Appendix A.1. Guide to Sources

The information presented in the Digest of Education Statistics was obtained from many sources, including federal and state agencies, private research organizations, and professional associations. The data were collected using many research methods, including surveys of a universe (such as all colleges) or of a sample, compilations of administrative records, and statistical projections. Brief descriptions of the information sources, data collections, and data collection methods that were used to produce this report are presented below, grouped by sponsoring organization. Additional details about many of these and other data sets can be found on the U.S. Department of Education’s Data Inventory website (https://datainventory.ed.gov/).