Statistical Resources
Here are some often useful websites for obtaining statistical information. Be aware that search engines miss most of the best statistical information. Give some of these a try before "going Google."
FEDERAL/NATIONAL STATISTICS:
Statistical Abstract of the United States Collected by the Census Bureau from a wide variety of sources, this is the country's most authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Also useful as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web.
FEDSTATS An invaluable resource that provides access to the full range of official statistical information produced by the Federal Government by letting you search for which Federal agency produces which particular statistics.
LexisNexis Statistical Search this database for statistics tables from U.S. government, major international intergovernmental organizations, professional and trade organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, state government agencies, and universities. Downloadable charts, tables, and Excel files!
Child Trends Databank has the latest national trends and research on over 80 key indicators of child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month. Provided by Child Trends, a national leader in the field for over 20 years.National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) from the U.S. Dept. of Education, the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education from preschool to postgrad.
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) from the CDC, the nation's principal health statistics agency.
ChildStats.gov offers easy access to statistics and reports on children and families, including: population and family characteristics, economic security, health,
behavior and social environment, and education. Includes America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008 from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
STATE & LOCAL STATISTICS
Oregon Benchmarks measures progress towards Oregon's strategic vision. Benchmarks are organized into seven categories: economy, education, civic engagement, social support, public safety, community development and environment. And you can now easily generate your own benchmark report!
County and City Data Book is statistical information from the U.S. Census Bureau on a variety of vital statistics including education, health, housing, land area and population, poverty status, and social welfare programs. Data can be scanned on a national, regional, state, county or city basis. All U.S. cities with populations of greater than 25,000 (this includes Corvallis) are included.
Population Research Center Located at Portland State University; includes the Oregon State Data Center, the Oregon Population Estimates Program, and various population research projects.
Data for Local Communities A gathering place for statistical, spatial, and descriptive information about the cities, counties and other civil, economic and natural regions of Oregon and Washington.
ORGANIZATIONS
professional and government
Associations & Organizations is a list of links from the Internet Public Library
Oregon.gov, the gateway to Oregon government agencies, services and information.
U.S. Government Manual for Federal government agency information.
A Note to Ecampus Students
While doing research please remember that you can always request help. Your time is important and OSU Librarians & staff are here to help you use our resources efficiently. In addition to contacting the OSU Education & Extended Campus Librarian, you can find help at the
OSU Libraries Ask a Librarian Page
It links to chat reference, which defaults to a 24/7 reference service when the Valley Library is closed.
You can also Call OSU Libraries Reference: 541-737-7293.
Course Assignment
Develop a proposal for a human services program to meet a community goal.
Step One: Document the issue. Find statistical information which defines the scope of the issue, comparing national statistics to state and local statistics. For more information see Statistical Resources on this page for some useful websites.
Step Two: Develop ideas for the program. Considering what you have discovered about the scope of your problem, what sorts of interventions are likely to work?
Step Three: Gather research to support the proposed program. State your hypothesis, identify key concepts and list as many synonyms for your key words as you can come up with.
Step Four: Obtain the information. Research articles can be found using good databases and the OSU Libraries catalog is useful for finding books and government reports.
Step Five: Evaluate the information. Here are some tips from the Library Research Tutorial
Step Six: Find funding for your program. See Funding Resources on this page for some ideas.
Don't forget to cite your sources using the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. See the section below on Style Guides for help.
TCE 621 Syllabus
Funding
Finding Journal Articles
Once you define the parameters of your problem, the next step is to find some research on the problem, and possibly some other kinds of programs that address it. The best way to do this is find research articles in some of the OSU Libraries article databases. Here is a link to the databases in Education. You can change the subject of the databases you want to view with the pull down menu.
If the articles you find are not full text in the database and you need some assistance in locating them, look for the Link to full text button on the page for help. You can also visit the Libraries' page, Find Books and Articles or ask for assistance at the Reference Desk.
Requesting Books & Articles
When you are searching a database like ERIC, click on the full text pdf or html file, or click "link to full text" to see if the library has alternative access to the article, or to interlibrary loan the article or book.
To locate a specific journal article:
- Check our E-journals list first to see if we have electronic access to the journal for the date on which the article was published.
- Check the OSU Libraries catalog, check "Journals" , & type in the Journal Title to see if we have a print subscription for the date of your article. Click the Request button to put in citation information.
- If OSU doesn't have an article we can usually request it from another library via InterLibrary Loan Services. You need to register for ILL before you can use it, so do this ASAP. Electronic copies of articles are sent to you as a link in your OSU email.
- To request an ERIC document that is in microfiche format fill out the Circulation Request form
Also see:
- How to Request Library Materials
- Information on Receiving Materials
- Check Your Library Records/Renew
- Questions aboutOSU materials & Summit items, contact: valley.remote@oregonstate.edu
- Interlibary Loan questions, contact: valley.ill@oregonstate.edu
Style Guides
Don't forget to cite your sources using the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. See this handy guide from another OSU, Ohio State University, for assistance.
Many of the databases provide citation assistance. Take a look for the icon or link to "Cite this article" or "Choose a bibliographic style." These sometimes only show up when you go to print, save, or email the article, and different databases use different terminology.
Always check your references for accuracy! These citation "machines," while a great help, often get the little things wrong, so review the citation before you add it to your bibliography.
Consider using Zotero to capture and organize your citations. It is free software that is downloadable as an extension to the Firefox browser and it also has a Microsoft Word plugin that you can use to generate bibliographies.
Last Update: June 24, 2009 22:40
