Econ 311: Survey of Econometric Methods

Contact: Dena Hutto, Director of Reference & Instruction

What's Involved in Finding Statistics

1. CHARACTERISTICS — Data characteristics to look for:

  • subject
  • geographic area
  • time

2. SOURCE — Who publishes statistics

  • government
  • organizations (international & nongovernmental)
  • academic institutions, including libraries & data centers
  • commercial publishers and information providers

3. FORMAT — How statistics are published/made available to the public

  • printed reports and publications
  • CD-ROMs
  • Internet documents
  • Interactive data request tools


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Where to Start Your Search

Lexis-Nexis Statistical   (coverage varies)
Searchable database of tables from statistical publications and web sites of governments and nongovernmental organizations. Some tables are available as downloadable Excel files.

FEDSTATS
Excellent directory to data available at U.S. federal government web sites.

Statistical Resources on the Web
Directory to data from many different types of web sites; features an extensive subject index.

TableBase   (coverage varies)
Searchable database of tables published by governments, nongovernmental organizations, and commercial data providers. Particularly useful for locating business and marketing statistics.

WDI (World Development Indicators) Online   (coverage varies)
Interactive database from the World Bank allows you to select data by countries, subject, and time series and download, print, or display data. An easy-to-use option for comparative international data.

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How to Cite Statistics

Citations for statistics should enable your readers to locate the table or data that you have used in your assignment or paper. At a minimum, it should include:

  • creator of the data (often an organization or government agency)
  • date of publication
  • where it was published
  • URL of the web site where you found the data (if from the Internet)
  • date that you accessed the data, only if significant (i.e., data is updated without adjustment to publication date)

Example from a printed book:

U.S. Census Bureau. 2000. Residential energy consumption, expenditures, and average price, 1980 to 1997. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 120th ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 587. Table no. 949.

Example from a web site:

U.S. Energy Information Agency, 2001. Renewable energy consumption by energy source, 1995-1999. Table H1, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/rea_data/tableh1.html.

Example from a database with session-dependent URLs; originally published in a journal:

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2001. Personal consumption expenditures by major type of product. Survey of Current Business (May): D-7, http://web.lexis-nexis.com/statuniv.**






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Citing Online Sources

Many of the legal and news sources you use in this course are online. Your citations for these sources should include these elements:

News article: Author, if any (year). Title. Source title, date if needed, page number, URL of source.

Example: Paul D. Kamenar (1994). Property owners get a tool. Legal Times, 25 July, S41, http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe.

Court case: Case name, case citation (year), URL of source.

Example: Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374 (1994), http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe.






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Where to Get Help

  • Librarians
  • Online help at government, academic, or commercial web sites
  • Contact data producers directly

**Session-dependent URL from search, not used in citation: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/statuniv/document?_m=a825888ad8faa3b025b663d54e848e3e&_ansset=A-WD-B-AW-MsSEWY-UUW-EEEVDCYWY-CYEDVUCVZ-AW-U&_docnum=9&wchp=dGLSzV-lSBAt&_md5=3d6041e526acf36de69bd13acb6faf92.






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