Guide to Finding Data about Racism and Ethnic Bias

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B. Sources and Strategies

1. Resource Guides: Libraries or National Archives can help point you in the right direction

Depending on where you are looking for data, numerous resources guides exist on topics relating to finding data on the topic of race, anti-racism, and racial justice. The guides can guide you to useful resources, or provide background information on how to begin finding data on your topic. You may also reach out to the creators of the guide with questions.

In North America, librarians often make library guides. Many libraries use a platform called Springshare for creating LibGuides, and you can search across many of these guides at once using the LibGuides Community site . You can also search Google by adding terms from the suggested Search terms and language section and adding “guide” OR “libguide” or “login to libapps” or limit site to libguides.com. Examples: racial data site:libguides.com or health disparities race data “login to libapps”

In Europe, national social science data archives often acquire and disseminate data from research projects. See the next section on data archives and repositories on how to find and access data there.

Example Library Guides {#example-library-guides)}

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Data to Study Racial Inequity

• Ontario Council of University Libraries: Data on Racialized Populations

• University of Minnesota: Conducting research through an anti-racism lens

• University of California Los Angeles: Anti-Racism & Racial Justice Resources: Data Sets

Example National Archives

• Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA)

  • National Service Providers

  • Resources on how to find data:

    • Data Management Expert Guide, Chapter 7: Discover

    • How to Find and Access Data in Europe (PDF)

Example Academic Data Resources

• University of Michigan

  • UM DEIA Data Toolkit ( alternate link )

  • ICPSR: Anti-Racism Data Reuse Guide

• University of Pennsylvania

  • Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy

    • Centering Racial Equity ](https://aisp.upenn.edu/centering-equity/)

    • A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration ](https://aisp.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/AISP-Toolkit_5.27.20.pdf) (PDF)

• University of California Los Angeles

  • Data from the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

• Boston University

  • Racial Data Lab from BU’s Center for Anti-racism Research

Example Books

• Data Feminism : the first two chapters describe the data gaps when it comes to minority groups and why these data gaps exist
• Queer Data : “The author shows us how current data practices reflect an incomplete account of LGBTQ lives and helps us understand how data biases are used to delegitimise the everyday experiences of queer people.”

2. Governmental Sources: Many government agencies at all jurisdiction levels collect a wide variety of data.

Data on the topic may be collected or disseminated by government statistical agencies at all levels: international, national, sub-national, regional, and/or local. Begin by determining whether you need (1) data for a single geographical area or jurisdiction such as the world, a nation as a whole, a sub-national area (e.g. the Canadian province of Ontario), etc. or (2) data for multiple geographical areas or jurisdictions, e.g. each country in the world or each province and territory in Canada. Each country has its own structure, so you will need to understand that structure in order to know where to find the relevant data. Some countries have one central agency that collects all data; others have multiple separate agencies that gather their own data.

Also think about which government agencies at the needed jurisdictional level(s) have responsibility or authority over the topic. For example, if the topic is racial discrimination in education in the U.S. as a whole, look for U.S. federal government agencies that have authority over education and/or those with authority over racial discrimination.

If you have not found the data that you need, ask officials in the relevant jurisdiction(s) about the availability of data. It may also be possible to make a FOIA request at the US federal level and under similar laws and regulations (open, sunshine) at the state , city and local level. Other countries also have freedom of information laws .

Note about harmonization: to compare data across countries or multiple years, the data needs to be “harmonized,” which means taking into account the differing collection methods and the meaning and values for each variable.

National statistical offices

Australia

• Cultural diversity: Census 2021

• Indigenous Australians

Canada - Statistics Canada:

• 2021 Census Ethnocultural and religious diversity

• Immigration and ethnocultural diversity statistics

• Statistics on Indigenous peoples

European Union:

• European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights - Racial and ethnic origin

  • FRA collects the data which is then stored at UKDS and GESIS .

• Eurostat - Migration and asylum

• National ministries, such as The German Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (also listed above under RDCs)

New Zealand:

• 2018 Census ethnic group summaries

• Maori ethnic group

United Kingdom:

• Census 2021 Cultural identity - Ethnicity

• Ethnicity facts and figures

United States

• Use the Obama-era Principal Statistical Agencies and Recognized Units , or the more detailed Statistical Programs of the United States Government .

• Example agencies that may provide relevant data of interest:

  • Bureau of Justice Statistics , Department of Justice

  • Census Bureau , Department of Commerce

  • National Center for Health Statistics , Department of Health & Human Services

  • Hate Crime Statistics , US Federal Bureau of Investigation

International Sources Covering Multiple Countries

• National Statistical Offices , compiled by the United Nations

• National Statistical Offices , compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau

• To find international statistical programs, use

  • The United Nations’ list of statistics programs of the UN and of other autonomous organizations.

    • Datasets

    • The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime Microdata Library

  • World Bank Microdata Library

  • How OECD countries collect data on ethnic, racial and indigenous identity

  • Wikipedia’s List of national and international statistical services

  • For lists of IGOs, try International Organizations from Europa World Plus (commercial) or Northwestern University Library’s List of IGOs .

  • Examples:

    • Rohingya Refugee Emergency at a Glance , United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

    • Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC; Spanish, CEPAL), United Nations

3. Data Archives & Repositories: Collecting data for the long haul.

Data Archives are purposeful collections of datasets, often with a research or policy focus. In the United States, nonprofit institutes and research center tend to have the largest and most diverse collections of data. In Europe and other countries, national data archives lead the way with a mission to collect and preserve a wide range of research data relevant to the nation. Datasets with individual observations (microdata) suitable for answering more complex research questions are more likely to be found in data archives. Data archives typically also ensure that their data is well-described via codebooks or data dictionaries, and take steps to ensure the preservation and interoperability of data. Repositories operate in the same manner as data archives, but are sometimes less intensively curated, leaving it up to individual researchers to deposit and describe their research data. Archives and repositories are less likely to yield quick answers to questions, but can be very rich sources of the most detailed datasets.

When searching data archives and repositories, take time to learn a bit about the mission and scope of the archive, along with some of the typical types of data that might be found.

Leading archives and repositories are listed below, along with select examples of resources that may be of interest for research on race, ethnicity, and diversity issues. Web of Science Data Citation Index (subscription required) and Google Dataset Search may be used to search data available in archives and repositories.

Examples

• Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) , and its topical archives such as the Resource Center for Minority Data , form the largest social science data archive in the world. Datasets such as TransPop (surveying transgender individuals) and the Collaborative Multi-racial Post-election Survey (CMPS) are available here. While data is predominantly from the US, there are rich international collections as well.

• IPUMS variety of national and international data, including census, health surveys, GIS boundary files, time use, and higher education. The variables are harmonized across time and space to allow for longitudinal studies and international comparison.

• Roper Center for Public Opinion Research for survey data contains general polls and specialized ones like the Washington Post Survey of Black Americans .

  • Black America & Public Opinion provides many polls that specifically surveyed African Americans and polls targeted to racial topics. These polls were highlighted related to the Black Lives Matter movement and will be shared freely with non-Roper-members by request.

• The Qualitative Data Archive focuses on curating qualitative data which can delve deeply into specific issues such as The Effects of the Law on the Lives of Central American Unaccompanied Minors in the US .

• The CESSDA Data Catalog allows searching the combined collections of the major European data archives that form CESSDA (the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives)

  • The following CESSDA archives have topic collections that cover migration aspects:

    • GESIS (Germany) has a thematic collection “Migration and Integration”, accessible through the GESIS data search.

    • Social Data Network (Greece) has a topic collection “Migration and the Refugee Crisis ”

    • UKDS (United Kingdom) has a topic collection “Ethnicity ”

    • FSD (Finland) “Immigration, Foreigners and Racism ”

• Borealis , the Canadian Dataverse Repository, is a bilingual, multidisciplinary, secure, Canadian research data repository, supported by academic libraries and research institutions across Canada.

• <odesi> from Ontario, Canada, contains datasets for the social sciences, additional dataset descriptions available for searching. Search functionality is open access but some datasets are subscription access only.

• The Social Science Japan Data Archive and the Australian Data Archive are examples of other national data archives outside of the US, Canada, or Europe.

• Specific initiatives can provide rich data on specialized topics. For example,

  • Germany has a Research Data Center infrastructure with two RDCs that focus on migration: Research Data Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FDZ) and Deutsches Zentrum fur Integrations-und Migrationsforschung (DeZIM) . DeZIM data feeds into the Racism Monitor .

  • The Black Wealth Data Center collects information on how race influences factors that contribute to wealth in the US.

• The re3data registry of research data repositories is an excellent place to discover additional data archives and repositories.

4. Commercial Databases: Facts may not be copyrighted, but there is a growing market for social science statistical databases found in well-financed libraries. Here are few established titles that include racial variables.

Most of these will start with a single search box. It is recommended you use the advanced search to get to specific data needed. Each source will have its own controlled vocabulary/thesaurus. All support boolean logic, it’s good to explore different words in your search string, for example: (african american OR black)

Examples

• Sage’s Data Planet (subscription required): offers interactive charting features as well as data retrieval

• Statista (subscription required): offers (static) charts for many statistics as well as data retrieval

• Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (subscription required)

• Latin American Public Opinion Poll (LAPOP) (subscription required; some data available openly): data are designed to be comparable cross-nationally and over time

• Social Explorer (subscription required): limited free data; offers mapping features as well as data retrieval

• Data Citation Index, Web of Science (subscription required)

• ProQuest Statistical Insight (subscription required: allows you to limit a search by race, ethnic group, country, etc., facilitating finding data on this topic

• Woods & Poole Complete Economic and Demographic Data Set (CEDDS) (subscription required): U.S.

• ICPSR has free access to open data sponsored by governments and nonprofits. AND there is commercial side of ICPSR associated with academic research (subscription required)

5. Think Tanks, Research Centers, and Non-Governmental Organizations: Look for relevant educational institutions, nonprofits, philanthropies, businesses, or other private organizations.

Educational institutions, nonprofits, businesses, and private organizations commonly conduct or sponsor projects on the topic and provide data online. Be aware that they may charge a fee to access the data. Search websites of organizations known to collect, analyze and disseminate racial justice and racial equity related data. In the US, they include the ACLU, Urban Institute, Vera Institute, and the Prison Project. Universities also have research centers that focus on racial equity, racial justice, health equity, or anti-racism research. There are a growing number of community based organizations that are supported to collect, analyze, use and disseminate racial equity related data. Searching for a library research guide listing anti-racism and racial justice data organizations, is one way to discover them. Other strategies, as listed below, include searching grant databases, using organization index and directories, and internet searching. You can also use the strategies mentioned in the section on Social Networks: Social Media, Community Listservs, Professional Associations, to post data requests and search for other data organizations and research centers.

If you think an organization has the data, go to that organization’s website and use their search or browsing tool. They may also have a research hub or database for searching research reports, studies, and evaluations. You may also want to contact them directly to make inquiries about relevant data. Data from any sources must be carefully examined for sound methodology and adherence to ethics and best practices.

Search organization and think tank index and directories

Use organization and think tank index and directories to search by keywords or available topics for special interest, research centers, and advocacy organizations. Their URL can be added after “site:” along with keywords when using a search engine, such as Bing and Google. Countries may also have governmental and non-governmental academies of sciences or research centers for the natural or social sciences that link many different disciplinary research centers, such as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Max Planck Society .

• Gale Directory Library database (subscription required). Look up US government and non government research centers and international research centers. Gale subject categories include police, criminal justice, discrimination, racism, racial relations, anti-racism, social justice

• Open Think Tank Directory . Topics include “Law/Justice/Human rights.” The full database is downloadable.

• Think Tanks and N.G.O.’s , Worldpress.org’s index of international think tanks and research organizations.

• TTCSP Global Go To Think Tank Index Reports “survey of over 1,950 scholars, public and private donors, policy makers, and journalists who helped rank more than 6,500 think tanks using a set of 18 criteria developed by the TTCSP.” Think tanks are defined as"public policy research analysis and engagement organizations that generate policy-oriented research, analysis and advice on domestic and international issues."

• International Science Council (ISC) Membership Directory links to 230 international natural and social science unions and associations and national and regional scientific organizations including academies, research councils, institutes and foundations. The knowledge sharing platform includes resources about Equity, Discrimination, Gender Equality, Harassment and Unconscious Bias .

Search with think tank search engines and reviews

Use think tank search engines and reviews to search for reports and studies that may lead to data.

• Think Tank Search : This is a customized Google Search with over 1300 URLs of US and international institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity and are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations.

• Policy Commons: Global Think Tanks (limited free version with registration). Libraries may have a full subscription.

• Think Tank Review , A monthly selection of European Union-related papers published by think tanks across the world, at Library Blog, Council of the EU and the European Council.

Examples of projects and programs from educational institutions and organizations

• Social Science Data Analysis Network, University of Michigan, U.S., offers free access to U.S. Census data sets online via its WebCHIP tool .

• Program for Research on Black Americans , University of Michigan

• Incarceration Trends dataset , Vera Institute of Justice

• Black Youth Project , University of Chicago’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, in collaboration with National Opinion Research Center (Ford Foundation funded)

• National Equity Atlas . PolicyLink and the (University of Southern California) USC Equity Research Institute (ERI).

• The Prison Abolition Movement in the U.S. and the Nordic Countries (ethnographic fieldwork), Center for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations- Stockholm University

Examples of Google Search for online projects from organizations and academia

• intitle:incarceration OR imprisonment data race research site:.edu

• incarceration OR imprisonment data race OR ethnic research site:.ac.uk (and other countries with second level domain for academia)

• incarceration OR imprisonment download data race OR ethnic site:.org

6. Funders and grantees: Organizations and agencies may collect and share the data generated by projects that they fund or for which they have received funding.

Identify private “racial equity” funders from the Funding for racial equity (Candida, Foundation Directory Online) Candid worked in partnership with the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE) to define and track Racial Equity funding worldwide. The data come from “IRS filings, direct reporting by grantmakers, and other public sources, such as foundation websites and news articles.” Funders may have a learning and evaluation site that may include studies, research reports and evaluations so look for these and search their grant database. These reports are often not published in academic databases. Relevant reports may identify surveys and studies and the researchers or project team or funder could be contacted to ask about available datasets.

Government agencies also fund projects with relevant data and increasingly are requiring funded grant data to be shared. Universities may post international funding sources for research (See an example ). Within scholarly and academic article databases such as PubMed (free), ERIC (free), SCOPUS (subscription required) and Web of Science (subscription required), funding sources or sponsors may be indexed that can lead to other studies with similar data. There is also an emerging movement of “data philanthropy” calling on private companies to share data for social good or public benefit.

Funders Requiring Data Sharing

Government funders requiring data sharing examples

• For the United State, since January 25, 2023, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) funded grants require data sharing for all amounts, with a few personal identifiable data exceptions.The NIH site has an extensive list of repositories for data sharing.

Browse Data Sharing Requirements by Federal Agency (SPARC)

• UK Economics and Social Science Research Council

Private funders with data sharing policies, programs, or grant terms that require data sharing include:

• Bill & Belinda Gates Foundation Data Sharing Requirements

• Wellcome Trust Data, software and materials management and sharing policy

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Policy on the Sharing of Publication-Related Materials, Data and Software (PDF)

• Alfred P Sloan Foundation Data and Computational Research

• Hewlett Foundation funds the INDEPTH network data sharing . Hewlett is also sharing data on racial, ethnic, and gender makeup of its U.S. grantees.

Additional funders, including the World Bank, are listed in the Summary of Funders’ data sharing policies report by Wellcome Trust (PDF) (2012).

Internet Search for Funders and Grants

Examples from a internet search engine query: intitle:grant data OR study OR research “racial justice” OR “racial equity” OR anti-racism (for a country, add site: country code extensions )

• Grants for Racial Justice, Racial Equity & Indigenous Rights

• Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Racial Justice Initiative (2020-23)

• Racial Justice Data Initiative (Tableau Foundation)

• Hewlett Foundation Racial Justice grants

• National Anti-Racism Strategy funding (Australia)

• Anti-Racism Anti-Hate Grant Program (Ontario, Canada) funds data collection

Search Grants and Grantmaking Directory databases for funders

• Pivot (subscription required, available at some libraries)

• Foundation Directory Online (subscription required)

• InsidePhilanthropy (subscription required)

• USAspending.org (look up recipients of federal grants)

• Grants.gov (USA)
  Gathers contract, grant, loan, and other financial assistance awards by federal agencies.

Search Grant database of foundations known to fund equality, social and racial justice

Funders may fund for a specific location, group or program area, as illustrated below:

• Ford Foundation Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice (grantmaking is international)

• Mellon Foundation (grantmaking includes Race and Opportunity)

• MacArthur Foundation “What we are learning ” (grantmaking includes criminal justice)

• Akonadi Foundation (funding to end criminalization of Black youth and youth of color, Oakland, California)

• W.K. Kellogg Foundation racial equity

• Atlantic Philanthropies . This foundation is no longer active but they have a searchable grant database. They funded the Atlantic Institute and Atlantic Fellows which are active and focuses on racial, health, and social and economic equity.

Other “racial equity” funders can be identified using the Funding for racial equity (Candida, Foundation Directory Online) and InsidePhilanthropy grants for racial justice racial equity and idigeneous rights (subscription required for full article) and other sources mentioned above.

7. Scholarly Works: Look for scholarly publications on the topic, including journal articles, dissertations and theses, and books.

Some authors of scholarly publications may conduct their own research and make their data available in publisher’s or institutional repositories. Other authors may cite available data collected by others. Read the notes, bibliography, and text of scholarly publications to find citations to or mentions of sources of available data. Citing data has become more expected in the past 10 years. If not mentioned in a bibliography, see if the author included statistical sources in notes, you might have to look at the full image of an article to see if it includes tables, then in the graphic’s caption may be the only reference to the source of the data. The publisher of the article might have the data used in the article on their webpage or link to it. You can also use Data Citation Index from Web of Science (subscription required) to identify data sources. There are also data specific journals for reviews of datasets.

Many scholarly publications are available through Google Scholar and other open repositories. Use OpenDOAR to find other open repositories. Local libraries often provide limited access to scholarly publications, but access to those databases may not be available remotely. Universities often offer public access to walk-in users and may have subscriptions to a wider range of scholarly publications than public libraries, along with specialized indexes to search scholarly works–contact the library to ask.

Example articles

• Lizarazo Pereira, Diana Marcela. Moved by Racial Justice: The Role of Kama muta in Collective Action toward Racial Equity among Advantaged and Disadvantaged Racial Groups . Master Thesis, University of Oslo. 2021.

• Dennis, Christopher, Marshall H. Medoff, and Michele N. Gagnier. “The impact of racially disproportionate outcomes on public policy: The U.S. Senate and the death penalty.” The Social Science Journal 35, no. 2 (1998): 169-181.

Example search strategies

• Search by the “Official” demographic name and add filetype:.xls. For example: blackfeet filetype:xls

8. Newspapers, Magazines, & Trade Publications: Examine current newspapers and magazine articles for specific topics.

Search newspapers and magazines that cover an industry, a local area, a region, a country, or the world. Sometimes journalists conduct their own research and make their data available through the publication’s website. Other times they report on the research of others and may refer where the data are available or identify the organization that has done the study you are interested in. Or your researchers might have to purchase the data the journalists use.

Some articles may not include the data they write about, but the reporters should have cited what institution who is responsible for publishing it. When searching in these sources use quantitative words like: statistical, increase, decrease, rate, measures, analytics, empirical, study/studies, survey, count, patterns, per capita, per person, per unit, analysis, not just the word data.

Local libraries often have subscriptions to local, regional, or national newspapers which may enable you to access back issues, but access may only be available to library card holders or to walk-in patrons. Universities often offer public access to walk-in users and may have subscriptions to access publications from a wider geographic area or targeting specific audiences than public libraries–contact the library to ask about database access.

Example search

• Use Google to search the website of a publication such as the MetroWest Daily News: “racial justice” AND policing AND data AND site: www.metrowestdailynews.com

• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers includes searchable digitized images of African-American local and regional newspapers (1880-1963). Remember to search with contemporary terms of those days.

• Google Newspapers lets you search across many open newspapers.

9. Social Networks: Social Media, Community Listservs, Professional Associations: Ask questions and learn from others through social networks.

Many professional associations, listservs, and even social media platforms have robust networks and conversations about finding data. Some listservs may require membership and you may find and ask a member to post a data request for you. Depending on the venue, you can “lurk” to learn from others, ask specific questions, or share your knowledge with others.

Example Associations and Platforms

• IASSIST

  • Listserv: discuss [ at ] lists.iassistdata.org

  • Data Resource: Data Sources for Racial Justice

• Disciplinary and Area Studies Associations and Networks

  • Association of Asian Studies has different country/region listservs

  • Latin American Studies Association

  • Economics Network (UK)

  • Arab Council for the Social Sciences

  • Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa

  • The American Council of Learned Societies ; Black History, Black Futures Resource List

• Humanities and Social Sciences Online H-net .

• SSRN

  • Discovery of who is doing academic studies, can contact them for data

• Research Gate

• Academia.com

• Twitter

  • #datatwitter

  • #datarepository

  • #DataViz

  • #QuantCrit (Quantitative Critical Race Theory): Applying critical race theory to quantitative methods in order to interrupt systemic inequities in data creation and analysis.

  • Martin Hawksey’s Twitter Archiving Google Sheet (TAGS)

  • @OurWorldInData

• Mastodon

  • #data

  • #DataViz

  • List of Mastodon accounts of migration scholars and researchers

  • Our World In Data: @ourworldindata@vis.social

  • Immigration topics: @immigration@a.gup.pe

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