Business Research

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

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

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". You'll then find statistics, forecasts, surveys, etc. related to the topic.

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 latino* OR latina*).

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 catalogUSMAI, 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
• Consumer behavior 2014
• Household spending: Who spends how much on what
• Lifestyle market segmentation
• Microtrends: The small forces behind tomorrow's big changes
• Who's buying: Executive summary of household spending

You can find information about demographics and/or psychographics by entering the following in the search box on the Ebooks tab on the Library's home page:

demograph* OR psychograph*

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

• 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 employment-related data for U.S. regions, states, and local areas.
• Census Data 
  This U.S. Census Bureau site, which contains data previously available from American FactFinder as well as new, additional data, provides access to a variety of data, 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 Survey 
  Consumer Expenditure Survey data are collected for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data "provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics."
• 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.
• 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 city, county, and state level for the United States.
• StateMaster 
  This site compiles data from numerous sources, allowing users to compare U.S. states on a variety of characteristics.