Assistance with data
Finding the right data can be tricky. If you don't find what you need using the sources on this page, it's time to call an expert!
Set up a consultation using the schedule appointment buttons below my profile photo.
Do you have a data management plan?
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.
JMU Libraries has a Data Services Librarian, Samantha Harmon, who can help talk to you about drafting your plan.
Other JMU resources
JMU Statistical Consulting Center: Assistance in experiment design, data analysis, interpretation of results, and statistical computing issues for a wide range of projects, including Ph.D. dissertation research. Staffed by JMU Mathematics & Statistics department faculty.
Best best for SSLS data
Operations and business data sources
- ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research) This link opens in a new window
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Archive of social science data for research and instruction, available for download and re-use.
Note: users must create an account in order to download data - WRDS This link opens in a new windowContent type(s): Financial datasets from COMPUSTAT (public companies), CRSP (security prices) and CUSIP Master File (financial instruments issuers), and RiskMetrics (corporate governance).
Dates covered: 1925 - present - Data Axle Reference Solutions This link opens in a new windowContent type(s): Directory of U.S. businesses (key personnel, addresses, credit rating, sales, subsidiaries, etc) and households (name, address, and phone number, census data for the household's area).
Dates covered: Current - Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
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Content type(s): Contains U.S. and international publicly-held company data and reports. Datasets can be downloaded as Excel files.
Dates covered: 1993 to present
Non-profit datasets
- Pew Research Center datasetsThis non-partisan public opinion polling organization makes its data available to the public for secondary analysis after a period of time.
Higher Education datasets
- Integrated Post-Secondary Education Statistics (IPEDS)The statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. It is independent and non-partisan
- Higher Education Research InstituteThe Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) is a national longitudinal study of the American higher education system. It is regarded as the most comprehensive source of information on college students.
- Chronicle of Higher Education dataSearch and explore faculty, staff, and adjunct salary data at thousands of colleges.
General demographic datasets
- DataVANon-sensitive, public information about the Commonwealth that is made freely available for public use in an easily readable format.
- Weldon Cooper Center for Public ServiceThe Demographics Research Group at UVA produces the official annual population estimates for Virginia and its localities;