LibGuides: Education Library: Literature Searching: Locating data & statistics

Primary & Secondary Data

Primary data	data gathered/generated by the individual researcher to answer a specific research question. Usually in the form of surveys, questionnaires, interviews etc.
Secondary data	data gathered by other organisations/researchers. Found in government reports, journal articles, books etc.

Sources of secondary data

Data Citation Index (via Web of Science) Discover research data sets and data studies from a wide range of international data repositories in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
Data for the Sustainable Development Goals Official and trusted source of internationally-comparable data on education, science, culture and communication
Education Statistics (EdStats) (World Bank) Comprehensive data and analysis source for key topics in education such as access, completion, learning, expenditures, policy, and equity.
HESA Experts in UK higher education data, and the designated data body for England.
National Center for Education Statistics (US) The primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
OECD Includes the UNESCO/OECD/EUROSTAT (UOE) database on education covering the outputs of educational institutions, the policy levers that shape educational outputs, the human and financial resources invested in education, structural characteristics of education systems, and the economic and social outcomes of education, learning and training throughout life, including on employment and unemployment.
Office of National Statistics (ONS) UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and its recognised national statistical institute. We are responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels.
UK Data Service Service providing access to over 6,000 computer-readable datasets suitable for research and teaching purposes covering a range of different disciplines. Much data is open but for safeguarded data, registration is required.
UK Data Service - Education
UN Data Users can search and download a variety of statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies.

Study Skills

Education Library: Literature Searching

Further reading

Primary & Secondary Data

Sources of secondary data