Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
For most people, accessing the data as an Excel spreadsheet will be the
most productive, as it's easily imported into a statistical application.
The types of analysis that lend themselves to downloading data include
quantitative secondary analysis. Another researcher's data published online is
a good example. In addition, academic think-tanks and organizations such as
the US Federal Reserve and the World Bank often make their socio-economic
data available for secondary analysis. Other research techniques might be nar-
rative analysis, using blog data, or content analysis using blog and web site con-
tent. User statistics might also be useful in network analysis and employed in
answering other types of behavioral questions involving people's online activi-
ties. All of these research opportunities require the researcher to download and
manage data available on the web.
The following are issues to consider when downloading data and some sug-
gestions about how to manage data for analysis.
Downloading
In the simplest case, the data will be made available via a web site, and the user
can then just use a web browser to click on the dataset and download it. Not all
sites are well organized, however, so it's possible that it will take a while for you
to find the specific data you want to use. Sometimes a log-in ID and password
will be required. In other cases the download will be from a password-protected
