Political Science: Statistics

Statistics seem to be everywhere, but they're not always easy to find. Remember these basic tips when you're looking for statistics to make things a bit easier:

1. Just because you can think of a statistic doesn't mean it exists:
   • Who cares about this statistic? If a government or other agency has a vested interest in collecting a specific statistic, they'll likely collect it. If you can't identify an agency with an interest, that statistic may be hard to find, or it may not exist.
   • Who has the money to collect the data? Statistics are expensive to collect, so agencies who care must also have the money to fund data collection.
2. The "most recent statistics" on a topic may be many years old:
   • Data can take a long time to collect, and it may take even longer to collate the data and make it available
   • Local statistics are normally available before national statistics due to collection and processing time. If you can't find national statistics recent enough for your purposes, try narrowing your geographic scope.

Where to look

1. If you have figured out who might have gathered a certain kind of data, you can Google that source (e.g., Mexico national statistical agency, Bureau of Labor Statistics).
   • Sometimes, it may be helpful to add "statistics" to your search for a particular government entity (Illinois "Department of Public Health" statistics)
2. If you are not sure where to look for the statistics you need, find a news article that reports those statistics.
   • Access World News, LexisNexis, and ProQuest (for the New York Times and historical issues of the Chicago Tribune) can be good places to start. Read the articles to find out where they got their data from.

Once you've found statistics that meet your needs, consider the following:

1. What's the source of the data?
   • Reliable statistics will always say where they are coming from, either a government agency, a survey, a study, etc. Check the source to make sure it's reliable.
   • If a source isn't cited, look for something else!
2. What are the years of the data?
   • Data is generally gathered over a specified period of time, and any statistics you use should indicate a time period
   • If a time period isn't indicated, look for more authoritative statistics.

This listing is not comprehensive, but is meant to give an overview of some major statistical resources related to political science. For a more extensive listing of data and statistical resources, see the Finding Data & Statistics guide.