Data Sources

1
Data Sources

• Via Libraries, Internet

2
A Basic Reality

• You need information (data)
• Often you are not in a position to create data by
  doing original research
• So, you need to find some that has been gathered
  by someone else (secondary sources)
• Fortunately, this is often easy to accomplish
  (but there are a few pitfalls)

3
What You Can Find

• Aggregate data (Census, Statistical abstract,
  STATES data set)
• Narrative records (need to be content analyzed,
  or otherwise coded)
• Surveys
• And many other sorts

4
Advantages

• Can be less costly than others
• Often yields good results
• Often is readily accessible

5
Pitfalls

• Who decided to keep publish the materials?
  (Quality control)
• Person who generated it?
• Editors?
• Peer reviewers?

6
Pitfalls, cont.

• Data
• Who gathered it? How well did they do their job?
  Accuracy?
• How well was data kept
• Is it raw or analyzed
• Missing data
• Operational definitions

7
Pitfalls, cont.

• Opinion Logical Argumentation
• Opinion
• Argumentation, opinion, polemics, etc.
• Whose opinion?
• Quality of argument, evidence
• What it can show
• Positions
• Authors thinking

8
Where To Find It

• There are many potential sources
• Libraries
• Organizational archives files
• Personal records
• Data bases
• Computer networks, CDs, etc.

9
Key Media

• Paper
• Electronic
• WWW
• Must be cited (the Roesch library web site
  contains info re. how to do this)
• POL 207 web site contains a few links which might
  be useful to Political Science majors

10
WWW

• There are many sites,
• Located all over U.S., North America, the rest
  of the planet
• There is lots of information, but
• Caveat emptor
• There is little quality control (screening for
  quality or accuracy)
• It is very dynamic (sites URLs come, go,
  change rapidly)
• Citation is necessary

11
In Summary

• Secondary sources can be very useful, but
• Let the user beware

12
(No Transcript)