Medical Social Work Resources: Statistics Sources
Library resources for social work in a medical or hospital setting.
Books about Statistics
- How to Lie with StatisticsUniversity of Iowa library record for the classic 1954 book.
- Basic statistics for social workersRecord for book in University of Iowa Library Catalog.
- Statistics and data analysis for social workersRocord for book in the University of Iowa Library Catalog.
- Encyclopedia of Measurement and StatisticsE-Book in University of Iowa Library Collection.
Finding stats in journal articles
1. Search in a relevant database for your topic.
2. Use terms like "statistics" or "data" or "quantitative analysis" to focus your results.
3. Some databases have specific ways to find statistics or data - use the help menu to find out how. PsycInfo, for example, lets you choose articles that report on specific methodolgies like Quantitative analysis or include auxiliary material including data sets.
4. For more specific advice, contact Dan the Librarian or another University of Iowa Librarian.
Statistics Mapping
Use these tools to map health and other statistics for more powerful impact.
- Quick Health Data OnlineState- and county-level data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories and possessions. Data are available by gender, race and ethnicity and come from a variety of national and state sources. The system is organized into eleven main categories, including demographics, mortality, natality, reproductive health, violence, prevention, disease and mental health.
- Community CommonsCommunity Commons is an interactive mapping, networking, and learning utility for the
broad-based healthy, sustainable, and livable communities’ movement. Community Health Needs Assessment data comes from a variety of sources and includes:
Demographic Data: Who lives in the community?
Key Drivers Data: Where are the areas of greatest need within the target area?
Health Outcomes Data: What are the major health issues faced by the community?
Drivers of Health Data: What is causing the health issues identified?
Free personal account required.
- SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new windowSubscription service available free to UI students, faculty and staff. Combine data about communities from the US Census, other public data as well as corporate research sources and marketing data.
Free personal account required.
- CDC - Community Health Status IndicatorsOverview of key health indicators for local communities including over 200 measures for each of the 3,141 United States counties.
- County Health Rankings and RoadmapsA collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
Statistical Resources
For more resources go to the Health Sciences Statistics resources guide.
- CDC: Community Health Improvement NavigatorThe database allows the user to easily search for multisector, collaborative, evidence-based interventions to address the underlying causes of the greatest morbidity and mortality in the United States: tobacco use and exposure, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.
- CDC National Health Interview SurveyThe National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has monitored the health of the nation since 1957. NHIS data are collected through personal household interviews. Survey results have been instrumental in providing data to track health status, health care access, and progress toward achieving national health objectives.
- CDC WONDERProvides a single point of access to a wide variety of CDC reports, guidelines, and numeric public health data.
- Current Index to StatisticsThe Current Index to Statistics is a bibliographic index to publications in statistics and related fields. References are drawn from over 160 core journals that are fully indexed, non-core journals from which articles are selected that have statistical co
- Global Health Data ExchangeThe Global Health Data Exchange contains information about over 7,000 demographic, global public health and health-related data sources.
- ICPSR: Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social ResearchICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. It hosts 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
- LexisNexis StatisticalProvides abstracts and indexes of statistical information from over 100,000 U.S. government publications from 1973, state and private sources from 1980, and approximately 2000 documents from international organizations from 1983. Incorporates ASI subject
- National Center for Health Statistics (CDC)The mission of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is to provide statistical information that will guide actions and policies to improve the health of the American people. As the Nation’s principal health statistics agency, NCHS leads the way with accurate, relevant, and timely data.
- National Library of Medicine (NLM): HSRR (Health Services and Sciences Research Resources) - ARCHIVEDInformation about research datasets and instruments/indices employed in Health Services Research, Behavioral and Social Sciences and Public Health with links to PubMed.
- U.S. Census BureauProvides access to data about the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas.
