Business Research

Demographics refers to statistical data (age, gender, income, etc.) collected for a particular population. For more information, see Demographics.

Psychographics refers to information about a particular population's attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria. For more information, see Psychographics.

Demographic or psychographic information can be found using the following:

• UMGC Library Databases
• Print Books
• Ebooks
• Free Web

You can use business databases such as Statista, ABI/INFORM Collection, and Business Source Ultimate to find demographic and/or psychographic information.

In Statista, you can simply search for your topic -- for example: "smart tv". On the search results page, use the Content types menu on the right-hand side of the page to select Consumer Insights.

In ABI/INFORM Collection and Business Source Ultimate, for demographic information, use a search such as [your topic] AND demograph*.

You may also want to include terms for particular demographic groups in your searches -- for example, [your topic] AND "generation x" or [your topic] AND (hispanic* OR latin*).

For psychographic information in ABI/INFORM Collection and Business Source Ultimate, use a search such as [your topic] AND (psychograph* "buy* attitude*" OR "buy* behavior*" OR "buy* belief*" OR "consumer attitude*" OR "consumer behavior*" OR "consumer belief*" OR "customer attitude*" OR "customer behavior*" OR "customer belief*" OR "purchas* attitude*" OR "purchas* behavior*" OR "purchas* belief*" OR "shopp* attitude*" OR "shopp* behavior*" OR "shopp* belief*").

It will also be helpful to search for [your topic] AND (buyer* OR consumer* OR customer* OR purchaser* OR shopper*) AND (data OR research OR survey*).

There are numerous print books available in USMAI Book Search, the UMGC Library catalog, that can be used for demographic and/or psychographic research. These include:

• American buyers: Demographics of shopping
• The American marketplace: Demographics and spending patterns
• American men and women: Who they are and how they live
• Best customers: Demographics of consumer demand
• Household spending: Who spends how much on what
• Lifestyle market segmentation
• Major sociocultural trends shaping the contemporary world
• The new chameleons: How to connect with consumers who defy categorization
• Who's buying: Executive summary of household spending

You can find information about demographics and/or psychographics by using the Library's ebook databases to search for:

demograph* OR psychograph*

There are many resources on the free Web that can be used to find demographic or psychographic data, including:

• American Customer Satisfaction Index
  The American Customer Satisfaction Index "measures the satisfaction of U.S. household consumers with the quality of products and services offered by both foreign and domestic firms with significant share in U.S. markets."
• American Time Use Survey 
  The American Time Use Survey provides information about "the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing."
• Bureau of Labor Statistics 
  The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics provides various types of data related to prices, inflation, employment, etc. for U.S. regions, states, and local areas.
• Census Bureau Data 
  This U.S. Census Bureau site provides access to data about people, places, and the United States economy, at the city, county, and state level for the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas. Data are obtained from many different surveys and censuses.
• Consumer Expenditure Surveys 
  Consumer Expenditure Surveys data are collected by the United States Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Surveys provide "data on expenditures, income, and demographic characteristics of consumers in the United States."
• County Business Patterns 
  This site, maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau, provides economic data organized by industry. Per the Census Bureau, the data can be used "for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets."
• Data USA 
  This site, created by Deloitte, Datawheel, and MIT professor Cesar Hidalgo, provides visualizations of public data for locations, industries, occupations, degrees, universities, and products and services.
• MyBestSegments 
  This Claritas site characterizes U.S. ZIP code areas in terms of distinct lifestyle types, which it refers to as "segments."
• NationMaster 
  This site compiles data from numerous sources, allowing users to compare countries on a variety of characteristics.
• Pew Research Center
  This site, created by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, contains information obtained from public opinion polls, demographic research, content analysis, etc.
• Population Reference Bureau
  This site provides access to population for the United States and for more than 200 countries and territories. Click on the Data Center link toward the top of the page and then on International or United States under the "Data Indicators" heading to see available data.
• Social Explorer 
  This site provides demographic information at the state, county, place, metropolitan area, or ZIP code level.
• State and County QuickFacts 
  This U.S. Census Bureau site provides access to a variety of data regarding people, businesses, and geography, at the state and county level for the United States. Data are also available for cities and towns with a population of 5000 or more.