Data Resources - Model Congress - Schoeplein - LibGuides at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

What you'll find on this page

This page contains statistics (both by the issue and general) and public opinion data. Both of these are used by legislators to craft effective bills that will pass through both houses and get signed by the president (hopefully by President Schoeplein in your case!). Using data in your research is not optional - it is a requirement!

Note: If you would like more websites specific to your topic (i.e. another website with data on the environment), reach out to President Schoeplein or Ms. Arnold (who is just a regular citizen - though a very smart and helpful one).

General Statistics

USA.gov statistics
More than 70 agencies in the United States Federal Government produce statistics of interest to the public. The Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site to provide easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use. STARTING HINT: Look around by topic under the section called, "Federal Government Data and Statistics."
U.S. Census Bureau (My Congressional District)
Subtitled “the official statistics,” this website bills itself as “your source for social, demographic and economic information.” STARTING TIP: On the top, click "topics" and choose one (i.e. education, business, income & poverty) from there to get data from a variety of years (not specifically just the last 2010 data as they collect information on an ongoing basis for various topics).

We introduced in class census.gov/mycd -- use this to learn about your specific congressional district.
The Upshot (from the New York Times)
The New York Times's data-driven commentary focused on politics, policy and economic analysis. Their goal is to help readers get to the essence of issues and understand them in a contextual and conversational way. STARTING HINT: To search for your topic, scroll down to the middle of the page and search next to "LATEST" to get data-specific results (Searching in the upper left-hand corner will give you results from the whole NYTimes.com).

Statistics by issue

National Center for Education Statistics
NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data that are related to education in the United States and other nations. STARTING HINT: Hover over the IEC>NCES on the banner at the top. Go to "fast facts" and select the topic in education you'd like to focus on for a good starting point of general data.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) is a special topic archive of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. NACJD acquires, archives, processes, and provides access to electronic criminal justice data collections for research and instruction. STARTING HINT: You can search for broad topics in the upper right-hand corner (i.e. "marijuana laws") and then sort the results in different ways in the middle to help find what you want (recommended to change this to time period).
National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI)
NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is responsible for preserving, monitoring, assessing, and providing public access to the Nation's treasure of climate and historical weather data and information. STARTING HINT: Click on "Climate Information" or "Data Access" along the top tabs for general data.

Public Opinion Data

Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.
Gallup
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems.

Model Congress - Schoeplein: Data Resources

What you'll find on this page

General Statistics

Statistics by issue

Public Opinion Data