Research Guide: Statistics

This guide is a starting place to help you locate statistics on a variety of topics from many different sources

Understanding Statistics - Books

Naked Statistics: stripping the dread from the data

Main Collection 519.5 W561n 2014

For those who slept through Stats 101, this book is a lifesaver. Wheelan strips away the arcane and technical details and focuses on the underlying intuition that drives statistical analysis. 

The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data

Main Collection 519.5 S755a 2019

In this "important and comprehensive" guide to statistical thinking (New Yorker), discover how data literacy is changing the world and gives you a better understanding of life's biggest problems.     

Statistics in a Nutshell

Main Collection 519.5 B743s 2012

Need to learn statistics for your job? Want help passing a statistics course? Statistics in a Nutshell is a clear and concise introduction and reference for anyone new to the subject. 

Critical Statistics: seeing beyond the headlines

Main Collection 300.15195 D514c 2019

This accessible and entertaining new textbook provides students with the knowledge and skills they need to understand the barrage of numbers encountered in their everyday lives and studies. 

Dictionary of Statistics and Methodology

Reference Collection 300.1 V887d 2011

In this newly updated Fourth Edition, new terms are defined, new synonyms are included, and both are illustrated with new graphics. 

General Collections of Statistics

Information Plus for Statistics

Using Information Plus to Find Statistics

The Information Plus Reference Series is a set of print and electronic books that are full of detailed information on a variety of topics. You can access articles in the electronic version of these books by going to the Gale Virtual Reference Library database (also called Gale Ebooks) and limiting your search by publication title, shown in the images below.  Use the links below to access the source, and use the tabs in this box to see more tips and tricks about how to search.

What can you find in articles from Information Plus?

The Information Plus Reference Series provides detailed information, including statistics, on a variety of topics.

cover of one Information Plus series print books

  • Abortion
  • AIDS/HIV
  • Capital Punishment
  • Education
  • The Environment
  • Growing Old in America
  • Sports in America
  • Women in American Society
  • Careers and Occupations
  • Death and Dying
  • Endangered Species
  • Health and Wellness
  • Minorities
  • Space Exploration
  • Weight in America
  • World Poverty
  • The American Economy
  • Child Abuse and Domestic Violence
  • Electronic America
  • Energy
  • Gambling
  • Gun Control
  • The Health Care System
  • National Security
  • Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drugs
  • Animal Rights
  • Crime, Prisons, and Jails
  • Genetics and Genetic Engineering
  • Growing Up
  • Immigration and Illegal Aliens
  • Social Welfare
  • Water

Limiting to the Information Plus Series

The images below show you how you can search in the Gale Ebooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) database to limit to the publication series "Information Plus."

  • After opening the database, choose the option for "Advanced Search" so you are given the multiple search boxes
  • In the first box, you can search by keyword or by a larger topic
  • In the second box, you can put in the name of the series "information plus" and then, in the drop down option at the end of the search box, you can limit that to "publication title" to see results from just that publication.

(click on image to enlarge)

images shows how to use the advanced search to limit to publication title, searching for Information Plus series, and a keyword

  • The image below shows just one example of the kind of statistics you can find within the articles that come from the Information Plus Reference Series. 

(click on image to enlarge)

image shows a graph and a chart with statistics that were pulled from the information plus series

Example of statistics in charts

Charts, graphs, and diagrams

Statistics are often found inside books and articles, namely, in the graphs, charts, and diagrams within them. The image of the graph below is from a CQ Research report and is but one example of how you can locate find statistical information in larger information sources. 

(click on image to enlarge)

image shows a pie chart that breaks down information about disabilities. It is an example of one way stats can be presented.

Image source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010). "Disabled veterans and the labor force on the Internet" The Economics Daily, U.S. Department of Labor, at https://www.bls.gov/

 

(click on image to enlarge)

image shows an chart with stats that was pulled from the article

Image Source: Mantel, B. (2010, April 2). Breast cancer. CQ Researcher,  20, 289-312. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com

Subjects: Economics, Statistics