Library Guides: JL MC 3460: Public Affairs Reporting: Data Sources

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Some Examples & Tools For Data Journalism

Freely Available Data Sources. (Some .gov sites may not be available)

Census.gov (United States Census Bureau)
"Serves as the nation's leading provider of quality data about its people and economy."
Data For Decision Makers Reports (ISU Extension and Outreach)
"The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Indicators Program provides data and information for decision makers at the local, regional, and state levels."
Data USA
"Data USA provides an open, easy-to-use platform that turns data into knowledge. It allows millions of people to conduct their own analyses and create their own stories about America – its people, places, industries, skill sets and educational institutions."
Enrollment by Major or Department (ISU)
"...contains detailed information on enrollment by major for undergraduates (first-year, sophomores, juniors, and seniors), by department for graduates, and by sex."
FBI Crime Data
Crime in the United States section is a "compilation of the volume and rate of violent and property crime offenses for the nation and by state….Data at the level of local law enforcement agencies are also provided for those contributors supplying 12 months of complete offense data."
Data.gov (Datasets)
"Here you will find data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more."
Iowa School Dropout & Graduation Rates (Iowa Department of Education)
"Provides data including four- and five-year graduation rates and dropout rates for Iowa public schools."
State Data Center (Iowa)
"....source for population, housing, business and government statistics about Iowa, including data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Iowa state agencies, and other state and federal sources. "
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
"....an online database consisting of hundreds of thousands of economic data time series from scores of national, international, public, and private sources"
Bureau of Labor Statistics
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics."
American Immigration Council
An excellent resource for finding state specific immigration data and facts.
USASpending
"...the official open data source of federal spending information, including information about federal awards such as contracts, grants, and loans based on location, industry and more."
General Social Survey (GSS)
Studies "the growing complexity of American society....personal-interview survey designed to monitor changes in both social characteristics and attitudes currently being conducted in the United States."

Related Guides

Library Data Sources

Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window
This source gives comprehensive, summarized data on the social, political, and economic issues of the U.S. Lots and lots of statistical tables!
Sage Data (formerly Data Planet) This link opens in a new window
Sage Data provides access to data sets and tools for a wide range of disciplines: Agriculture, Business, Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Education, Energy, International Relations and Trade, Politics, Population and Income. It allows search and browse of datasets, comparing variables of interest, and creating customized exportable charts and tables.
Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
Find company financials, competitor, customer, and supplier information, recent analyst reports, and more on US and global companies. Also includes industry reports and country snapshots.
Roper iPoll This link opens in a new window
The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University maintains an archive of social science data specializing in data from public opinion surveys. Its collection includes over 23,000 datasets and almost 800,000 questions with responses in Roper iPoll, and adds hundreds more each year.

For more public opinion survey data, see Health Poll Database.
ICPSR: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new window
Data holdings contain 6,000 studies and 500,000 files that cover a wide range of social science areas such as: public opinion polls, survey of mass and elite attitudes, election returns, legislative records, census records, international financial statistics, income dynamics and social welfare program participation.