designed to monitor changes in both social characteristics and attitudes currently being conducted in the United States.
- National Center for Education Statistics - Data & ToolsThe National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
- National Survey of Children’s HealthFrom the Data Resource Center for Child & Adolescent Health, a project of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) provides rich data on multiple, intersecting aspects of children’s lives—including physical and mental health, access to quality health care, and the child’s family, neighborhood, school, and social context.
- Pew Research Center DatasetsPew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.
- SIPRI Data / Stockholm International Peace Research InstituteSIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public
- SociometricsDownloadable data sets for social science and health; formerly Social Science Electronic Data Library
- US CensusData.census.gov is the new platform to access data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau. The vision for data dissemination through data.census.gov is to improve the customer experience by making data available from one centralized place so that data users spend less time searching for data content and more time using it.
Business Data
- Bureau of Economic Analysis DataBEA produces economic accounts statistics that enable government and business decision-makers, researchers, and the American public to follow and understand the performance of the nation's economy.
- NBER Public Use Data ArchiveFrom the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the data collection here is an eclectic mix of public use economic, demographic, and enterprise data obtained over the years to satisfy the specific requests of NBER affiliated researchers for particular projects.
- OECD eXplorerOECD eXplorer (eXplorer) is a web-tool that enables the visualization of socio-economic information at detailed territorial level providing clear insight on regional differences and performance within a country and comparison of different areas across countries.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data FinderData Finder is a new search and navigation tool for Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) time series data available on the BLS website. Rather than searching individual data sets, Data Finder allows users to conveniently search multiple data sets all at once.
- World Bank Data CatalogThe primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimat.
Cultural Data
- Data Hub / Migration Policy InstituteData Hub showcases the most current national and state-level demographic, social, and economic facts about immigrants to the United States; as well as stock, flow, citizenship, net migration, and historical data for countries in Europe, North America, and beyond
- HathiTrust Research DatasetsThe Extracted Features Dataset opens the complete HathiTrust collection for investigations into historical and cultural trends, the rise and fall of topics within the corpus, and the evolution of words and writing structures in publications dating from the 16th to the late 20th century.
The EF Dataset provides quantitative information about word and line counts, parts of speech, and other details within each page of every volume in the HTDL. - Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database / Emory UniversityThe Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database has information on more than 35,000 slave voyages that forcibly embarked over 12 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. It offers researchers, students and the general public a chance to rediscover the reality of one of the largest forced movements of peoples in world history
General Data
- Data.govData.gov was launched in 2009 and is managed and hosted by the U.S. General Services Administration. Under the OPEN Government Data Act, which is Title II of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, government data is required to be made available in open, machine-readable formats, while continuing to ensure privacy and security.
- FigshareFigshare allows users to upload any file format to be previewed in the browser so that any research output, from posters and presentations to datasets and code, can be disseminated in a way that the current scholarly publishing model does not allow
- Harvard DataverseHarvard Dataverse is an online data repository where you can share, preserve, cite, explore, and analyze research data. It is open to all researchers, both inside and out of the Harvard community. Harvard Dataverse provides access to a rich array of datasets to support your research.
- Open Data NetworkSocrata's initiative designed to foster data-centered collaboration between governments and the private sector.
- Public Data Sets: Amazon Web ServicesPublic Data Sets on AWS provides a centralized repository of public data sets that can be seamlessly integrated into AWS cloud-based applications. Categories include Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Climate, Economics, Encyclopedic, Geographic, and Mathematics.
- Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3data)re3data.org is a global registry of research data repositories that covers research data repositories from different academic disciplines. It presents repositories for the permanent storage and access of data sets to researchers, funding bodies, publishers and scholarly institutions.
Science Data
- AirData / EPAThe AirData website gives you access to air quality data collected at outdoor monitors across the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands. The data comes primarily from the AQS (Air Quality System) database.
- Climate Data Online / NOAANational Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is responsible for hosting and providing access to one of the most significant archives on Earth, with comprehensive oceanic, atmospheric, and geophysical data. From the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun and from million-year-old sediment records to near real-time satellite images, NCEI is the Nation’s leading authority for environmental information.
- Dryad"An international repository of data underlying peer-reviewed articles in the basic and applied biosciences." Dryad is governed by a consortium of journal publishers.
- NEON DataThe National Science Foundation's National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale observation facility operated by Battelle and designed to collect long-term open access ecological data to better understand how U.S. ecosystems are changing.
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics SurveyNASS conducts hundreds of surveys each year on issues including agricultural production, economics, demographics and the environment. Every five years NASS also conducts the Census of Agriculture, providing the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the nation.
Books
Algorithms of Oppression by
A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms Run a Google search for "black girls"--what will you find? "Big Booty" and other sexually explicit terms are likely to come up as top search terms. But, if you type in "white girls," the results are radically different. The suggested porn sites and un-moderated discussions about "why black women are so sassy" or "why black women are so angry" presents a disturbing portrait of black womanhood in modern society. In Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Data discrimination is a real social problem; Noble argues that the combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of Internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color. Through an analysis of textual and media searches as well as extensive research on paid online advertising, Noble exposes a culture of racism and sexism in the way discoverability is created online. As search engines and their related companies grow in importance--operating as a source for email, a major vehicle for primary and secondary school learning, and beyond--understanding and reversing these disquieting trends and discriminatory practices is of utmost importance. An original, surprising and, at times, disturbing account of bias on the internet, Algorithms of Oppression contributes to our understanding of how racism is created, maintained, and disseminated in the 21st century.
Call Number: ZA4230 .N63 2018ISBN: 9781479849949Publication Date: 2018-02-20
Effective Data Visualization by
NOW IN FULL COLOR! Written by sought-after speaker, designer, and researcher Stephanie D. H. Evergreen, Effective Data Visualization shows readers how to create Excel charts and graphs that best communicate their data findings. This comprehensive how-to guide functions as a set of blueprints--supported by both research and the author's extensive experience with clients in industries all over the world--for conveying data in an impactful way. Delivered in Evergreen's humorous and approachable style, the book covers the spectrum of graph types available beyond the default options, how to determine which one most appropriately fits specific data stories, and easy steps for building the chosen graph in Excel. Now in full color with new examples throughout, the Second Edition includes a revamped chapter on qualitative data, nine new quantitative graph types, new shortcuts in Excel, and an entirely new chapter on Sharing Your Data With the World, which provides advice on using dashboards. New from Stephanie Evergreen! The Data Visualization Sketchbook provides advice on getting started with sketching and offers tips, guidance, and completed sample sketches for a number of reporting formats. Bundle Effective Data Visualization, 2e, and The Data Visualization Sketchbook, using ISBN 978-1-5443-7178-8!
Call Number: P93.5 .E937 2020ISBN: 9781544350882Publication Date: 2019-05-14
How Charts Lie by
Today, public conversations are increasingly driven by numbers. Although charts, infographics, and diagrams can make us smarter, they can also deceive?intentionally or unintentionally. To be informed citizens, we must all be able to decode and use the visual information that politicians, journalists, and even our employers present to us each day. How Charts Lie examines contemporary examples ranging from election result infographics to global GDP maps and box office record charts, demystifying an essential new literacy for our data-driven world.
Call Number: P93.5 .C26 2019ISBN: 9781324001560Publication Date: 2019-10-15
Invisible Women by
#1 International Bestseller Winner of the 2019 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award Winner of the 2019 Royal Society Science Book Prize A landmark, prize-winning, international bestselling examination of how a gender gap in data perpetuates bias and disadvantages women, now in paperback Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development to health care to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this insidious bias, in time, in money, and often with their lives. Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates this shocking root cause of gender inequality in the award-winning, #1 international bestseller Invisible Women. Examining the home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor's office, and more, Criado Perez unearths a dangerous pattern in data and its consequences on women's lives. Product designers use a "one-size-fits-all" approach to everything from pianos to cell phones to voice recognition software, when in fact this approach is designed to fit men. Cities prioritize men's needs when designing public transportation, roads, and even snow removal, neglecting to consider women's safety or unique responsibilities and travel patterns. And in medical research, women have largely been excluded from studies and textbooks, leaving them chronically misunderstood, mistreated, and misdiagnosed. Built on hundreds of studies in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, highly readable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.
Call Number: Online AccessISBN: 9781683353140Publication Date: 2019-03-12
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