Library Guides: JOUR 2311: Multiplatform Reporting &amp; Writing: Statistics

Getting Started with Statistics

Where do I find Statistics?

There are many sources for statistics, such as the U.S. government, non-profit research organizations, and educational institutions. The resources on this page will get you started.

Understanding Statistics

Journalist's Resource has a great article on basic statistical terminology, "Statistical Terms Used in Research Studies: a Primer for Media"

Lifehacker has a useful page: Basic Errors to Avoid When Interpreting Survey Statistics.

Robert Niles' web page titled Statistics Help for Journalists contains good basic tips for understanding and using statistics.

Statista & Other Places to Search for Stats

Statista

Statista is an excellent source of business, economic, political, social, and historical statistics. It is a great place to simply search for your topic to find loads of relevant and useful statistics.
Sage Data
Sage Data (formerly Data-Planet Statistical Datasets) provides easy access to an extensive repository of standardized and structured statistical data. The Sage Data repository contains more than 18.9 billion data points from more than 70 source organizations. The over 3.9 billion time series in Sage Data provide immediate access to data presented in charts, maps, graphs, and table form, via multiple points of entry.

Census Reporter
The Census Reporter lets you search for data from Census Reports. Enter a search topic (like "education") and it will direct you to relevant reports in the Census data.
data.census.gov (formerly American Fact Finder)
A government website for accessing data from a number of censuses and surveys. Search for your topic to find data related to the your research area.
Statistical abstracts of the United States
Ohio University Institutional Effectiveness & Analytics
Institutional Effectiveness & Analytics compiles statistics, studies & reports about OU faculty, staff, students, depts/colleges or OU itself (these would NOT be reports about individual people, but about groups, e.g., the avg. salary of all faculty in the Engineering dept)
Ohio County Profiles
Provided on the web for free by the State of Ohio. Click on the provided map to choose a particular county profile.

Pew Research Center: "Numbers, Facts & Trends Shaping Your World"

The Pew Research Center provides nonpartisan research and statistical analysis on public opinion and social trends. The Pew focuses on seven projects, each with its own website:

Also at the Pew Research Center

The Pew's "All Things Census" site is an ongoing collection of commentary & resources on the 2010 Census findings.

The Pew also provides data such as:

a daily statistical number that demonstrates a recent trend, accompanied by an article with links to related information
key indicators -- national, political, economic and demographic trends
datasets you can download *

Simply Map -- Map US Demographic Data

Mapping U.S. Demographic Data

SimplyAnalytics is a powerful tool that allows users to select specific data sets and build custom demographic maps & reports for U.S. locations, down to the county, city or census tract level.

Notes about the use of SimplyAnalytics:

Our license agreement allows only five users to log on to SimplyAnalytics at one time.
Users who would like to save their work should “Create a Personal Workspace.”
Reports can be downloaded into Excel spreadsheet format.

To get help using SimplyAnalytics, try the tutorials at the top right of the SimplyAnalytics homepage, or Ask an Alden Library staff member for help.

University Libraries

JOUR 2311: Multiplatform Reporting & Writing

Getting Started with Statistics

Statista & Other Places to Search for Stats

Pew Research Center: "Numbers, Facts & Trends Shaping Your World"

Simply Map -- Map US Demographic Data

OHIO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES