BUS 200: Principles of Marketing: Clearing up Confusing Stats

As you locate information in the Clark Library's research tools and beyond, you might find statistics that seem to conflict. Here are some tips that will hopefully help you to resolve the conflict:

• Which industry are the stats about? Check the NAICS codes -- are they the same for each document? Each major sector of the economy has a separate code, e.g.
  • Manufacturing
  • Retail
  • Wholesale
• Know the context for the industry; does the statistic make sense in that context? Or could there be a typo in the report (it happens!)? Check several sources, e.g.,
  • IBISWorld
  • Statista
  • Trade associations (type [industry] association in Google)
• Occasionally, the historical, geographical, or demographic nature of the statistic might also be important. Make sure you're looking at the same years, countries, and consumer groups.