Research Guides
Design 384 - Info Visualizations (Cheng, Winter 2015): Find, Manage, and Cite Data
Class guide for DES 384: Information Visualizations
Find Data
A good starting place for finding data of all types is Databib. There are also many other data portals listed on the UW Data Resources Guide.
Note: some items below are [UW restricted]
- American FactfinderPart of Census.gov, includes population, housing, economic, and geographic data.
- Data.gov"Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets."
- ICPSRInter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research provides more than 500,000 digital files containing social science research data.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Formerly a publication of the U.S. Census Bureau and now published by ProQuest, contains a "comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States."
- UNESCO Institute for StatisticsAccess data and build your own statistical tables related to UNESCO's fields of action.
- World Bank DataFind 200+ country profiles, data by indicator (300+ available), data by source, and/or indicators by topic.
- Washington State County & City DataProvided by Office of Financial Management, provides data related to population, economy, and more.
Metadata Standards
Metadata is data that describes your data. Metadata is used to structure actual data sets -- like the column headings of simple tabular data -- as well as to describe features of data sets.
- UW's Metadata GuideLearn more about what metadata is, and find metadata standards and resources on UW's Metadata Guide.
Resources for Data Training
- UW Center for Social Science Computation & Research (CSSCR)CSSCR Free Non-credit Courses
- Introduction to Data ScienceA UW Coursera class taught by Bill Howe
- Coursera classes on dataOther free, online classes given through Coursera on data in many different fields.
- Udacity Elementary Statistics classA free beginners class on statistics and data (which is also accepted for credit at San Jose State University, FYI).
- edX Intro to Descriptive Statistics classAn introduction to descriptive statistics, emphasizing critical thinking and clear communication. Taught through BerkeleyX.
- UW PCE Certificate in Data ScienceWant to formally go back to school to learn about data? UW's Professional and Continuing Education school offers a certificate program in data science.
Experts
- UW Center for Social Science Computation & Research (CSSCR)CSSCR is a discipline specific computing center serving ten member departments in three Colleges of the UW: Anthropology/Archeology, Communication, Economics, Education, Geography, The Jackson School of International Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology.
- UW Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology (CSDE)Provides expertise and assistance in the choice and implementation of statistical methodology for demographic research.
- eScience InstituteUW's eScience Institute supports data-driven discovery in all fields by providing consulting services for researchers with data-oriented problems.
- Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS)CSSS provides free statistical consulting to current UW faculty, staff, and students in affiliated departments.
- Institute for Health Metrics and EvaluationIHME’s mission is to improve the health of the world’s populations by making available the highest-quality information related to global health. IHME works to help expand access to the raw data used in evaluations.
UW Resources
- Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS)CSSS provides free statistical consulting to current UW faculty, staff, and students in affiliated departments.
- eScience InstituteUW's eScience Institute supports data-driven discovery in all fields by providing consulting services for researchers with data-oriented problems.
- Institute for Health Metrics and EvaluationIHME’s mission is to improve the health of the world’s populations by making available the highest-quality information related to global health. IHME works to help expand access to the raw data used in evaluations.
- UW Center for Social Science Computation & Research (CSSCR)Computer resource center providing research, statistics and data support for social science departments including Social Work.
- UW Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology (CSDE)Provides expertise and assistance in the choice and implementation of statistical methodology for demographic research.
- UW Libraries Data ResourcesInformation & resources for finding & visualizing data from UW's Data Librarian.
- UW Libraries ResearchWorksThe ResearchWorks Service provides faculty, researchers and students with tools to archive and/or publish the products of research including data sets, monographs images, journal articles and technical reports.
Data Management Plans
A data management plan is a document outlining how a researcher plans to manage data during and after a research project including how it will be organized, maintained and shared. More and more funding agencies are now requiring researchers to submit a formal data management plan (DMP) when applying for grants.
- DMPToolAn online tool to assist in writing data management plans for NSF, NIH, NEH, IMLS, or GBMF. Login using your NetID.
- UW Libraries Data Management GuideGuide of resources developed by UW Libraries related to the many aspects of research data management.
- ICPSR Guidelines for Effective Data Management PlansGuidance from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research on creating a data management plan.
- Guide for NSF Data Management PlansInformation & links to resources for developing NSF data management plans
- Guide for NIH Data Management PlansInformation & links to resources for developing NIH data management plans
Cite Data
Did you know? You must cite data, just as you would cite information you found in an article, a book, a webpage, or any other format.
Below are some resources to help you cite your data.
If you would like others to cite your data, please contact the ResearchWorks Data Services Team about permanent identifiers for datasets.
- APA Style Guide to Electronic References
- This link opens in a new window
See page 16 for how to cite data. - Citing DataGuide from MIT on how and why to cite data.
- UW's Data Management GuideData Citation page on UW's Data Management Guide
Visualize Data
Below are some resources to help you create visuals with your data that will make it understandable and accessible to the rest of the world. For more, visit UW's Data Resources Guide.
Visualization Tools & Resources:
- Google ChartsThe Google Chart API lets you dynamically generate charts with a URL string. You can embed these charts on your web page, or download the image for local or offline use.
- FlareFor creating visualizations that run in the Adobe Flash Player.
- FlexOpen source framework by Adobe for developing web apps to view and interpret data.
Data Tutorials
Below are some tutorials that will help you use common tools for data manipulation, use, and management.
- Resources for Data Analysis from Northwestern UniversityA collection of online tutorials for using different software programs for statistics.
- Resources for Text Analysis from Duke UniversityUseful resources, tutorials, tools, etc. about text analysis for Digital Humanities projects
- Video tutorials from PrincetonA set of video tutorials on how to use different statistics software packages.
- Harvard-MIT Data Center TutorialsA curated collection of data-related tutorials.