TCSIG 330 Inquiry and Research in the Social Sciences
Quick Tip!
- If you are struggling to find datasets, try starting with research articles on your topic first. It may help you figure out what kind of variables (and terms) to search for when looking for the datasets.
Recommended Reference Sources
- What's a histogram or scatterplot? Sometimes reading different explanations and viewing additional examples can be helpful.
- Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics
- Tacoma Reference HA29 .S2363 2007
- Also available as an ebook [UW Restricted]
- Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics
- All the SPSS handbooks checked out? Give this one a try...
- Handbook of Univariate and Multivariate Data Analysis and Interpretation with SPSS (2006)
- Available as an ebook [UW Restricted]
- Handbook of Univariate and Multivariate Data Analysis and Interpretation with SPSS (2006)
Finding Journal Articles
- Check out the Subject Pages. These are great starting points for trying to figure out what article databases cover your topic.
- You might also try a couple of our broad coverage databases.
- Web of Science [UW Restricted] - includes citations to articles ranging from the hard sciences to the social sciences as well as arts and humanities.
- Expanded Academic [UW Restricted]- Scholarly and general interest sources in humanities, social sciences, and science and technology.
Finding Books
- UW Libraries Catalog - Books, journals, videos, and other materials
- Don't forget!! You can narrow your search down to UW Tacoma books if you're in a hurry.
- Wordcat [UW Beta-test Catalog]
Possible Sources for Finding Datasets
-
Statistical Universe [UW Restricted]
- Provides abstracts and indexes of statistical information from over 100,000 U.S. government publications from 1973, state and private sources from 1980, and approximately 2000 documents from international organizations from 1983.
- ICPSR - Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
- Established in 1962, ICPSR is the world's largest archive of digital social science data.
- You MUST create a logon to access the data and not all data may be available for download.
- Datasets often have references to associated literature on the topic.
- You will have to work with your instructor to figure out how to view/import the data if you choose to experiment with this resource!
- Google Advanced Search
- Try to limit by domain (.gov, .org, .edu)
- Try to limit by filetype (.xls, .sas, .csv)
- Try using the term dataset as a search term
- Datasets from the U.S. Census Bureau
- You can view data from the Decennial Census, the Economic Census and the American Community Survey
- Pew Research Center Databank
- You must register with the Center to access the datasets.
- University of Michigan Guide to Statistical Resources
Helpful Research Resources
- Connect to UW-restricted resources from off-campus
- Guide to Scholarly Journals versus Popular Magazines
- Guide to the terms "peer reviewed" or "refereed"
- Contact Your Librarian:
- Serin Anderson, Phone: 253-692-4815, Email: serin@u.washington.edu
