Research Data Librarian
Scholarly Research Services
For more information, visit our Scholarly Research Services webpage.
Get Help Finding Data Sets
Contact the research data librarian if you would like assistance finding data. The following websites provide some good starting points.
Three quick points as you begin searching for data:
- What is your research question? This will help you identify what data, and therefore, data source to look for
- Data topic
- Year range of data
- Geographic level of data (country level, state level, county level...)
- What are you trying to do with the data? This could help determine how aggregated the dataset you use can be to accomplish your analysis.
- All data databases tend to have different platform interfaces. Finding data can be tricky--so please ask for help!
- Data / Statistics Databases at UNCWThis Data and Statistics list shows subscription resources available to the UNCW community. Please contact if you need help navigating these databases. (External data sources are listed further in this Finding Data subject guide.)
Trainings at UNCW:
- Navigating a Data Database (Data Planet)--Fall 2022 (PPT Slides / Recording)
Using secondary data for your research question
- PEERS Webinar: Developing a Research Question and Aligning DataWatch 38:41 - 43:10 (~4 min) for an example of how multiple secondary data sources were used to answer a research question.
Subject-specific data sources
Many of the disciplinary subject guides include data source suggestions relevant to the discipline, located in a "Data and Statistics" tab. Here are a few examples of other UNCW library guides that have great source suggestions.
However, if you're still having trouble finding a dataset to fit your particular data need, set up a meeting with Lynnee for personalized suggestions!
Databases at UNCW
- Social ExplorerSocial Explorer provides professional-quality demographic data from the most trusted sources, including the Decennial Census, American Community Survey (ACS), County Business Patterns, Population Estimates, LEHD and more. Many of these data sets are available at detailed geographic levels, down to a few city blocks. Some are from countries outside the United States, and others cover world regions. Use Social Explorer to analyze and visualize the characteristics of almost any location. Whether you are interested in markets, voting, poverty, aging populations, ethnicity and race, spending patterns, health indicators, crime, environment or education, Social Explorer's tools will facilitate your analyses. You can see trends and make comparisons over time and place to gain insights and help make decisions.
- Sage Data (formerly Data Planet)Provides access to an extensive repository of standardized and structured statistical data. Through a single platform, users can search and browse 35 billion data points in over 4.9 billion datasets sourced from over 70 authoritative government and private sources, covering 16 subject areas. The platform’s powerful functionality allows users to manipulate datasets, compare multiple indicators, chart trends over time and spatially represent data without requiring additional software programs. Multiple export options are provided.
- StatistaAggregates statistical information on over 60,000 topics from more than 18,000 sources, including market research institutes, trade organizations, scientific journals, government databases, and many other private and public resources.
- All of UsThe All of Us database provides clinical, environmental, and social lifestyle data to inform how these factors affect health conditions, to promote the advancement of biomedical research such as precision medicine. The "Data Browser" public data is aggregated data from participants’ physical measurements, surveys, wearables, and electronic health records. In the "Researcher Workbench" Registered Tier, UNCW researchers can view and analyze within the Workbench platform individual (not aggregated) human subjects' de-identified biomedical data. Responsible Conduct of Research training within the platform is required for registration.
- Data Citation Index (part of Web of Science)Discover research data, including data studies, data sets from a wide range of international data repositories and connect them with the scientific literature to track data citation.
- Historical Statistics of the United StatesAn essential database for history. The fully searchable and downloadable electronic edition will permit users to graph individual tables and create customized tables and spreadsheets with topics ranging from migration and health to crime and the Confederate States of America.
Government data sources
- Data.govFederal website providing data sets generated by the Executive Branch. This portal provides access to over 190,000 government data sets on topics such as agriculture, business, climate, consumer research, ecosystems, education, energy, finance, health, local government, manufacturing, public safety, as well as science and research.
- Science.govScience.gov searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results. This massive gateway for government scientific information provides access to data among other sources.
- North Carolina State Center for Health StatisticsThis is North Carolina health data, housed within the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) Division of Public Health. It includes data at the North Carolina county level, on topics such as cancer, behavioral risk factors, child mortality, birth defects, pregnancy, minority health, and vitals like births, deaths, marriages, and divorces.
Researcher datasets
- ICPSR (Inter University Consortium for Political and Social Research)ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction, including a data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. It hosts 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminology, criminal justice, social work, sociology, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. As a member institution, UNCW faculty, staff, and students have access to this source of over 500,000 social sciences data sets. ICPSR offers 16 specialized collections covering education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and more.
- FigshareFigshare offers data and other research outputs in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities
- DryadDryad is a repository for data associated with published articles in the sciences and health disciplines.
- UNC DataverseShare, publish, and archive your data. Find and cite data across all research fields. Hosted by the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science.
- Registry of Research Data RepositoriesThe registry lists data repositories organized topically, by data type, and by country of origin.