Statistics and Newspapers Library Services IT and Research Skills Development Module Session 2 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License

Learning Outcomes At the end of this session you should be able to:  Describe the difference between official and non-official statistics and recall key resources to use to obtain each type  Use a number of online official statistical resources such as (National Statistics Online and ESDS International)  Use The Economist Historical Archive, ABI/INFORM Global (ProQuest) and Nexis UK effectively to find articles which have featured in The Economist, the Financial Times, other broadsheet newspapers as well as international, local and trade press  Recall how to access older newspaper articles using the microfilm newspaper collection in the Main Library  Assess information to determine whether or not it may be of value to your research

Statistics: Official Statistics  Produced by government bodies, international agencies and organisations  Contain both country specific and aggregated data for whole regions  Data generated primarily as a result of governmental activity and to aid the issuing body in its policy making  Data contains a variety of economic, industrial and social indicators likely to be of use to academic research

Non-official Statistics  Produced by organisations not covered under the ‘official statistics’ heading: –E.g. trade/professional associations, charities, banks and building societies, companies, market research organisations  Some repackage official data, others will provide results of their own research  Detailed statistics on certain sectors  More likely to have commentary and analysis  Do not always provide details of compilation methods / statistical expertise, so quality will vary  Sometimes less accessible: members only / fee levied

Differences (and things to watch!)  The same variable can be measured in different ways (the results not always being the same…) –e.g. absenteeism  Official and non-official sources often reflect different interests –e.g. child spending power  Different age ranges can be used –e.g. top age range band  Remember to check who the data producers are, what they do and the methodology used to collect / analyse the data –Links in with the quality of information topic we will look at later

UK Official Statistics  National Statistics Online –Produced by the Office for National Statistics and other government departments –Brings together statistical information that gets buried on individual departmental web sites –Can get statistics at both national and regional level –Mainly covers recent years; some archiving, but as yet this is inconsistent

Other UK Official Statistics  Historical data for some statistics can be found in our Official Statistics Collection: –Zone 1C of the Main Library (Reference Only)  Economic Trends (1953-, monthly, per q HA 1129.E3)  Financial Statistics (1962-, monthly, per q HJ 40.T2)  Monthly Digest of Statistics (1946-, per q HA 1129.M6)  Annual Abstract of Statistics (1946-, per q HA 1129.S8)  Many, but not all, historical data series for the UK also available on ESDS International

International Official Statistics  ESDS International –Part of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) –Has databases from the OECD, IMF, World Bank and UNIDO with long data runs –Data on government finance statistics, international financial statistics, main economic indicators, etc. A full list at:  –Data can go as far back as 50 years –Free to use, but requires registration on first use

Some ESDS International Dataset Providers NameDefinitionData Types OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development Main economic indicators: economic statistics for individual countries. Mainly OECD members IMFInternational Monetary FundEconomic and financial data UNIDO United Nation Industrial Development Organisation Employment and Trade worldwide Further descriptions at:

European Official Statistics  Eurostat –Compiled by the Statistical Office of the European Communities –Have a commitment to provide information for free online –Takes official statistics data from member states and ‘harmonises’ them so as data are comparable between countries –In addition provides a number of free publications: for example: Eurostat yearbook and pocket books

Other European and International Official Sources  Many international statistical publications exist in the Official Statistics Collection in zone 1C of the Main Library including: –IMF International Financial Statistics (1948-, per q HG 55.I6) –IMF Direction of Trade Statistics (1971-, per q HG 55.I6) –OECD Main Economic Indicators (1948-, per q HC 240.A1O71) –OECD Labour Force Statistics (1966-, per q HD 5712.A112) –European Economy (1978-, per q HA 1107.A1E8)

Non-Official Statistics  Datastream –Economic and financial statistics  Non official: company accounts and share prices  Also contains some official: unemployment, consumer spending, external trade (from IMF, OECD, national sources) –Available on 2 PCs in LGC of the ML (booking system) –Available on 1 PC in the 7 th floor of the Muirhead Tower  Mintel: statistics on retail and service industries  Datamonitor 360 / GMID: industry and product statistics  Business Insights: technology, healthcare, eCommerce, finance –All available via eLibrary > Find Resource  More on all of these resources in later sessions

Newspapers  Library Services provides electronic full-text access to a range of newspapers spanning back many years. For example: –Financial Times: 1996-present (via ProQuest) –The Times: (via Times Digital Archive) –The Guardian & The Observer: (via Historical Newspapers) –Nexis UK: Full-text access to many of the broadsheets (from the mid-1980s to today) including: The Telegraph, The Independent, The Guardian and The Times. Also full-text to articles from local, trade & international press  All available via eLibrary > Find Resource

The Economist  Electronic access back to 1843! (new for 2009)  –Economist Historical Archive –Available via eLibrary > Find Resource –Full text, graphs, figures, tables, adverts…  2007-present –The Economist –Available via eLibrary > Find eJournal –Full-text only electronically –Figure, graphs, tables etc in the print edition available in the Main Library zone 2A

Newspapers (cont.)  Older newspapers (mainly broadsheet) are available on microfilm in zone 2D of the Main Library. For example: –The Birmingham Post ( ) –The Daily Telegraph (1945-present) –The Financial Times (1950-present)  Items can be viewed, saved to USB drives and printed using the microfilm readers in zone 2D

Newspapers (cont.)  A print copy of the latest edition of most UK broadsheet newspapers as well as a few international press are available in the Main Library’s iLounge (zone GA) each day  More on newspapers can be found in our Tracing Newspaper Articles guide: –  Remember the downloading restriction of 1 article per issue! –More info in the Copyright: A Brief Summary guide: 

Journals: The Peer Review Process Submit article to journal Editor considers article Article ‘peer-reviewed’ by, typically, 2 (often anonymous) experts Article Rejected inappropriate to journal / of low quality Article rejected Article accepted subject to amendments and improvements Article accepted Academic journals are traditionally peer- reviewed which is a highly valued part of the research process Ensures the quality, originality and validity of an item before it is published

But what if it’s not in a peer-reviewed academic journal…(cont.)  There are lots of other good sources of information out there besides peer-reviewed journals. For example: –Resources in eLibrary –Certain resources on the Web. However the Web is vast and the quality of materials is variable so it makes sense to try and take some shortcuts:  Identify websites for professional bodies and organisations which usually include details of research and publications  Look out for ‘Gateways’ which are sites that bring together lots of resources on a topic(s)

But what if it’s not in a peer-reviewed academic journal… –Certain resources on the Web. (shortcuts cont.):  Include the phrase “open access” along with your search criteria to find good quality scholarly literature  Some useful websites for Business can be found in the following guide: – Blakeman, K. (2009) Business Information Key Starting Points & Search Tools [online]. [accessed 16th November 2010].  If in doubt ask yourself the following questions…

Think Critically...  Who –Is the author / institution responsible for the information?  Why –Is the item being written – does the author have a ‘hidden’ agenda?  Where –Is the information located (.ac.uk or.com)?  When –Was the information researched / written?

Summary You should now be able to:  Describe the difference between official and non-official statistics and recall key resources to use to obtain each type  Use a number of online official statistical resources such as (National Statistics Online and ESDS International)  Use The Economist Historical Archive, ABI/INFORM Global (ProQuest) and Nexis UK effectively to find articles which have featured in The Economist, the Financial Times, other broadsheet newspapers as well as international, local and trade press  Recall how to access older newspaper articles using the microfilm newspaper collection in the Main Library  Assess information to determine whether or not it may be of value to your research

Contacts  Contact details of the Library Subject Advisor and how to access the Library via Question Point are placed here.