Business Statistics on the Web: Find Them Fast – At Little or No Cost

Citation

Chawner, B. (2005), "Business Statistics on the Web: Find Them Fast – At Little or No Cost", The Electronic Library, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 249-250. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470510592960

If you have a need for business statistics, then this just might be the book to get you started. Berinstein has written an introductory guide to free and low cost web‐based sources of business statistics, covering everything from official statistics published by government agencies, to industry and trade association sources, to market research. For people new to the topic she has included a useful “Statistics basics” chapter covering types of statistics (such as raw numbers, percentages, indexes, rankings, and averages – mean, median, and mode), methodologies, evaluating statistics, and some common pitfalls. Other introductory material includes a chapter describing the different agencies and organizations that compile and publish statistics, and one giving general search tips. The next six chapters cover sources for US industry, non‐US industry, market research, economics and finance, company information, and population and demographics. The final two chapters cover special tips and techniques, and advice for estimating statistics when only limited information is available. Berinstein uses real‐world case studies to illustrate sources and techniques; while many of these are small‐scale examples (such as the length of time different types of visitors spend in Fiji, sourced from the Fiji Statistics Bureau), the occasional longer ones (for example, estimating the effect of the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US economy) are particularly useful. As one might expect, given Berinstein's American origin, the book emphasises US sources, but she does include a reasonable range of international sources, particularly for Canada, the UK, and Australasia. The chapter on market research is extremely brief, perhaps reflecting a lack of sources that meet the free/low cost criterion. The book includes a helpful glossary of statistical terms, and an index. The book's main weakness is the lack of detailed descriptions of the sources; while there is an occasional brief annotation, most simply give a name and a URL. Berinstein explains this in her introduction by saying that she “left annotations off because the site content is likely to change often”(p. xxx), but it would be useful to know why some of the sites have been included. Some of the New Zealand coverage is patchy; for example, her sites for general New Zealand industry information include just one of the country's main trading banks (there are four in all), and only two of the main daily newspapers (plus the South China Morning Post, which was unexpected). As we have come to expect with web‐based sources, some of the URLs have changed since the book was published, but this is more of a nuisance than a serious flaw. Business Statistics on the Web is a revised and expanded subset of Berinstein's (1998) earlier Finding Statistics Online: How to Locate the Elusive Numbers You Need, focusing on business‐related statistics. Recommended for general business collections, or for beginning business researchers.