1. Sociology 209: Social Inequality
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2. Who am I and why should you care?
• Dawn Stahura
• I’m your Sociology Librarian/Liaison/Superhero
Today’s Class:
• Peer-reviewed, scholarly articles
• Libguide (what it is and how to use it)
• Database searching (SocINDEX and PAIS)
• Statistics and Government Data
• Break-out sessions

3. Numerical Terminology
Data: refers to individual numbers, like the original computer file of all
the numerically coded responses to a survey.
• Looks like a series of numbers. This is a DATA FILE, usually called a
DATA SET.
• Data are actual values. One value in a data set is a data point.
• When you process data, grouping the data points and expressing them
as percentages, then you have STATISTICS.

4. Statistics: groups of numbers, usually expressed in terms of percentages.
The data (numbers) and the statistical percentage it represents both
appear here:
“Almost 9 million (data) young Americans, or about 15 percent (statistic)
of all children, are overweight.”
Statistics are easier to find.
But if you want to analyze a series of values, then you want a DATA SET.

5. Collection of Numbers
When thinking about a numerical question, consider whether or not it
would be worth someone’s time to collect the information and make it
available in a way that is useful.
It is costly to collect, analyze, and interpret data.
So, if the government does not have it, and a nonprofit or possibly a trade
organization does not provide the information you are looking for, then it
means it would have to be information collected by a FOR-profit
organization.
So think about what type of information you want to find about poverty
and then consider whether or not someone would be interested in
collecting that data, and WHO it might be.

6. Categories of Numbers
Collected numbers fall under three main categories:
• People  population counts, demographics (race, income), immigration and
migration, and vital statistics (births, deaths).
• Business  broad information about business such as numbers of companies,
production, and workers in various industries, as well as numbers related to
doing business (market research, or sales figures for a particular company).
• Financial  “business numbers” that are financial in nature (historical stock
prices), money or monetary equivalents (stocks), information such as the GDP,
banking data (total currency in circulation, total value of money in savings
accounts), exchange rates, and aggregate numbers associated with stock markets
(Dow Jones Industrial Averages).
• **Knowing where your “number question” fits into one of these categories will
help you decide what agency collects these numbers.**

7. Who Collects Numbers?
In the United States, the U.S. Government is probably the largest collector
and publisher of “numbers.” This is true of other developed countries.
These organizations are termed the “public sector” and usually the
information they make available is free (tax dollars at work).
The private sector, comprises of trade or business organizations,
professional associations, market research companies, and polling and
surveying organizations.
Usually information produced by the private sector is NOT free,
although some trade and professional groups may provide some
statistics on their websites.

8. What’s this peer-reviewed business?
Scholarly vs. general interest magazines:

9. The Sociology 209 Libguide:
http://libguides.wellesley.edu/soc209
Trouble finding information on your topic?
Think about your topic and where it fits in the hierarchy. What higher class does
your topic belong to? Are their subclasses of your topic that could become
factors to consider? Encyclopedias can help with this! So can concept mapping!
Gov’t policy Housing issues
Sociology
Social work
Sociology of cities
Homelessness
Education of homeless children

10. Finding articles in databases:
 SocINDEX:
to locate articles on sociological topics.
 PAIS
to locate articles on political science.
 ERIC
to locate articles on education.
 PolicyFile
to locate articles from think-tanks, NGOs and research institutes.
 Academic Search Complete
broad, multidisciplinary database.

11. Statistics and Government Data
• OFFSTATS
can search by country and subject.
• Statistical Abstract
authoritative summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic
organization of the U.S.
• American FactFinder
U.S. government source for population, housing, economic, and geographic
information.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market
activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.

12. • NCES
The primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to
education in the U.S.
• Data.gov
Increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use
datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government.

13. Questions? Help?
• I’m available for one-on-one consultations.
• Email, Google chat, visit the help desk, phone me.
Good luck on your research projects!