Mathematical Literacy

Advice on Finding Data

Finding Data on the Internet - A Journalist's Guide by Robert Niles
Basic data sources, as well as data sources for agriculture, aviation, crime, demographics, education, energy, people, health, immigration, investing, law, military, nonprofits, politics, and weather.

Data Search Engine

Data on the Net - University of California, San Diego - search for social science data.

Data Sources

Statistical Resources on the Web (University of Michigan)

Public Opinion Data

• Public Opinion Poll Question Database
• Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

US Data: Demographics

• Census Bureau
• American FactFinder
• CensusScope
• Historical Census Data Browser
• Immigrants

US Data: Government

• FedStats

US Data: Economic and Social Conditions

• Economic Statistics Briefing Room
• Social Statistics Briefing Room
• Bureau of Justice Statistics
• Crime Statistics and Data
• Crime Statistics Link Guide

US Data: Education Statistics

• Education Statistics
• Technology Statistics
• Library Statistics

US Data: Environment and Science

• Envirofacts Data Warehouse
• Agricultural Resources
• AIRData
• Energy
• Environment
• Natural Resources

US and World Data: Health

• National Center for Health Statistics
• World Health Organization Statistical Information

US and World Data: Countries

• Your Nation (need Flash)
• CIA World Fact Book
• Infonation (UN) 

Using Data

Statistics Every Writer Should Know by Robert Niles
Explains mean, median, percent; per capita and rates; standard and normal distribution; margin of error and confidence interval; and discusses data analysis and sample sizes.

Selecting Statistics - Bill Trochim's Center for Social Research Methods

Web Pages that Perform Statistical Calculation

Storydata; The Data Analysis Portal for News - multimedia-enabled data files that provide insights into numbers from the news, such as serious diseases by region (CDC data), casualties from wars in the 20th century, and worldwide governance research ratings (World Bank).  Categories of data: economy, entertainment, environment, health, sports, security, and transportation.

©Debbie Abilock 1998-2002
September 13, 1998, rev. 11/23/2002