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GEOG 206: Society and Space

Finding Statistics

It can be difficult to track down some statistics.  For instance, although the Canadian Census / National Household Survey provides statistics about housing, they do not capture statistics about the homeless.  Some Internet sleuthing can reveal other sources of statistics, but think critically about what you find on the Internet. 

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Who published this site?  Check for an About Us link.  Is the publisher a reputable organization?  Are they biased?  (This is not necessarily a bad thing; it's just important to know and recognize.  They could be misrepresenting the statistics.) 
  • Does the site give the sources of the data/information?  Do not use the information unless it is clear that the sources are reputable.
  • Do you know the publication date and/or the currency of the information?
  • If the source is a media site (e.g., CBC), do they give the information source?  Are you able to access the original source?

Other Information Sources

Sources

Use the following full-text databases to find newspaper articles for this assignment:

Boolean Searching

Use the following to connect your terms:

  • AND - narrows your search. Each item in your search results will contain ALL your search terms. E.g. homelessness AND britain.
  • OR - broadens your search. Each item in your search results will contain either one or both of your search terms. E.g. britain OR england.
  • These may be combined. E.g. homelessness AND (britain OR england).

Google may be used in the following way to strategically search for electronic media stories:

  1. Do your Google search.
  2. Click on the gear icon (upper right section of screen), and click on Advanced search.
  3. Scroll down and enter the site or domain that you want to search in the site or domain: box.  For instance, you would enter .cbc.ca to search CBC's web sites.  (If you're not sure what to enter, search for the organization that you'd like to search and check the URL.)
  4. Scroll down the page and click on Advanced Search to complete your search.
  5. Click on Search tools at the top of the screen and then click on Any time to restrict your search by time period.  (Custom range... will allow you to specify a specific date range.)

Other ideas for sites to search using the above method: .BBC.com, .thetyee.ca, .aljazeera.com, .thenation.com

Of particular interest here are the following pages:

General

Google: May be used in the following way to strategically search for government publications:

  1. Do your Google search.
  2. Click on the gear icon (upper right section of screen), and click on Advanced search.
  3. Scroll down and enter the site or domain that you want to search in the site or domain: box.  For instance, you would enter .gov.bc.ca to search BC government web sites.  (If you're not sure what to enter, search for the organization that you'd like to search and check the URL.)
  4. Scroll down the page and click on Advanced Search to complete your search.
  5. Click on Search tools at the top of the screen and then click on Any time to restrict your search by time period.  (Custom range... will allow you to specify a specific date range.)

Canada

  • When you access a specific publication in your search results, note the More details link next to the title of the book (in the green banner).  The will show the LC SUBJECTS, which may be used to find other books on the same topic.
  • Use the Advanced Search to search for words in Title (Contains) or Subject.
  • The default view of the search results is by book cover icons.  You may use the View Results drop-down menu to change to List Results, which provides a textual list of results.
  • You may also sort the search results by date.
  • When you access a specific publication in your search results, use the Download PDF button under the book to download the publication in PDF format.

Statistics Canada Advanced Search: Use Statistics Canada's Advanced search to search for articles by Statistics Canada analysts. The Advanced search will allow you to narrow your search by type (e.g., Articles) and/or by resource (e.g., Analysts and researchers).

International

British Columbia

  • Open Data From the Census:  Census profile data for various geographical areas, including unincorporated places.  (Note that data for unincorporated places are not available on the Statistics Canada site for some census years; BC Stats purchased this data from Statistics Canada as custom data.)
  • BC Socio-Economic Profiles & Indices: May be very relevant for some of the topics for this assignment.
  • Check out the Statistics by Subject drop-down menu for other statistics.

Canada

Statistics Canada crime and justice statistics: Note especially the links to Detailed tables from CANSIM link under each subtopic.  E.g., the incident-based crime statistics tables, such as Table 252-0081, provide detailed statistics by police service (note that there may urban and rural statistics for a particular community).

Important: The Add/Remove data tab in the CANSIM tables allow you to add or remove data from the default table. There is much hidden here!

International

The United Nations Statistics Division also provides a list of national statistical offices websites.

Important: Countries can report their data differently.  Organizations like the IMF, OECD, UN, and World Bank standardize the data so that they can be compared.  Be cautious about comparing the data from one national statistical office to data from another national statistical office.

Subjects: Geography