Social Work
Using Data and Statistics
It's vital to find, evaluate, and interpret data and statistics in order for social workers to draw conclusions about our communities. Use the resources on this page to find statistics and datasets for your research.
Need help using and evaluating data? Check out these videos on Using Quantitative Data and Evaluating Statistics for an introduction. (Note: these videos are only available to WMU students and employees).
Finding Data and Datasets for Social Work
- Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) This link opens in a new window
Provides access to and archives of social science data. Areas of research range from crime, to economic indicators, to consumer behavior, and health information. Members of the Western Michigan community are eligible to access and download the data. When accessing certain data, users will be asked to either break out of the proxy and log in with their Google or Facebook account, or remain inside the proxy and create/log in with a MyData account here.
- Odum Institute Archive DataverseThe Odum Institute Archive Dataverse contains social science data curated and archived by the Odum Institute Data Archive at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Please note that some datasets in this collection are restricted to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill affiliates.)
- Statista This link opens in a new windowSearch for user-friendly statistical tables and infographics on more than 80,000 topics drawn from over 22,500 sources.
- Sage Data This link opens in a new window
Provides access to more than 90 billion data points from dozens of licensed and public domain datasets. Scan the contents of the collection, select subjects and variables of interest, and view your data in side-by-side tables and charts. Results are instantaneous and can be easily exported.
Now includes State Stats, formerly on the Sage Stats platform
- Statistical Abstract of the United States (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States, with some international content. It is also used as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. Each table will identify the original agency that produced the data. Use the agency web link to find additional information on your topic. Coverage varies. Coverage is from 2013-present.
- UNdataLarge searchable index to much of the datasets and statistics produced by the United Nations agencies.
- The World Bank DataBankGlobal development data from the World Bank.
Census and Community Data
- Census Bureau This link opens in a new windowU.S. government census data grouped into categories such as people, business, geography, and others. Data files are available as well as prepared tables.
- DemographicsNow This link opens in a new window
DemographicsNow provides users with ready-to-use and customizable demographic data reports that include population, income, housing, race, age, education, businesses and retail sales, consumer expenditures and more.
- Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Create maps and reports using current and historical census data and demographic information to better illustrate, analyze and understand demography and social change.
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