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Library Data Resources for Social Data Analytics

A collection of resources for students in the SDA program, with a focus on data.

Introduction

As a Brown student, you have access to a wide selection of data sources, including paid database subscriptions. We at the Library collect a variety of resources to help you develop a data search strategy.

Based on your research question, you may find some useful resources below.

Text data sources (newspapers, books, journal articles, websites, social media posts)

Texts can include anything from books to magazine articles to webpages to tweets. When building a collection of texts (or a text corpus) for a research project, you have several options.

Databases with licensed content

Web scraping from web resources

Social media archives

Social sciences datasets (e.g. polling, demographic, census, economic data)

Finding data on the open internet

There are yet more datasets on the open internet. Here are a few tips for conducting a data search:

Use advanced search syntax on Google to target high-quality sources

search: social media dataset site:*.edu

Did you know you could limit your search to higher-ed affiliated resources by adding "site:*.edu" to your search in Google? Try searching for "social media dataset site:*.edu" and see how your search changes

Similarly, you can do a fine-grained search of resources like GitHub by searching "social media dataset site:github.com " . This type of search uses Google's search indexing, rather than the internal GitHub search feature, and can thus prioritize more impactful / linked-to resources. (Although keep in mind the limitations of commercial search engines!)

Search data and research repositories, not just the open internet

Registry of research data repositories

Reach out for a data search strategy consultation

Send an email: You can reach out with your question at: cass_wilkinson_saldana@brown.edu

Book an appointment: You can use this self-service link to book a time: Book an appointment during office hours.