Clark Family Library: Gender & Women's Studies: Find Data and Statistics

Why Use Data and Statistics?

Data and statistics can be great sources of information.

Use them to support your argument
Find quantitative evidence
Don't forget to cite data and statistics
But, it can be tricky to find the information you want

Statistical Databases

The library subscribes to a couple of statistical databases, which are good places to start.

ICPSR This link opens in a new window
ICPSR, the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, offers a large social science data archive. It acts as a global leader in data stewardship and providing rich data resources in sociology. ICPSR.
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
Data and mapping application that provides access to over 60,000 indicators related to demographics, housing, crime, mortgages, health, jobs and more that enables creation of maps, tables, and reports.

Websites

Think about where you might find the type of information you are looking for, and what type of organization might be collecting and sharing that information.

Examples include:

Government agencies

Data.gov
If you don't know what agency to start with, use this government data portal.
Health and Human Services Department - LGBT Data
This site provides link to data sets related to LGBT health.

Non-profit organizations, think tanks, and policy groups

LGBT Data
This site, created by a Drexel professor, collects resources and datasets related to sexual orientation & gender identity.
Pew Research Center - Gender
The Pew Research Center conducts national opinion polls to collect data on a wide variety of topics, including gender.

Inter-governmental organizations

Gender Equality Data and Statistics: The World Bank
This gender data portal is a one-stop shop for gender information, catering to a wide range of users and providing data from a variety of sources. Data at the country level are organized under six thematic headings, which are aligned to the themes identified by the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics.

Hint: Look for tabs or options on the website for "data," "statistics," "reports," or "publications."

Google Search

To search for data and statistics in Google, try the following:

Type in your topic, add the word "data" or "statistics" and then add "site:.gov" or "site:.edu" to limit the results to only those with a .gov or .edu domain name.

If you want to only recieve Excel files or PDFs, you can limit the Google search by add "filetype:.pdf" or "filetype:.xls"

Take a look at this example search and note the search results: