Eight things to know about business research data

Abstract

Business researchers are using increasingly large and unique datasets on a wide range of topics. For librarians without prior experience with large-scale business and finance data it can be overwhelming to figure out where to even start. This article surveys eight things someone interested in providing more data-related business research support should know as they get started, such as the types of data used, data acquisition, and merging datasets. Because providing data support to business researchers is one way for librarians to provide value-added services, this article attempts to help others start working more with data.

Keywords:

• Business data
• data acquisition
• data librarianship
• finance data
• social science data

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Sean Kaneshiro, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, for explaining the licensing process and key contract clauses.