Guides: Undergraduate Urban Research Methods: Finding Data

This Project Planner (from Sage) will:

Help you decide whether you should use qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods to collect your data
Define the variety of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
Help you decide whether you should use primary or secondary data to answer your research question

Locating Sources of Data

Use the following sources to begin your data search:

Penn Data Resource Guides Portals to a wide variety of resources at Penn as well as search and discovery strategies for data. For data in Penn Libraries' collections, see this guide.
PolicyMap Visualize topics through mapping, including demographics, housing, health, education, and more.
Social Explorer Visually explore data indicators across demography, economy, health, religion, crime and more.
ICPSR Access through Penn Libraries, the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research is a data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences.
OpenDataPhilly Catalog of open data in the Philadelphia region. In addition to being the official open data repository for the City, it includes data sets from many organizations in the region.
ProQuest Statistical Insight Access statistical information produced by U.S. federal agencies, private organizations, and major intergovernmental organizations.

LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com) provides over training videos related to new technologies and software. You are likely to find tutorials on your statistical software! Faculty, students, and permanent staff can access LinkedIn Learning through their PennKey.

Data + Statistical Software

SPSS is a statistical package produced by IBM, is known for its easy-to-use point-and-click interface. Start with our Statistical Packages guide.

SPSS Tutorials Tutorials and videos for getting started with SPSS.
Raynald's SPSS Tools Tutorials and over 600 sample syntax, macros and scripts.

Stata is a powerful statistical software that enables users to analyze, manage, and produce graphical visualizations of data. Get started with our Statistical Packages guide.

Stata.com Introduction chapter to STATA with examples on automobile data.
STATA Basics (Princeton University) A straightforward example to explore how STATA works.
Resources to help you learn and use Stata From UCLA's IDRE.
Resources for Learning Stata From StataCorp.
The Stata Project-Oriented Guide Tutorials on loading data, data manipulation, and programming.
A SAS User's Guide to Stata Tutorial from the Carolina Population Center.
Stata Journal Articles on statistics, data analysis, teaching methods, and effective use of Stata's language.
Statalist An email listserv about all things statistical and Stata. It may be helpful to browse the archives.