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MBA 543 Library Guide: DATA

Library Resources: Communication Skills for Business Leaders

Quick Sources for Data and Statistics

Peer-reviewed Articles

Researchers often share the results of their original research or analysis in peer-reviewed articles. The findings in these articles are verified by other experts in the field.

Peer-reviewed articles are a great source for quantitative data and statistics because researchers visualize data in tables, graphs, or charts or mention them in the body of the text. Pull out data points referenced in the "Results", "Findings", or "Discussion" sections to create your own charts, graphs, or tables. Make sure to cite the source.

Demographic and Economic

Market & Business Data

Small Business Statistics and Ownership

Financial Statistics

Create Data Visualizations

Basic Principles:

  • Support and connect with article purpose 
  • Stand alone and show meaning
  • Accuracy (i.e. not distorted)
  • Efficient, easy and quick to understand
  • Know your audience 

Government, Educational, and Nonprofit Data

Google is a good place to search for data and statistics.  Use these strategies to make sure the data are reliable and current. 

1. Add terms to your search to pull out data sources such as DATA, POLL, STATISTIC, STUDY, or SURVEY.

2. Government, educational, and nonprofit sources are good examples of reliable sources and often contain statistics and datasets.  To search for data from these sources, use the domain search.  Simply add SITE:.GOV (government) , SITE:.EDU (educational) , or SITE:.ORG (nonprofit) to your normal Google search.  Or add your keywords to the search box below.

Google Web Search

3. Find current sources by limiting your results to the last year.  On the Google search results page, select Tools and change Anytime to the Past year.  This will give you only websites that have been updated in the past year.

How do I interpret and understand data?