Data are observations or measurements recorded for the purpose of analysis. They are represented as text, numbers, or multimedia.
A dataset is a structured collection of data, generally associated with a unique body of work. They typically are structured as tables with many variables.
A database is an organized collection of data stored as multiple datasets.
Statistics are the results of data analysis or the interpretation of raw data, often presented in charts or as percentages. They show relationships between variables.
Establish the goals of your project and consider what kind of data you might need. List your parameters for searching, including:
Look at the methodology section in scholarly articles on a similar topic to see what data they used, which may be available to you. For example, you might search for articles that used sentiment analysis on newspapers.
Searching the internet for data is useful for finding government data and open access data. Be sure to evaluate what you find.
Add "data" to the Google search or use Google dataset search engine.
Ask yourself who would be most likely to generate data on the desired topic. Consider these likely places. Be sure to consider possible bias.