SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective
Fall 2009. Professor Backman
Census project. Due Monday, October 5, 2009.
OVERVIEW
In this project you will use information from the 2000 U.S. Census to compare your "neighborhood," as reflected in your census tract, with your county. In essence you will be judging how typical your census tract was of your county in 2000.
OBJECTIVES
The project has four objectives: 1) to show you a little of what the census has to offer, 2) to show you something about your neighborhood and county (at least as they were in the year 2000), 3) to give you some practice thinking about numbers, and 4) to give you some practice writing about numbers. Depending on your current expertise with tables, you may also extend your skill with word processing and/or spreadsheet software. I first assigned a project like this in 1984, before most college students were using word processing or spreadsheet software, so it is not necessary to be a computer whiz to complete this project (assuming you have a typewriter;>)).
DETAILS: BIG PICTURE
You will go to the website of the U.S. Census Bureau, find the census tract and county of your home address, and retrieve information about your tract and county. You'll put the information in a series of tables that will include comparisons between your tract and your county. Finally, you will write a report including and explaining the tables.
DETAILS: MESO PICTURE
There were two sets of questions used in the 2000 Census. One was (supposed to be) answered by everyone in the country. These questions are called 100-Percent Items, and the answers to those questions constitute 100-Percent Data. Summaries of the 100-Percent Data are made available to the public (including you and me!) in two summary files, SF 1 (Summary File 1) and SF 2 (Summary File 2). The difference between SF 1 and SF 2 is that SF 2 has much more detailed information about specific racial, tribal, and ancestry groups. The contents of each file take the form of dozens of tables. The second set of questions was supposed to be answered only by about 16 percent of the population. These answers are called Sample Data. Sample Data summaries are available in SF 3 and SF 4, where SF 4 has the much greater detail about races, Indian tribes, and ancestries. Though the sample questions were asked of only about one person in six, when the Census Bureau summarizes the answers in SF 3 and SF 4, it basically multiplies all the numbers by 6 to tell you how many people they estimate would have answered in a particular way if everyone had been asked the question. Since they are estimates, SF 3 and SF 4 numbers do not always match what the 100 percent result would have been. Sometimes in this assignment you will use 100-Percent Data; it makes no difference whether you use SF 1 or SF 2. When you use Sample Data, it makes no difference whether you use SF 3 or SF 4.
DETAILS: DELIVERABLE
The deliverable for this project -- that is, the thing you will turn in -- is a report of eight substantive sections, plus an introduction and a conclusion. Each section except the introduction and conclusion will include a prose description of your findings and one or more tables. Appended to the assignment are table shells you can use in recording the data and writing the report.
Sections
Introduction. Give me your home address and a description of your neighborhood. When you think of your "neighborhood," what rough boundaries do you have in mind?
Geographic identifiers. In this section you will prepare a table with various census geographies for your home address. Which geographies to put in the table will depend on your address. Everyone should include their state, county, census tract, block group, and block. If you are in a place, include the place. If you are in some kind of metropolitan statistical area, include that. In terms of your knowledge of the area, how well do the Census Tract boundaries seem to reflect what you think of as your neighborhood?
Population. Use data from the QT-P1 (100-Percent) table to create the simplest table of the assignment: the number people living in the tract and county in 2000.
Age and sex. What is the median age? What percentage of the population is under 15? What percent is over 64? What is the dependency ratio (use the U.S. version of the ratio)? What is the sex ratio? What is the sex ratio among children (under 15), among the "marrying ages" (20 to 34), and among seniors (over 64)? Use data from the QT-P1 (100-Percent) table.
Race and ethnicity.Use table QT-P3 (100-Percent) to obtain data about race and ethnicity. Which seems more racially integrated, your tract or your country? Where is the proportion Hispanic greater?
Income. The Census Bureau provides lots of numbers related to income. Use three of them: median household income, median family income, and per capita income. Is your tract better off than the county? Do all three measures give the same answer?Use data from table DP-3 (sample).
Education.For education we are looking for "educational attainment," not "enrollment." You will note that the "universe" is people 25 and over. The universe is the set of people the data apply to. This assumes that people (or the vast majority) have finished their education by the time they are 25.Use data from table DP-2 (sample).
Residence in 1995. Residence in 1995, found in Sample Data table DP-2, tells us where people were living five years before the census was taken. Here the population it makes sense to talk about is people 5 and over since people younger than 5 had not yet been born in 1995. This is why the universe is people 5 and over. Residence in 1995 tells us about in-migration but not about out-migration; people who moved out were counted somewhere else, not in your tract or county. Are people in your tract more likely than those in your county not to have moved in the past five years? How do you migration results match up with the age structures of your tract and county? Remember the relationship between age and migration. Are your results what we would expect given that relationship? DP-2 is a complicated table because it includes many subtotals. Indentations signal subtotals.
Something else interesting about your tract. There are dozens of other pieces of information available from the census about your tract and county. Pick one, make a table for it, and discuss it just as you have discussed the pieces of information above. Be careful to pay attention to the universe or you will likely misinterpret the information.
Conclusion. How similar is your tract to your county? Now that you've seen the numbers, does your tract seem integrated or segregated, old or young, rich or poor, well or poorly educated, settled or churning with new people?
Writing and layout
Writing Rules
1. Use strong take-away sentences. You can often strengthen the impact by starting with a qualitative statement containing your conclusion, followed by quantitative statement which allows you to say what you said before, this time with evidence.
2. You can make the tables any way you want (assuming all the information is there in a form that is comprehensible), but you might as well use the shells I provide.
3. Don't screw up "its" and "it's." Remember, it's never necessary to use "it's," because it is always possible to write it more formally as "it is."
4. Don't screw up the difference between "percent difference" and "percentage point difference."
5. Don't use "less" when you should use "fewer." Don't use "fewer" when you should use "less," either, though you are less likely to make that mistake because it sounds even worse than the first mistake.
6. Tables should be placed after after after (did I mention after?) the first time they are mentioned in the text. Tables are mentioned by number in the text. They go between the end of one paragraph and the beginning of the next. A table should not be split in half by a page break, so you may have to go down a few paragraphs after the first mention to find an acceptable place to put the table. It is acceptable to put a placeholder for a table in the text and put the table at the end of the document. The placeholder looks like this:
______
Insert Table x here
______
7. In your tables and text be sure to use commas in numbers that are greater than 999. Round percents and percentage point differences to one decimal place.
9. Turn in a standard double-spaced paper (the tables do not need to be double-spaced). Use a title page (don't forget your name on the title page). Staple the paper. Please do not put it in plastic or a folder.
Always remember Backman’s rules: 1) highlight the important, and 2) write right.
STEPS
Census project
1. Print the table shells. You will fill in the numbers as you find them online.
2. Go to
3. Click on Census 2000 (near the top of the screen)
4. Click on "Enter a street address to find Census 2000 data"
5. Where it says, "Enter a street address…," enteryour home address (not your address at Auburn)
6. From the box of "Geographies containing [your address]," copy down the state, county, census tract, block group, place (if you live in a place), and Metropolitan Statistical Area/Consolidated MSA if one shows up in the box. Put the information into the appropriate table shell
7. Identify your census tract
8. Highlight the Census Tract line and click on the Map It button to the right of the box of geographies. This will give you a chance to see the boundaries the Census Bureau is using, which you can compare with your knowledge of your neighborhood. Click Clear when you are finished.
9. Highlight the Census Tract line again and click on the OK button to the right of the box of geographies. You will have to wait while Factfinder hunts for the data
10. Scroll down to the Quick Tables and Demographic Profiles section.
11. Scroll further down to the Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data section. Click on QT-P1 Age Groups and Sex: 2000. Use the results to complete the appropriate tables (2 and 3).
12. Click the browser back buttonto get back to the Quick Tables and Demographic Profiles section again. Once again in the 100 percent data section, click on QT-P3 Race and Hispanic or Latino. Use the data to complete the appropriate table (Table 4).
13. Click the browser back button. Now in the Census 2000 Summary File 4 (SF 4) - Sample Data section, click on DP-3. Profile of General Economic Characteristics: 2000. Use these data for the your table on income (Table 5).
14. Click the browser back button. In the Sample Data section again, click on DP-2. Profile of General Social Characteristics: 2000. Use these data for your education and residence in 1995 tables (Tables 6 and 7).
15. Wander around in the tables. Choose something you think might be interesting about your tract or county. Copy the data and build Table 8.
Next you need the data for your county. Go back to step 3. Skip steps 6 and 8. In steps 7 and 9 use County instead of Census Tract.
Table Shells in Word for the Backman SOCY1000 Census Project. Fall 2009
Table 1Geographic Areas for …
Type of area / Name or code of area
State / -- none --
County / -- none --
Place / -- none --
Census Tract
Block Group
Block
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Table 2
Population of Tract xxx and xxxCounty
County name / Tract as percent
Tract # / County / of county
Population / 0 / 0 / 0.0
Table 3
Age and Sex
Tract xxx / County name County
Median age / 00.0 / 00.0
Percent under 15 / 0.0 / 0.0
Percent over 64 / 0.0 / 0.0
Dependency ratio (U.S.) 1/ / 0.0 / 0.0
Total sex ratio / 0.0 / 0.0
Sex ratio, ages 0-14 / 0.0 / 0.0
Sex ratio, ages 20-34 / 0.0 / 0.0
Sex ratio, aged over 64 / 0.0 / 0.0
1/ Number 0-17 plus number over 64 divided by number 18 - 64
Table 4
Race
Tract xxx / County name County / Percentage point
Race / Number / Percent / Number / Percent / difference
One race
American Indian/Alaska Native / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Asian / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Black / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
White / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Other race / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Two or more races / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Total / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Not Hispanic or Latino / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Total / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Table 5
Income in 1999
CountyName / Percent
Tract xxxx / County / difference
Median household income / 0 / 0 / 0
Median family income / 0 / 0 / 0
Per capita income / 0 / 0 / 0
Table 6
Education of Persons 25 and Over
Years / Tract / County
Attained / Number / Percent / Number / Percent
Less than 9th grade / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
9th to 12th grade, no diploma / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
High school graduate (includes equivalency) / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Some college, no degree / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Associate degree / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Bachelor's degree / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Graduate or professional degree / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Percent high school graduate or higher / 0 / (X) / 0 / (X)
Percent bachelor's degree or higher / 0 / (X) / 0 / (X)
Table 7
Residence in 1995
County
name
Tract / County
Residence in 1995 / Number / Percent / Number / Percent
Population 5 years and over / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Same house in 1995 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Different house in the U.S. in 1995 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Same county / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Different county / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Same state / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Different state / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Elsewhere in 1995 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Table 8
Something Else Fascinating
Tract / County
Number / Percent / Number / Percent
Row 1 heading / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0
A bunch more headings / 0 / 0.0 / 0 / 0.0