13.4 Analyzing Others’ Data

One advantage (or disadvantage, depending on which parts of the research process you most enjoy) of unobtrusive research is that you may be able to skip the data collection phase altogether. Whether you wish to analyze qualitative or quantitative data sources, there are a number of free data sets available to social researchers. This section introduces you to several of those sources.

Many sources of quantitative data are publicly available in Canada from Statistics Canada (Stats Can) . For example, the General Social Survey (GSS) covers a broad range of topics. Stats Can also provides workshops, training, webinars, and conferences across Canada, that are available to interested Canadians for a fee.

Unfortunately for qualitative researchers, far fewer sources of free, publicly available qualitative data exist. This is slowly changing, however, as technical sophistication grows and it becomes easier to digitize and share qualitative data. Despite comparatively fewer sources than for quantitative data, there are still a number of data sources available to qualitative researchers whose interests or resources limit their ability to collect data on their own.

The Murray Research Archive Harvard, housed at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, offers case histories and qualitative interview data. The Global Feminisms Project at the University of Michigan offers interview transcripts and videotaped oral histories focused on feminist activism; women’s movements; and academic women’s studies in Brazil, China, India, Nicaragua, Poland, Russia and the United States.

Keep in mind that the resources mentioned here represent just a snapshot of the many sources of publicly available data that can be accessed easily via the web. Table 13.1 “Sources of Publicly Available Data” summarizes the data sources discussed in this section.