Geographic Unit

• Local: city agencies
• National: federal agencies, research centers
• International: international organizations

Note: Not all data is available at the geographic level you need. Some data is only available at the state or county level.

Frequency

• Annual
• Quarterly
• Monthly
• Daily

Note: Some frequencies may need to be calculated.

Unit of Analysis

• Individual Level
• Institutional Level: company, health facility, school
• Production Level: automobiles, commodities

Time Series

• Cross sectional: collected at the same point of time for several individuals.
• Longitudinal/Panel: data collected at a sequence of time points for each of a sample of individuals.
• Time Series: data collected at a sequence of time points, usually at a uniform frequency.
• Pooled cross sectional time series: mixture of time series data and cross-section data

Ask the question: What organization or agency would likely collect this data?

• Government Agencies: Government Agencies collect data at all levels to aid policy decisions. It is generally distributed free via the internet.

• Organizations: Many national and international organizations such as the United Nations, OECD, World Health Organization, National Health Institute, American Heart Association, and World Bank compile and distribute data both free and fee based.

• Commercial Subscription Services: Seattle University purchases major data sets for use across disciplines. Larger data sets are generally available in SPSS, Excel, SAS or Stata formats.

Government Agencies: Local & National Sources

• ALFRED
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Economic Census
• Economic Data by Survey Title (Census)
• Economic Data by States, Metros, Counties, Cities, and ZIP Codes (Census)
• GovInfo Economic Indicators (1995-Present)
• Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
• FRASER
• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
• Washington State Economic Data

Organizations:

• FAOSTAT - Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N.
• Global Health Observatory (GHO) 
• International Labor Organization 
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
• UNESCO - Data for Sustainable Development
• United Nations 
• United Nations Population Information Network 
• World Databank (World Bank)
• U.N. National Statistical Authorities

Commercial Data Vendors:

• Global Market Information Database (GMID): The GMID contains information on key business intelligence on countries, companies, markets and consumers for over 350 markets and 207 countries. In addition to demographic and economic statistics, the GMID also includes statistical and full-text analysis on consumer lifestyles, retailing, countries, consumer market sizes and forecasts, market analysis reports, company profiles and information sources. The historic and forecast data enable you analyze trends from 1977-2016.

• ProQuest Statistical Insight Complete Collection: Index to local, national and international intergovernmental statistical publications from 1983 to the present. Includes citation information with large number of pdf or spreadsheet downloads available.

• SimplyAnalytics: Mapping application that enables users to create thematic maps and reports using thousands of demographic, marketing, and business data variables. Includes data from the U.S. Census, Mediamark, Simmons, and Dun & Bradstreet.

• Statista: Statista provides statistical data on topics including media, business, politics, society, technology and education. Sources include market reports, trade publications, scientific journals, and government databases. Charts can be downloaded in PNG, PowerPoint, Excel or PDF formats or embedded in web pages and can be great in papers or presentations.

• What is the quality of the data?

• Who created the data and what are their credentials?

• Is the data clearly represented?

• Who is the intended audience for the data?

• Is the data accurate? Can it be replicated? Any bias?