Data adventures

In the world of research, there are few tasks more glamorous than digging for data.  If the “d” word hasn’t put you to sleep yet, read on.  Seriously, the hunt for data is just like an Indiana Jones adventure.  Oh yeah, I mean action, adventure, the whole shabang.  Well, maybe there’s not quite as much punching, daredevil moves, car chases, wild animals, or exotic exploits…but other than that it’s pretty much the same thing.  Yeah, um, at least I tell myself that so it makes the research a bit more fun!

Over the past year I’ve been on a hunt for state-level data on higher ed finance, college participation, and economic indicators.  I’ve explored the depths of the world wide web, emailed and called people in far away lands, and have devoted countless hours staring at the depths of my computer monitor’s soul.  If this isn’t what makes for an Indiana Jones adventure, then I don’t know what does.  Are you buying it?  Can you see the movie now?  Indiana Jones and the Search for the Lost Data File.  Blockbuster hit written all over it!  Oh  yeah. 

Ok, I digress.  I do have a point to this blog.  I want to share an awesome data resource with folks who might be on similar “data hunts.”  It’s not easy hunting down the right info from the most legitimate source, so here’s a link provided by Lexis Nexis statistical data center.  If you have access to the LN site, you can dig around here and get state-level data ranging from things like new housing starts, number of drug arrests per capita, bankruptcies, amount of protein in the food supply,  air quality index, unemployment rates, control of political parties, election results…and of course education data.  The list goes on and on.  If you’re a researcher interested in state-level economic, education, political, social, or environmental data this should be the first stop on your research journey.  I wish I had known about it sooner!

Oh yeah, and you can even print out charts and graphs like the ones below:

Stats gadgets

I was watching a very cool lecture last night on TED. I had never heard of TED until a few months ago, and now I love it. If I’m not careful, I can get sucked in and watch for hours.

At any rate, the presentation below is outstanding. As a wannabe statistician (and I use that term loosely), I love seeing how people display stats and engage the audience in snooze-worthy lectures that involve the “d” word….DATA! Hans Rosling does a great job here and it turns out that Google Docs offers a free program similar to the one Hans uses in this presentation. It’s called Motion Charts and my goal is to find a way to use something like this in my own research. And here’s another link worth checking out for more examples of making stats fun.