Research Guides: Digital Media and Advertising: ADV 1103: Find Consumer &amp; Demographic Data

Why Use Data?

Data is raw information. Data or data sets are primary sources that are the result of research studies or surveys. Statistics are the collection, organization, interpretation, and analysis of data. Statistics are found in tables, graphs, and charts.

When and Why You Should Use Data:

You need to clarify and put arguments into perspective
You need to identify trends, outliers, and patterns across seemingly disparate topics
You need demographic information about trends in local communities, across states, or at the national level

Remember: Data alone can't make the argument for you. Treat data as evidence that requires interpretation. Data is only as good as the people who create it, the quality of their work, and how well they relay their personal or organizational bias.

Find Consumer Data & Information

Nielsen Wire
Features the latest global consumer and media insights, including social media trends, online trends, mobile trends, and insights.

Mintel Market Research Reports This link opens in a new window
Search Mintel for your product category, brand, or age group etc. to find market research reports. These reports will describe consumer motivations, customer demographics, market trends, and more.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Contains consumer reports, providing overviews on what consumer are thinking, featuring survey data on usage, behavior and attitudes, opinions and preferences.
SimplyAnalytics (formerly SimplyMap) This link opens in a new window
Create professional quality thematic maps and reports using thousands of demographic, marketing, and business variables, including population, age, race, income, access to media, and more.
MRI Simmons Catalyst This link opens in a new window
Contains information on demographics, lifestyles, product and brand usage, and advertising media preferences reported by United States consumers.

Find Demographic Data & Information

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Visually analyze and understand U.S. demographics through the use of interactive maps and data reports.
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
Create professional-quality thematic maps for demographics, home sale statistics, health data, mortgage trends, school performance scores and labor data like unemployment, crime statistics and city crime rates.
PolicyMap is an online data and mapping application that provides access to over 10,000 indicators related to demographics, housing, income, crime, mortgages, health, jobs, and more. Data is available at many common geographic entities (address, block group, census tract, zip code, county, city, state, metro area) as well as unique geographies such as school districts and political boundaries. Data is accessible in interactive maps, tables, charts, and reports and also may be downloaded.
Some PolicyMap datasets are from free government sources (including U.S. Census data), while other datasets are from proprietary sources, including detailed home sales statistics, school district performance from GreatSchools, locations of grocery stores and non-profit organizations, and Nielsen estimates and projections for demographic indicators.
data.census.gov This link opens in a new window
Contains statistical data (population, housing, economy, and more) for specific states and cities.

Find Public Opinion Polls & Surveys

Roper iPoll This link opens in a new window
Contains thousands of questions and answers from national public opinion surveys from as far back as 1935, covering a wide array of social and political topics as well as economic issues.