Use a search engine, such as Google, to locate statistics on the topic.
Topic example 1: Locating statistics on smoking incidence in Australia.
Keywords / Search terms: statistics smoking australia
Topic example 2: Locating statistics on communities in Australia.
Keywords / Search terms: statistics (demographic OR communit*) australia
The site contains a number of guides including:
Ask the following questions when attempting to evaluate the statistical data:
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Note: Evaluation of statistical data and analysis of statistical data are two different things.
Evaluation is determining the quality of the data e.g. the research methodology used to gather the statistics, reliability of the research tool.
Analysis provides the description of amounts, proportions and patterns in the data e.g. pie charts, standard deviations.