E 310 D: Intro to Digital Studies - Hinrichs

1. Navigate to Google Dataset Search
2. Use keywords to search for a dataset on a topic that interests you. Brief 1-3 word searches with general terms work best.
3. Once you find a dataset, see if you can answer the questions in the box below.

Look at the descriptive information about the dataset

• Who created this data set?
• What dates do the data cover?
• What type of information is included in the dataset?
• What types of files are included in the dataset? Do you have the right software to work with those files?
• Are you allowed to reuse this data? Does it have a license or a rights statement?

Click through to the dataset

• Can you see a preview of the data? What does it look like?
• If the data is organized in a table or spreadsheet, can you understand the column headers?
• Where can you download the dataset?
• Can you tell how large the dataset is?

Getting ready to analyze the data

• How was this data collected and for what purpose?
• Are there potential sources of bias in the data?
• What information might be missing from this data?
• What questions could I investigate using this data?