Supermarket: Where Do Social Scientists Shop?

by Kirsti Nilsen This paper presents some findings of research which examined the statistics and data sources used by Canadian social scientists, the formats in which they obtained the data, and their preferences with respect to data formats. Five disciplines were the focus of the research: economics, education, geography, political science, and sociology, based on a literature review which is summarized below. The research was part of a larger study which examined the effects of government information policy on Canadian social scientists. That research focused on policyinitiated price and format changes at Statistics Canada. (Nilsen, 1996, 1997, 1998). In order to monitor the effects of the policy it was necessary to determine which statistics and data sources were used and any changes in that use over a period before and after policy implementation. Using both bibliometric and survey methods to gather data, the study identified statistics sources used in published articles over the period 1982 to 1993, and supplemented those findings with a survey of authors in the Fall of 1995.