Salary expectations: how do you answer? (Raleigh)

A recruiter asked for my salary expectations on a first call as I look for work as a data-entry clerk. It has been weighing on me all week. I also do not want to sell myself short. How do you research fairly?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 5 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.