Introduction
The following sources are just a small number of the datasets available, many of which are free. Most can be used by you to generate graphs, charts, etc. in MS-Excel and SAS among other software packages.
One of the reasons for this guide is to help you, the user find data and statistics. Another is to educate you in how important data is in our lives both in and out of school to help us make decisions.
The following article from the Harvard Business Review makes for an interesting read: Data is Useless Without the Skills.
“Data literacy”: competence in finding, manipulating, managing, and interpreting data, including not just numbers but also text and images.
Tips for Finding Datasets
One can use the Advanced Search in Google to look for available datasets. In the following example, we are looking for government datasets in an MS-Excel (.xls) format about firearms, specifically pistols or handguns.
- Dataset Search (Google)Dataset Search lets you find datasets wherever they’re hosted, whether it’s a publisher's site, a digital library, or an author's personal web page. This new tool is serviceable but is still in development (beta); it can be confusing to use.
