Government Information Subject Guide
by John Olson, Government Documents Librarian.
A great introduction to government information resources at Syracuse University Libraries.
Numeric Data Services
by Paul Bern, Data Services Librarian
A thorough resources for data and statistical information.
US Census Data:
Other Statistical Sources from the U.S. Government:
Population Studies Center, Social Research Institute, University of Michigan
PSC supports a large portfolio of both domestic and international research in several key areas of demographic research: 1) Family Formation, Fertility, and Children; 2) Human Capital, Labor and Wealth; 3) Health, Disability, and Mortality; 4) Population Dynamics; 5) Aging; 6) Methodology; and 7) Regional Studies.
Canadian Census Data
New York State Data Center
Program on Applied Demographics (PAD)
City of Syracuse - has links to department contact numbers but you may need to contact them personally for research assistance and/or data.
DataCuse - Syracuse City's open database
The I-81 Challenge - A community group coming together to reevaluate the needs and desires of those who use I-81 and live or work in the area, to formulate a vision and a plan that will best serve our goals for the future.
New York City
The following sources have census data going back, in some cases, to the first Census in 1790. You should keep in mind that not all data from all censuses are available in any format - some were destroyed in fires, others were simply lost.
Historical Census Browser - Data down to the county level back to 1790; you can create tables and simple maps.
Census Scope - Charts, maps and rankings back to 1980
1990 Census - Data from the 1990 decennial Census
IPUMS - The Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS-USA) consists of more than fifty high-precision samples of the American population drawn from fifteen federal censuses and from the American Community Surveys of 2000-2010.
Using statistics in your work, takes some skill and balance. See this handout by Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL):
See Owl's "Quick tips" on using statistics in your work:
1. Never calculate or use a statistical procedure you don't fully understand.
2. Never attempt to interpret the results of a statistical procedure you don't fully understand.
3. If you are using statistics in a paper, consider your audience.
4. Present as much information as needed so that your reader can make his or her own interpretation of your data.
5.Use graphics and tables.
6. If it's applicable, and you can calculate it, do include some measure of variability; typically this is a standard deviation.
7. Be wary of using statistics from other places that are not peer-reviewed.
8. Speaking of sources, if you used a statistic, you need to provide your audience with additional information including where the statistic came from.
9. If you calculated a statistic, how did you calculate it?
10. Be clear as to what population(s) your statistic is meant to generalize to.
11. If you are using inferential statistics, try to speak as plainly as possible, and put the statistics at the end of the sentence.
What is the difference between data and statistics?
Data are the numbers and "raw information" collected or pulled from "datasets" for use in statistics.
Statistics are the interpretation and analyses of this "raw information" or numbers. Statistics can be in the form of a table or a chart.
See the excellent libguide, How to Find Data & Statistics: Data vs. Statistics of Social Science librarian Hailey Mooney of Michigan State University that explains Statistics vs. Data very clearly: