PolicyMap

The Baylor Libraries has added another database to our resources.  We now have access to PolicyMap.  So, you are probably wondering “what is PolicyMap and how is it going to help me?”.  PolicyMap provides demographic, education, health, and geographic data.  It offers the user the capability of presenting the data visually through maps, tables, and reports.  What this means is that though PolicyMap, you can access data on Income & Spending, Health, Economy, Lending, Education, Housing and Quality of Life and present it visually on maps or in tables.  The maps feature allows you to select a location such as a state, county, city, school district, congressional district, zip code, census tract — all the way down to a block group.  If I wanted to have a map which displayed the estimated percentage of people in Waco, Texas who have no health insurance, I can type “Waco” in the search box at the top of the screen, select Waco, Texas from the list, then click on the “Health” tab at the top of the page and locate “Healthcare – uninsured – Total” in the box.   The resulting map will display location and percentages for uninsured people in Waco, Texas.

By clicking on an area, then scrolling in, you can look at street, census tract and block group level information.  Click in an area and a box with information about the area will appear.  By clicking on the “See table” link, you can view the table of data for this area.  Click on the “Get report” link and you can generate a report on that area.  You can build “3 layer” maps which will allow you to select up to 3 different variables and then view on a map where the areas are that contain your variables.  Before starting this one, it is a good idea to view the tutorial on creating 3 layer maps.  This tutorial is located under the “Support” link at the top of the page.

In addition to the data which can be displayed on a map, PolicyMap also contains information called “Data Points”.  This can be the location of places such as hospitals, farmers’ markets, libraries or public schools.  These are represented as single data points on the map and can be overlayed onto other data being displayed on a map.  Data points are part of the information listed under each category tab at the top of the page.  These are different for each category and some categories do not have data points yet.

After you have developed your map(s), there are options to print, email or embed your map.  Look for these options in the right-hand corner of your map.

Take some time and try PolicyMap out and see what you can do with this resource, and, as always, if you have questions or need help, please contact your business librarian!

J.P. Morgan Research is here

Looking for high quality information on a company?  Look no further than J.P. Morgan Research from ProQuest.  J.P. Morgan Research is a major source of highly regarded financial information.  It contains in-depth reports for 3,400 companies analyzed by 800 expert research analysts worldwide, covering all industries and all regions with just a 7 day embargo.   This is information that was previously unavailable to us and was frequently requested by business students.  Since the database contains historical information, researchers can look at a total picture of a company’s or industry’s performance.

If you have used ABI/Inform before, then J.P. Morgan Research should be very familiar to you with the same search boxes, etc.  In fact, you can actually search ABI/Inform and J.P. Morgan Research at the same time.  Open up ABI/Inform and look at the top of the page for the “Business databases” link.  When you click on this link, then on the blue bar directly above this, you will see that you are now searching 8 databases.  To see these databases, click on the link.  A box will open where you can see the databases and make selections.  You should see J.P. Morgan Research as one of your selections.  At this time you can select or deselect any of the databases on the list.   Click on the “Use selected databases”, then begin your search.  Should you wish to see which of your results came from a particular database, look for the Database limiter on the right-hand side of your results page.

Please give J.P. Morgan Research a try when you next research a company or industry.

Help! I need information on a country

So, you have found yourself in a situation where you need information on a country  — something other than the United States.  It could be that you need the GDP or the % of the population receiving an education or any other of a number of facts you might need.  Where do you look for this?  Here are a few places that you might want to check into.  Some are databases that we subscribe to through the library and others are websites that are free to all.

CountryWatch – CountryWatch is a great database that provides country-specific intelligence on a number of countries.  This might be in the form of data or it might be the relevant news item that covers events taking place in a country.  It covers everything from history and human rights to environmental issues as well as a nice section for a social overview of the country of interest.

IMF eLibrary – The IMF eLibrary provides access to IMF publications and data.  You will find a link in the library’s databases for the IMF which will take you to their homepage. By looking under either “Data and Statistics” or “Publications”, you will see the IMF eLibrary.  Here you will find financial and trade-related information and data for numerous countries.

GeoHive –  GeoHive provides access to an amazing amount of data on countries.  Data covers general population information (density, growth, gender), population age information, general information about population, economic information (GDP, imports/exports) and agricultural statistics.  There are also sections on countries (more country info) and cities (info on megacities).  GeoHive is found at www.geohive.com

Passport GMID  –  Passport GMID provides marketing information for countries.  Searchers can select industries or consumers and view information based on a geographic location. If you are looking for information on consumer trends for a country, this would be a good place to look.

World DataBank –  This resource is provided through the World Bank (databank.worldbank.org) and covers many of the basic statistics for a country (GDP, GINI, life expectancy, poverty, etc.).

Global Road Warrior –   The Global Road Warrior is great because it covers many of the important areas of a country.  Here you will learn about everything from the country’s climate to education to what kind of electrical sockets they have to music to health & medical issues to business etiquette and everything in between.  If you are going to travel, look here.

Data Planet – Data Planet is nice because it provides access to many of the data sources such as the World Bank, IMF, China Data Center, EuroStat, Penn World Tables, the OECD as well as some really interesting things such as the Millennium Development Goals and Digital Agenda for Europe.  A truly awesome resource!

The CIA World Factbook –  Another great resource that has alot of information on countries — people, geography, economy, energy, transportaion, etc.   A nice concise presentation of facts about a country.  Look for it at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

 

So, these are just a few of the places that will provide information about a country.  There are others that have specific information such as ease of doing business, for instance.  For more places to look, go to the MBA/EMBA research guide on the library homepage and look under the “Countries” tab or under the “Statistics” tab for more resources for country information.

Policy Map trial

Right now, the Baylor Libraries have a trial for a resource called Policy Map.   Policy Map allows you to take data points and develop a map to represent where the data occur.  Data cover topics in economics, housing, health, income and spending, lending, education and demographics.  As a user, I can produce a map that shows a single data representation, so if I am looking at employment in a state, or a city or even a census tract, I can see a visual picture of my data.  I could even produce a map where I look at the occurrence of 3 related data points –  for instance, I could look at employment, all workers and educational attainment.  By using the 3-layer map option at the top of the screen, I can generate a map that demonstrates where these points occur.

Now, the bad news — we have this resource on trial right now.  The trial ends on Sunday, October 19, 2014, so we need to use it now and let others know about it.  If you use it, send me feedback on what you think about it.  You will find Policy Map listed under the Business section of the libraries’ databases.  Trials are listed on the right-hand side of the page.  This is a great resource that could be very helpful.

Media Center @ IBISWorld

I want to share something with you all that I learned about this week.   If you have used IBISWorld, you know that it is a great resource for gaining information about industries and what is happening with them.  However, something that I found out was about the Media Center that IBISWorld has.  To view this, go to the IBISWorld page and look at the top right-hand side of the page.  You will see a link called “Media”.  By clicking on this, you will be take to the Media Center.  Here there are posts about various industry happenings, press releases and client Q&A.  The best part to me was the spotlight reports.  This week you can learn about the best industries right now for women, how certain seemingly summer-oriented industries keep going in the winter and how advanced technology helps drive down prices.  These reports are a good way to stay up-to-date on industry events and you can always learn something new!

Welcome to Research Dividends!

Welcome to the Research Dividends blog!     This is a blog for business grad students where we will discuss resources that will assist you in your time here at Baylor.  I’ll be posting information about some of the lesser know resources that we have here through the Baylor Libraries and some websites that could prove helpful as well.   As we going along through the semester, if you see something interesting or unique out there, please feel free to send it in to me and it could end up as part of a Research Dividends blog post!

Good luck for the fall semester and stay in touch with Research Dividends.