Using EXCEL to Describe Your "Home" County with Existing Data
Find data about the county that you were living in when you were about 16 years old. Focus on one nominal variable such as race AND one variable with ordinal categories such as the quality of life (excellent, good, fair, or poor) or age (with grouped categories) or education (with grouped categories) or income (with grouped categories).
I have listed some possible sources below, but you are free to use other sources as well. You can use print and/or online sources. (You can do searches at www.google.com to find online documents or seek help at the Virtual Reference Desk at www.lib.cmich.edu or the physical Reference Desk on the second floor of the library.) Other sources can be found using the library's Government Information web site: http://www.lib.cmich.edu/govinfo/.
POSSIBLE SOURCES OF EXISTING DATA:
Ref. Desk HA202.A36 2000
County and city data book. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau
of the Census, 2000.
Includes data
from the latest economic and population censuses.
Also available online.
Ref. Desk HA203.C68 2005
County and city extra: annual metro, city and county data book. Lanham,
MD: Bernan Press, 2005.
Updates the above title.
GovDocs C 3.204/5:
County business patterns. Suitland, MD: U.S. Census Bureau.
Recent years online only. Earlier data also available in print in GovDocs.
GovDocs A 93.70/22:
County-level population data for Michigan. Washington, D.C.: Economic
Research Service, USDA.
Online only.
GovDocs A 93.71/22:
County-level unemployment and median household income for Michigan.
Washington, D.C.: Economic Research Service, USDA.
Online only.
Ref. Desk HC106.7.S97x
Demographics USA. County edition. New York, NY: Market Statistics.
GovDocs A 93.69/22:
Michigan state fact sheet. Washington, D.C.: Economic Research Service,
USDA.
Includes
county-level data.
Online only.
Michigan Department of Community Health.
Online: http://www.michigan.gov/mdch
Kids
Count in Michigan Data Book 2005, with profiles for all 83 counties and the
City of Detroit.
Print and
online.
U.S. Census Bureau main web site
Online: http://www.census.gov
THE ASSIGNMENT: Number the parts of your assignment (1-10) as I have done below. You do NOT have to turn this assignment into an essay. Print out all of your tables and graphs and turn them in. YOU MUST USE EXCEL.
2. Summarize the key findings from the Table 1.
3. What is the mode for Table 1? What does the mode tell you
about your county? (What I mean is: Tell me which category is
the modal category and then put in English what you have learned about your
county from this particular mode.)
5. Summarize the key findings from the Table 2.
6. What is the median for Table 2? What does the median tell
you about your county?
Ideal Number of Children for American Adults in 2002
SOURCE: General Social Survey, National Opinion Research Corporation.
Table 3 must include a frequency distribution and a column that provides f*Y (which is the number of people in a category, f, multiplied by the category's score or code, Y). Make sure that you follow the guidelines for Table and Graph construction. (See Tables on the course web site.)
8. Summarize the key findings from Table 3.
9. What is the mean for Table 3? What does the mean tell you
about American adults in 2002?
Due on Wednesday, October 7