Data Access Driving Discovery: How One PhD Researcher Is Spending Less Time Chasing Data
Academic research often hits a familiar wall: the data exists, but it’s expensive, hard to license, or takes months of grant paperwork to access. That was exactly the challenge one PhD researcher faced, until they started using Dewey.
In a recent presentation to academic colleagues, this researcher shared how Dewey has become a core part of their research toolkit. They've now used the platform across five distinct projects, leveraging everything from mobile geolocation to workforce data to shipping logistics. Just as important as the data itself is the flexibility Dewey provides in shaping different types of research workflows.
Here’s a summary of the three approaches this researcher keeps returning to—each demonstrating how subscription-based data can unlock new academic insights.
1. Data → Question → Research
Start with a dataset and discover a new question.
Some of the most interesting research begins not with a hypothesis, but with a dataset that sparks new ideas. That’s exactly what happened when this researcher discovered Dewey included access to People Data Labs, a dataset of over 300 million U.S. resumes.
With that data, the team realized it was possible to track employee movement across firms at scale. This led to a project exploring workforce dynamics following major organizational policy shifts like return to office mandates. Who stays? Who leaves?
Dewey made it easy to test the idea. By syncing data to AWS S3, the team was able to run a quick proof of concept in just a few days.
📄 Read the resulting research on organizational workforce trends and tenure distribution: link
2. Question → Results → Data
Start with a research question and find the dataset that fits.
In another project, the researcher explored the economic effects of regional internet shutdowns. They initially worked with mobile device data, which showed movement patterns (Veraset data, now also available in the Dewey Data platform!), but needed a better way to proxy for actual economic activity in affected areas.
Credit card transactions and store-level spending data were considered, but were not prevalent in the study region. Instead, they turned to SafeGraph Places combined with OpenStreetMap to identify nearly 100,000 points of interest as a proxy for economic zones.
The result? Over 100 million data points collected in just a few days, producing a granular, novel view into regional economic disruption. It’s a powerful example of how Dewey supports hypothesis-driven research with flexible, creative data access.
3. Question → Data → Results (?)
Start with a question, find the right data, and see what it reveals.
This is the most classic research path: a well-defined question in need of supporting data. In this case, the researcher was building a model of a global logistics system and needed detailed data on routes, delays, and port congestion. Accessing this data through traditional providers proved slow and expensive.
Then Dewey added Vizion, a global shipping and container tracking dataset to the platform. It was immediately available within their existing subscription and gave them exactly the foundation needed to validate and expand their model—without costly delays or licensing negotiations.
This is where Dewey’s model really shines. Researchers can test ideas quickly, pivot when necessary, and scale up when something sticks, all without months of delay or extra funding hurdles.
Final Thoughts: Stop Chasing Data, Start Exploring It
As this researcher shared, the biggest shift in their workflow came from no longer having to chase access to one-off datasets. Instead of investing weeks or months applying for a grant just to maybe access one source, they could browse Dewey’s catalog, explore datasets immediately, and test early ideas before fully committing to a research direction.
And for individual researchers or students, this can be transformative. Dewey provides access to commercial-grade datasets that would be nearly impossible to license as an individual. Whether you're studying labor markets, geospatial patterns, consumer behavior, or complex systems, Dewey empowers you to move faster, ask bigger questions, and uncover insights you might otherwise never reach.
Did you know Dewey offers subscriptions specifically for PhD students? Inquire here.