Washington and Lee University Information Fluency & Quantitative Analysis

Using Web Page Data

Using Microsoft Excel
	Excel's Statistical Features
	Importing Data into Excel
	Excel FAQ

Collecting Original Data
	Using Survey Software

Listed below are sites that you may find useful in locating data for your research. Some sites supply data that has already been cleaned and aggregated to a state or national level. Other sites contain "raw data" that has been formatted for use in a statistical package like Stata. Your literature review should also give you ideas for where to find data.

If you would like to discuss your data needs, in addition to your professor, and the Peer Mentors, John Tombarge, Leyburn Library's liaison for Economics, and Carol Karsch, the library's Data and Statistical Research Specialist, are available for consultation. Drop by or make a research appointment.

(Also See Evaluating Sources)

Sources Previous ECON 203 Students Have Used

American Economic Association (AEA) -- Data Resources for Economists
Great list of links geared toward data for economic research.
Contains links for U.S. & international data and financial markets.
Andrew K. Rose's Recent Research
Excellent source for national & international trade data, including Gravity Models and Bilateral Trade.
Exchange Rates, Balance of Payments and Trade Data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank (FRED)
Good source for macro level U.S. economic time series data. Includes categories such as: banking, business/financial, transactions, etc. Download data in Excel or text formats.

Good Places to Start for U.S. Data

Statistical Abstract of the United States
Another useful site produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Provides data in Excel format by topic area.
University of Michigan Library Document Center
Huge, easy to search site. Topics are arranged by categories. Links are annotated. This could be a good place to browse around if you are still trying to think of a thesis. There is a thorough index on the left side of the main page in addition to the categorical groupings.
NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Working Papers cover Macro, Industry, and U.S. Import & Export Trade Data. Some data sets are in Stata format.
American FactFinder
Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Go to this site for demographic, housing, economic and geographic data gathered by the U.S. Census, American Community and Business Surveys.
CenStats Databases
Good site for business data. Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, the site contains links for the following databases: County Business Patterns (SIC & NAICS), Zip Code Business Patterns, Metro Business Patterns, Building Permits data, Detailed Occupation by Race, Hispanic Origin and Sex data, International Trade Data (SITC and NAICS) and Population and Housing Public Law 94-171 data by Age by Race and Hispanic Origin.
FedStats
Provides access to a wealth of U.S. government summary statistics by Topics A to Z, Program/Subject areas, Agencies, and geographic area. The site directs users to the appropriate agency automatically. Great starting point for your search if you're not sure which agency produces the data you need.

International Data

Earth Trends from the World Resources Institute
International Financial Statistics (International Monetary Fund) on CD-ROM at the Circulation Desk of Leyburn Library - HG3881 .I626 (Instructions)
Minnesota Population Center - Integrated Public Use Microdata Series International
Integrated international census data from 26 countries and 80 censuses. The integration of the data series facilitates cross national comparisons.
NationMaster
Good source for quick international statistical comparisons and maps.
United Nations Common Database (NCCDB)
University of Auckland
Resources from official sources. Data available by Country, Region or Topic. Many data downloadable as text or spreadsheet files.
World Health Organization
World Trade Organization

Comprehensive Sites

These sites have links to other sites. Some sites supply aggregated data. Others give you access to "raw data." Some contain national and international data.

W&L: U.S. Federal Government -- Statistical Agencies
List of most frequently used links to Federal Agencies that produce statistics. Also has a link to a comprehensive list of government statistical agencies.
W&L: Economics Resources -- The Statistics and Data section is towards the bottom of the page. Scroll down to see the links.
UVa's Geospatial & Statistical Data Center -- Especially strong site for locating Virginia data.
Minnesota Population Center - Integrated Public Use Microdata Series USA (IPUMS)
Site for integrated historical and current population data. The USA site contains harmonized data from the 1850 to 2005 censuses. The integrated nature of the documentation and datasets facilitates comparisons across years.
Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social Research (ICPSR)
W&L belongs to the Consortium, so faculty and students can download data, however you'll need to create a user log in before doing so. This is a vast source of national and international microdata which is usually stored in Stata, SPSS or SAS formats. Data can be converted between different formats, though variable labels may be lost, depending upon the conversion. Contact the library's Data & Statistical Support Specialist for assistance with this process.

The site contains a tutorial for finding and accessing the data. This is especially useful if your download contains "setup" files. It also has a searchable database of over 41,000 documents that used ICPSR data in the analysis.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
Great source of data related to crime in the U.S. The site contains over 700 datasets related to criminal justice. This is one of the research areas covered by ICPSR.