Internet Resources for Data Analysis

 

 

There are a variety of excellent resources on the Internet for active learning with data analysis. A sampling of them is included below. Some of these websites include raw data (or previously compiled data); others include user-friendly data analysis tools for extracting data, analyzing data, and/or producing maps, charts, and tables; and still others have combinations of many of these features.

For a list of the statistical sites on the World Wide Web including (1) principal US federal statistical agencies, (2) state labor market information agencies, and (3) national statistical agencies of other countries and international organizations, please see the listing provided by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Several of those agencies are indicated below.

Video of Hans Rosling

"Rosling's famous lectures combine enormous quantities of public data with a sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of the world's past, present, and future development. Now he explores stats in a way he has never done before - using augmented reality animation. In this spectacular section of 'The Joy of Stats' he tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers - in just four minutes. Plotting life expectancy against income for every country since 1810, Hans shows how the world we live in is radically different from the world most of us imagine." Rosling is also co-founder and chairman of GapMinder.

 

 

Assorted Resources

Amber Waves

Online version of a magazine published 5 times a year by the US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Click on data to get data on a variety of topics ranging from animal products to food safety.

Association of Religion Data Archive

Click on QuickStats to get information on dozens of topics and see responses from major national surveys, demographic patterns, and changes over time (e.g., attitudes about moral issues, religious beliefs about God, etc.).

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

ABS has data on a variety of topics such as population, key economic indicators, census data, CPI, labor force, etc.

[link http://www.bom.gov.au/?ref=hdr 'Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology']

Web site has information on a variety of weather measures including daily rainfall, climate change, extremes of climate, etc.

Census Explorer

The U.S. Census's interactive map series for analyzing census data.

Census Reporter

Census Reporter "provides useful facts about every place in America. Compare places using tables and maps, download data, and embed charts on your site."

Center for Socio-Political Data (CDSP)

The CDSP "is responsible for archiving and distributing socio-political data." Check out their visualization lab.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Data on a variety of health conditions ranging from birth defects to HIV/AIDS to injuries & violence, and many others. Check outWISQARS^TM(Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) for "an interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data."

China National Bureau of Statistics

Check out theChina Statistical Database for information on a variety of topics such as population, birth and death rates, CPI, etc.

Council of European Social Science Data Archives

CESSDA is an umbrella organization for social science data archives across Europe. Many data sets are directly downloadable.

Create a Graph

Create a variety of graphs or charts using your own data.

Czech Statistics

Czech Statistics has information on population, elections, labor and social statistics, foreign trade, etc.

Data and Information Services Center (DISC) at the University of Wisconsin Libraries

DISC "provides quantitative, numeric microdata for researchers and students conducting secondary analysis in the social sciences. For DISC users not familiar with statistical software, we have an array of data products with menu-based interfaces."

Data and Story Library

DASL (pronounced "dazzle") is an online library of datafiles and stories that illustrate the use of basic statistics methods.

DataMarket

Data market allows users to explore datasets, upload data, build reports, and create visualizations.

Dave Manuel

"Dave Manuel" is an "an online repository of financial and political information that is often searched for but is generally hard to find."

Data Planet

Data Planet is the "largest repository of standardized and structured statistical data." It is a SAGE publishing resource.

Death Penalty Information Execution Database

Information on death penalty cases by gender, race/ethnicity, execution technique, etc.

Debt Statistics

There are a variety of internet resources available to get information on different countries' debts, such as theUnited States or numerous other countries in theworld.

Diversity Data Kids

This resource allows you to "explore hundreds of measures of child wellbeing and policy analysis from a unique information source that documents diversity, opportunity, and equity among children."

Esri: Understanding our World

Enter zip codes to get information about areas such as income, types of people living in areas, etc.

Eurostat

A variety of European statistics on topics ranging from population to unemployment to GDP.

Europe's Energy Portal

Data on information related to energy in Europe, including fuel prices.

FedStats

A web site that makes statistics from more than 100 agencies available to citizens everywhere.

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Data on a variety of different kinds of information related to crime.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Choose a state and county (or MSA) and get information on regional economic conditions.

Flowing Data

A resource of visualizing data from beginner to advanced development by Nathan Yau.

GapMinder

Information on hundreds of indicators for countries throughout the world including cell phone use, cancer, CO₂ emissions, etc.

Germany Destatis

This website provides statistics from Germany on a variety of topics such as demographic indicators, unemployment, etc.

Global Health Observatory of the World Health Organization (WHO)

The Global Health Observatory is WHO's "gateway to health-related statistics for more than 1000 indicators for its 194 member states."

Google Public Data

This is an excellent and extensive data collection from a variety of sources and on a variety of topics. Data from many of the websites featured on this page are included in Google Public Data, which allows for visual representation of such data.

The Guardian's Website for Data Journalism and Data Visualization

The Guardian's website for data journalism and data visualization features articles and primary data. TheGuardian's Datablog features hundreds of data sets, many UK-based.

Harvard Forest Data Archive

The data archive contains datasets from scientific research at the Harvard Forest.

Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Global Health Facts

Health information available on a country basis (e.g., HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, health workforce and capacity, demography and population, etc.).

India Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

Check out the link for information on population, education, health, labor and employment, etc.

Internal Revenue Tax Statistics

At the IRS Tax Statistics website "you will find a wide range of tables, articles, and data that describe and measure elements of the U.S. tax system."

International Energy Agency

"The IEA works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 30 member countries and beyond. Our mission is guided by four main areas of focus: energy security, economic development, environmental awareness and engagement worldwide."

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research

ICPSR "offers more than 500,000 digital files containing social science research data. Disciplines represented include political science, sociology, demography, economics, history, gerontology, criminal justice, public health, foreign policy, terrorism, health and medical care, early education, education, racial and ethnic minorities, psychology, law, substance abuse and mental health, and more."

International Telecommunication Union

ITU has data on a variety of topics ranging from cell phone usage to broadband and many more.

Ireland Central Statistics Office

The Ireland Central Statistics Office has data on a variety of topics population; births, deaths and marriages; health and social conditions; education; crime and justice, etc.

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics provides data on population, households and families, labor and wages, and much more.

Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT)

ISTAT has a number ofdatasets on a variety of topics ranging from protests to income and living conditions to hospitalizations of psychiatric patients.

Kenya Open Data Initiative

The Kenya Open Data Initiative makes key government data (e.g., Kenya Census) available to the public through a single portal. "The 2009 regional census, national and regional expenditures, and information on key public services are some of the first datasets to be released."

Kids Count

"A project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, KIDS COUNT is the premier source for data on child and family well-being in the United States. Access hundreds of indicators, download data and create reports and graphics on the KIDS COUNT Data Center that support smart decisions about children and families."

Mexico National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI)

INEGI provides data on a variety of topics in Mexico including population, occupation and employment, GDP, etc.

Money Geek

Financial tools, calculators, and resources on a variety of topics (e.g., credit cards, mortgages, protecting assets, educational spending).

Mortality Data Analysis

A collection of data sets on mortality.

Mortgage Calculator

This site includes mortgage calculators as well as a variety of different interesting calculators (e.g., what day were you born, etc.).

My Money

My Money "is the U.S. government's website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education." As described, the "site organizes financial education help from over 20 different Federal web sites in one place. Content is organized by where you are in life ('Life Events'), who you are ('My Resources'), and by specific hands-on tools ('Tools'). Popular Topics are also highlighted."

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data sets

A rich repository of earth science resources and data sets (e.g., agriculture, atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, etc.).

National Archives Experiences: Docs Teach

A guide for teaching history using engaging exercises. Click oncreate your own fun and engaging activities to create your own interactive learning activity.

National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research

The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research "collects and disseminates death and permanent disability sports injury data that involve brain and/or spinal cord injuries."

National Center for Education Statistics

Click onData and Tools to create customized tables, download NCES survey datasets, or get quick statistics, etc.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The National Climatic Data Center seeks to "monitor and assess the state of the Earth's climate in near real-time, providing decision-makings at all levels of the public and private sectors with data and information on climate trends and variability including perspectives on how the climate of today compares with the past."

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

NCTM hosts a collection of data sets organized by type, e.g., univariate, bivariate, multivariate, etc.

National Opinion Research Center (NORC)

Click onData Enclave to learn about the rich variety of data sets available from NORC for analysis.

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Click ondata and statistics to get information on a variety of topics ranging from birth and deaths rates to communicable diseases and smoking.

New Zealand Statistics

Statistics New Zealand has data on a variety of topics such as population (births, deaths, etc.), businesses, economic indicators (e.g., GDP), education and training, government finance, health (abortion, disabilities, etc.), income and work, and industry sector.

OANDA

Click on thecurrency converter to get information on exchange rates for the US dollar as well as trends over time.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentorOECD Stat

The OECD has a vast array of international data on a wide variety of topics ranging from income inequality to job vacancies to physicians per 1,000 population and much more.

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

A data archive where users can download many of Pew's survey datasets. This page is organized by survey, where each dataset is identified by the name of the survey, and each data set is linked to reports released from that data.

Pew Internet and American Life Project

SelectDatasets to obtain frequently updated information on a wide range of indicators (e.g., demographic data, online activity data, gadget ownership, and internet adoption trends, etc.).

Population Reference Bureau

DataFinder, PRB's hub for national and international data, enables users to select a location to create customized tables and users may select a variety of topics (e.g., demographics, economics, education, environment, health, HIV, reproductive health, family structure, housing, income and poverty, labor force and commuting, scientists and engineers) to compare locations in terms of rankings, maps, trends, etc.

Quandl

Quandl "is a repository of times series data on the internet, tailored for researchers, students, and other data professionals. Quandl currently has over 4 million time-series datasets. Most of the data is in the domains of finance, economics, demography, sociology, energy and the environment. 1000s of new datasets are added to Quandl daily."

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages

A quarterly count of employment and wages reported by employers covering 98 percent of U.S. jobs, available at the county, MSA, state and national levels by industry.

RAND

Reports and data on a variety of topics including children and families, education and the arts, energy and environment, health and health care, infrastructure and transportation, international affairs, law and business, national security, population and aging, public safety, science and technology, and terrorism and homeland security. After selecting a topic, users may click on resources such as "multimedia" to watch videos, listen to audio, and sometimes engage in interactive maps, etc.

SAGE Stats

"SAGE Stats make research easy by providing, in one place, annual measures dating back to more than two decades. It features statistical data series created from more than 400,000 government and non-government datasets covering popular topics of research interest for U.S. stages, counties, cities, metropolitan ares, and ZIP codes."

The Simple Dollar

The Simple Dollar is a website designed to promote financial literacy, especially for individuals who are fighting debt and have bad spending habits.

Singapore Department of Statistics

The Department of Statistics Singapore has data on a variety of topics including population, the GDP, external trade, manufacturing, employment, price index, etc.

Social Explorer

Interactive maps on a variety of topics (demographics, religion, etc.).

Social Security Administration

SSA has a collection of program statistics and data files by subjects (e.g., disability, economic status, health status, retirement, socioeconomic characteristics, etc.). See also the SSA's data onpopular baby names.

Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN)

SSDAN provides a wealth of print publications as well as online tools and resources to help you explore demographic trends and further quantitative literacy. Check outCensusScope to obtain graphics and exportable trend data andTeaching with Data for a variety of resources (e.g., tables, charts, etc.).

Spain National Institute of Statistics

Check out thestatistical operations for data on a wide range of topics including demography and population, society (e.g., education and culture), etc.

Statista

Statista "consists of an extensive network of information resources and databases, providing an ideal platform to research and analyze facts and quantitative data."

Statistical Calculators

There areone-variable as well astwo-variable statistical calculators. For each, there are existing data sets (e.g., IQ scores of 7th graders, New York Yankees' salaries, tuition at Massachusetts colleges, wine and heart disease, male and female literacy rates, etc.) and/or users can enter their own data.

Statistics Course Data Sets (UCLA)

A "collection of growing data sets that are exclusively from UCLA researchers and exist for a variety of classrooms uses."

Statistics South Africa

This website includes statistical publications, key indicators, population statistics, interactive data and more regarding South Africa. It also allows users to explore statistics by place or by theme (e.g., cause of death, poverty, inflation, etc.).

Stat Labs

A variety of simpledata sets from the bookStat Labs: Mathematical Statistics Through Applications.

StatLib

StatLib is "a system for distributing statistical software, datasets, and information by electronic mail, FTP and WWW."

STATSAmerica

This website provides statistical profiles of each of the states, including information on the economy, education, income & taxes, population & housing, and workshop.

Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA)

A set of programs for the documentation and web-based analysis of survey data including data sets such as the General Social Survey (GSS).

Teaching with Data

Teaching with Data "is a portal where faculty can find resources and ideas to reduce the challenges of bringing real data into post-secondary classes."

teAch-nology

Resources for teachers with various lesson plans and resources including graphing.

TuVa Labs

A website designed to (a) enable critical thinking and reasoning with data, (b) transition to the common core standards, and (c) bring local and global issues into the classroom. The website includes a variety of resources and datasets.

Understanding Uncertainty 

Understanding Uncertainty is a website "produced by Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim is to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining!" Look at, for example, the collection ofanimations.

UCLA Statistics Data Sets

This web site provides data sets for teaching, data from books, data from consulting project, data from consulting projects, data from national statistical agencies, social science data archives, and from US governmental agencies.

United Kingdom Office for National Statistics 

Check out thedatasets and tables for information on a variety of topics ranging from age by areas to public and private sector employment to expenditures on mortgages and much in between.

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has data on a variety of topics including gender, economy, sustainable development, etc.

Bureau of Justice Statistics

BJS includes publications as well as online data tools for primary data analysis.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Information on a variety of labor-related statistics such as hourly wages, work-related injuries, etc.

United States Census Bureau

Data from the United States Census on a variety of topics (e.g., population by race/ethnicity, age, etc.). Check outAmerican FactFinder for easy access to information on a wide variety of topics. For international data, look at theInternational Programs web site or theInternational Data Base for data on many different countries, including population pyramids, etc. In addition, DataFerrett is a "unique data analysis and extraction tool-with recoding capabilities-to customize federal, state, and local data to suit your requirements."

United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service

the USDA Economic Research Service provides data on a variety of topics such as animal products, crops, farm economy, food markets and prices, etc.

United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Center

Users canquery NASS to get quick tables on a variety of topics (e.g., animals and products, crops, demographics, economic, environmental information, etc.).

United States Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis

A division of the US Department of Commerce. The web site has national (e.g., GDP, etc.), international (e.g., balance of payments), regional (GDP by state), industry, and integrated accounts. Also has interactive data.

United States Department of Transportation

The US Department of Transportation has data on topics such as US aircraft carrier inventory, border crossings/entry data, freight import and exports, and much more!

US Energy Information Administration

US EIA provides statistics "on crude oil, gasoline, diesel, propane, jet fuel, ethanol, and other liquid fuels. Click on the blue bars below for information on petroleum prices, crude reserves and production, refining and processing, imports/exports, stocks, and consumption/sales."

US Environmental Protection Agency

The United States EPA data finder has links to data on a variety of topics ranging from air to water quality and much more.

US Inflation Calculator

Use the US inflation calculator to measure the buying power of the dollar over time. Click oninflation and prices to look at indicators over time, etc.

Vanderbilt University Department of Biostatistics

Provides a collection of data sets on a variety of different topics (e.g., meningitis, cardiac catheterization diagnostic data, hypertension data from the Dominican Republic, German breast cancer, and numerous others).

Vietnam General Statistics Office

The Vietnam General Statistics Office has statistics on a variety of topics including administrative unit, land and climate; population and labor, national accounts, state budget, industry, education, health and many more.

Villanova Nursing Research Dataset Archive

Includes a variety of data sets (e.g., readability and patients with cancer, patients with glaucoma who keep or miss their appointments, etc.). Includes suggestions for analysis.

World Bank Data

The World Bank Data provides "free and open access to global development data."

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization's "Global Health Observatory" portal provides access to data and analyses for monitoring the global health situation. See also theWHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.

World Resource Institute (WRI)

WRI has data sets on a variety of topics related to world resources, such as green house gas emissions and other climate-relevant indicators.