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External Resources

These resources are intended for people interested in conducting their own research or analyzing data related to animal advocacy. Whenever possible, we link to free and low-cost resources.

Have a suggestion for another open-access resource we can add? Contact us.

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Datasets (Open-Access)

Are you an analyst looking for data relating to animals, animal products, diet, or other advocacy-related topics? The following datasets are all freely available for additional research. If you’ve conducted an analysis that might be useful to advocates, let us know! If it’s a good fit, we might be able to publish it.

Faunalytics’ Datasets
All of Faunalytics’ public datasets since 2017 are open-access and available for your use. They cover topics like diet, animal-cause donations, and public opinion on animal-related issues.
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2017–Present
Animal Advocacy Data Repository (on the Open Science Framework)
This central repository, administered by Animal Charity Evaluators, is for animal advocates to post or cross-post any research outputs that they want to make publicly available, such as hypothesis pre-registrations, analysis plans, study materials, raw data, and analysis code. It includes data from The Humane League Labs, Mercy for Animals, Animal Charity Evaluators, and other groups. Faunalytics’ data is also available there, but check our link above for the most up-to-date resources.
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2016–Present
Animal Legal and Historical Center
The center offers a comprehensive repository of information about animal law, including: over 1200 full text cases (U.S., historical, and UK), over 1400 U.S. statutes, over 60 topics and comprehensive explanations, legal articles on a variety of animal topics and an international collection.
Link
1800s–Present
Coller Animal Law Forum Database
CALF is a purpose-built database for policymakers, researchers, and advocates. The database is global but not exhaustive. It can be seen as a collection of legal and policy approaches that show some leadership or stewardship from the perspective of farmed animal advocacy.
Link
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations

The FAO provides widely used data about food and agriculture, including about farmed animals: number alive at a given time, imports, exports, and more. FAOSTAT (this website) provides a wealth of data for open-access use, but we recommend that you consider some potential inaccuracies and inconsistencies before diving into your analysis.

Faunalytics provides an analysis of the FAO animal slaughter data from 1955-2016 here.

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Food Demand Survey (FooDS)
This dataset tracked consumer preferences and sentiments on the safety, quality, and price of food. It also aimed to identify consumer awareness of and concern for a range of food and agriculture related issues, and asked participants whether they were vegetarian or vegan. The survey was conducted monthly for 60 months (five years), with a new representative U.S. sample each time.
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2013–2018
Google’s Dataset Search Tool
Search for datasets on any topic using Google technology. Many are behind a paywall, but you can filter to include only free datasets.
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Millennial Market Segmentation Study
This dataset of US urban/suburban 18- to 34-year-olds was originally used to identify correlations between pro-animal beliefs or pro-vegan behaviors and other demographic or behavioral traits.
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2018
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
This study, conducted every two years in the U.S., captures health and nutrition data from a door-to-door interview and examination. For advocacy purposes, the dietary data is the most likely to be useful, as interviewees complete two 24-hour recalls of all the foods they have eaten, using a list of over 8,000 options. Note that the data files they provide are in .XPT format, which is a filetype that can be viewed and exported to other formats using the free SAS Viewer, as described here.
Link
1999–present
Species Threat Global Article Database
This database was created to fill gaps in our understanding of where and how human activities threaten wild species around the world. It compiles global results from a literature review, tagged by geographic location, species, threat level, and threat type. See Additional File 4 in the Supplementary Information section to download the database.
2000–2020
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada provides data on a wide range of topics relevant to animal advocates, such as monthly average retail prices for food.
Tesco 1.0
The Tesco Grocery 1.0 dataset is a record of 420M food items purchased by 1.6M fidelity card owners who shopped at the 411 Tesco stores in Greater London over the course of the entire year of 2015, aggregated at the level of census areas to preserve anonymity. The report for each area includes the number of transactions and nutritional properties of the typical food item bought. The set of global trade international numbers (barcodes) for each food type is also included.
Link
2015
Twitter Trends Data
This dataset from our Twitter Trends study includes the full text and engagements (retweets, favorites) from millions of tweets published between February 2019 and March 2020. Tweets that used a variety of keywords related to animal advocacy, veganism, and other diet change were included. This dataset is not open-access due to the Twitter API’s terms of use, but please contact Faunalytics’ Research Director if there is an analysis you would like to do.
2019–2020
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has a surprising amount of data that could be relevant to advocates, such as average retail food prices for meat and eggs.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Open Data Catalog
This catalog includes a large number of open-access datasets out of the USDA, pertaining to food, farmed animals, agriculture, and related topics.
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United States Wildlife And Wildlife Product imports From 2000–2014
These data describe wildlife products and animals imported into the U.S., with their quantities, origin, purpose, and more, all available via an open-source R package. The list of variables in the dataset is available here.
Link
2000–2014

Aggregated Data

The data in this section has already been analyzed/aggregated in some way.

CALF Law Database
CALF is a purpose-built database for policymakers, researchers, and advocates, where you can select a law or policy to access information and analysis. Note that the database is not exhaustive and can be seen as a collection of legal and policy approaches that show some leadership or stewardship from the perspective of farmed animal advocacy.
Link
Faunalytics’ Animal Tracker Graphing Tool
The Animal Tracker was an annual survey of U.S. adults’ opinions and behavior relating to animals. Topics covered included knowledge of animal issues, perceptions of animal advocacy, animal-related behavior, support for animal protection, and more. This graphing tool lets you easily explore the data by topic, year, and demographic variables.
Link
2008–2019
Google Trends
This Google search tool provides a graph of the relative frequency of a search term over a period of time that you select. By relative frequency, we mean that the tool does not tell you how often a term was searched. Instead, it chooses the date with the most searches and sets it to 100%, then gives the rest of the time periods as a percentage of the searches that occurred on that date.
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Roper Center iPoll (Animal Advocacy Topics)
The iPoll databank is a valuable source of historical data, containing public opinion survey questions and answers from decades of U.S. polls. Although full access to the databank is behind a paywall, Faunalytics had the opportunity to download a subset of that database pertaining to animal issues. Those questions are provided here via Google Drive. Our search terms included meat, fur, hunting, fishing, vegan, vegetarian, circus, and many more.
Link
1935-present
Shelter Animals Count
This databases collects and shares intake and outcome data from thousands of U.S. companion animal rescues and shelters. The data dashboards are free and public, while the full datasets are available for a fee.
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Images And Video

The following sites contain images and videos that may be useful in advocacy research. Please note before clicking that these pages contain graphic images of animals being abused.

Animal Images Database
Contains 120 basic, open-source images of animals that have been evaluated on 11 key dimensions: valence (positivity/negativity), arousal (energy or tension), familiarity, cuteness, dangerousness, edibility, similarity to humans, capacity to think, capacity to feel, acceptability to kill, and feelings of care and protection. The validation process is described in a paper by Possidónio, Graça, Piazza, and Prada (2019). Evaluation scores for each image are available on the Open Science Framework, as are the images.
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Animal Equality
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Farm Transparency Repository
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L214 Investigations
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Sinergia Animal’s Media Center
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We Animals
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Services For Research & Data Collection

Ask A Researcher: Faunalytics’ Research Office Hour

Our research team has years of experience conducting research and can help you design your study, interpret results, or point you in the right direction (for no cost). Talking to a live person is rare these days, but that’s exactly what we offer!

If you’re looking for more help than Faunalytics can offer (up to 2-3 hours of pro bono time per year), here are some additional providers.

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Independent Consultants
Faunalytics has compiled a list of independent consultants who have worked with animal advocates in the past. Please note that despite our best efforts to include only qualified consultants on this list, Faunalytics strongly advises anyone engaging a consultant to do their due diligence before investing in any services. Faunalytics cannot be held accountable for any actions taken or research produced by anyone on this list.
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Panel-Only Data Collection
If you are comfortable programming your own survey and analyzing the results, an option like Prolific or CINT may be good cheaper options for you. If you’re not sure, visit Faunalytics’ Ask A Researcher office hours first to discuss your needs.
Full- or Partial-Service Data Collection
Many data collection companies like YouGov, Ipsos, Toluna, Dynata, and CINT have a client services model and may offer survey programming and data analysis in addition to finding participants for you. You should discuss your needs and get quotes from multiple companies, because they can vary substantially. Some may also be willing to offer you a non-profit discount. It can be difficult to know what to ask for if you don’t have survey expertise, so feel free to visit Faunalytics’ office hour first to discuss your project and what you’ll need to know.
Self-Serve Rapid Message Testing (U.S.)
For advocates looking to quickly test the effectiveness of different persuasive messages in the U.S., Grow Progress‘s self-serve platform may be a good fit. They offer the ability to quickly and easily test messages against each other and against a control message (“placebo”), using representative samples. Please note that Faunalytics cannot be held accountable for research produced by this or any other service provider on this list. We strongly advise due diligence to make sure this service meets your needs before investing resources in it.
Statistics Without Borders
Statistics Without Borders is a volunteer Outreach Group of the American Statistical Association (ASA) that provides pro bono services in statistics and data science to not-for-profit organizations. Whether you just need help with analysis or would like substantive help with designing and running your study as well, they may be able to assist. Either way, we recommend approaching them during the design stage of your project so that they can review the design for feasibility and value of analysis. You can fill out the form on their website or directly email Gary Shapiro, (g.shapiro4 at live dot com), to obtain their help. Feel free to chat with us first if you’d like to figure out more about your project before approaching them.
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Resources For Learning Research Skills

The Research & Resources section of our website is a great starting point for most people.

Take A Course

Your local university may have courses you can audit for free–check the psychology, sociology, and economics department listings, depending on your interests. Even if you’re interested in improving your statistical skills, statistics classes targeting your particular science will likely be a better fit than the statistics department offerings.

There are also free and low-cost course options available online. For instance, Coursera, Udemy, DataCamp, Udacity, and more. Please note, however, that Faunalytics can’t vouch for the quality of any particular course, so we encourage you to research the site, instructor, and course reviews.

Alternatively you may consider taking a Data Science Program.

High-Impact Research Topics

The following animal protection organizations (listed alphabetically) have published lists or information about their priority research areas. If you are looking for a high-impact topic to work on, these lists are a good place to start. If you find any dead links in this list or know of newer or additional sources we should add, please let us know.

2022 Faunalytics blog: Animal-Focused Research Ideas For Grad Students
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Animal Charity Evaluators’ Cause Priority Areas (funder perspective)
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Idea Prioritization Report (focus: potential new charities)
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Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund Scope (funder perspective)
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Fish Welfare Initiative’s Thesis Ideas (focus: fish)
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Food System Research Fund (FSRF)’s Research Focus areas (focus: plant-based & cultivated meat, funder perspective)
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GFI’s Alternative Protein: 2020 Consumer Research Priorities (focus: plant-based & cultivated meat)
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Sentience Institute’s Research Agenda
and Foundational Questions
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Tiny Beam Fund’s Burning Questions (focus: low- and middle-income countries, funder perspective)
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Wild Animal Initiative’s 2020 Research Agenda (focus: wild animals)
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Effective Altruism Forum Directory
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Effective Thesis
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Other Groups Producing Research For Animal Advocates

Ask A Librarian: Faunalytics’ Library Office Hour

Our Content Director is the resident expert on existing research and can help you find whatever you’re looking for (for no cost).

For more than 20 years, Faunalytics has been the research arm of the animal advocacy movement. We hope that you turn to us when you’re looking for a statistic, the best way to tackle an advocacy problem, or advice about research!

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Looking For A Job?

If you are looking for a job in research or data science, we suggest the following:

  1. Sign up for the Faunalytics newsletter to get updates about our own hiring;
  2. Check the other groups listed above for opportunities;
  3. Join the Effective Animal Advocacy Facebook group, which posts a monthly roundup of opportunities; and
  4. Check out Animal Advocacy Careers for help getting started, including one-on-one career advice calls. Their job board lists opportunities with groups they consider high-impact.

In the meantime, if it’s an option for you, volunteering for an animal advocacy organization in any capacity is a great way to get started and support the community and the animals. Faunalytics works with numerous volunteers, but you can also look for ways to support organizations in your local area. Whether it’s analyzing adoption data, feeding pigs, or marching in support of ballot measures, there’s always something you can do to help!

Finding Funding

If you are looking for funding for your research, we suggest you check out the funders listed on Faunalytics’ Supporters page. If you are an academic, there are also likely to be national funding agencies and foundations available to you–check with your university.

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