American FactFinder 2 New York State Data Center Robert Scardamalia RLS Demographics, Inc. Wednesday, May 30, 2012

1. American FactFinder 2New York State Data CenterRobert ScardamaliaRLS Demographics, Inc.Wednesday, May 30, 2012

2. Looking For Data in A Hatstack?? Topics Cities/Towns 1,395,109 Product Type 8,813 Datasets Poverty/Poverty Geographies 42,391

3. We’re Going to Learn Pathways to the Data… Without Driving off the Cliff!

4. Original FactFinder Was a Simple Filtering Process… What Dataset? What Year? What Geographies What Table?

5. … With a Simple Route to the Data

6. FactFinder 1 Was Simple but Not Flexible… FactFinder 2 is Flexible but Complicated With Many Routes to the Data

7. The Challenge is to Develop a Process All Census Data, Geographies and Products Filter For the Dates You Need - Year Filter For the Geographic Areas Filter for the People, Housing, Or Business Filter for Characteristics Get Your Data

8. You Can’t Avoid… Developing YOUR Own Comfortable Process

9. And that ONLY comes from understanding the data… and testing different routes through the FactFinder.

10. Some FactFinder Basics I don’t like it! • Race and Ethnic Groups I avoid it! • Geographies – they made it better! I start here • Topics Quick Filters • If you don’t know Census data Good Luck! • Results Table Table Titles and Organization are a Nightmare! Quick Start

11. In This Session We Focus On… • Geographies • Individual vs. Groups • List vs. Names • Topics – in reverse! • Datasets • Characteristics • The ALL IMPORTANT “Your Selections” • I’m assuming you have background in Census and ACS data!!

12. What You’ll Learn • The FactFinder Interface • Navigating the selection of geographic areas • Navigating the “Topics” • Selection of population characteristics • Reporting and Downloading of results • As different file types • As maps • Some things to watch out for!

13. Dataset Sources Dataset Terminology

14. American FactFinder2 !!

15. Geographies • List tab – they realized that the old FactFinder was pretty simple • Name tab – long time to get comfortable with this • The “Key” that worked for me

16. Exercise #1 • Review “List” operation and geographic types • Select geographies with “List” • Albany county • Albany city • All census tracts in Albany county

17. Exercise #2 • Review “Name” operation and selection window • Select geographies with “Name” • Albany county • Albany city • All census tracts in Albany city

18. What Did We Learn? • The Old FactFinder “List” method worked pretty well • But it was limited … • We couldn’t select all tracts in a city • Filtering using options for selecting individual versus groups of geographies

19. Topics • Datasets – options are overwhelming if you don’t know the data • Today: Census vs. ACS • Program – a simple filter - IF you know Census programs • ACS, Decennial, Population Estimates • Product Type – very confusing if you aren’t familiar with them • Year – one of the simplest filters

20. Topics I think there should be two topic types • Data Source – filters and definitions • Characteristics – filters and definitions

21. Exercise #3 – Data Sources Filter to use the 2000 Census 100% data Filter to use the 2008-2010 ACS 3-year data Where will you find “Data Profile” products 2000 Summary Files – find 100% and sample files

22. What Did We Learn? • 60+ Datasets to learn • Product Types vary by Dataset • Some simply don’t exist for certain Datasets • How to distinguish between 100% and Sample Datasets

23. Topics • People – demographic and socio-economic variables; simple counts to detailed cross tabulations • Housing – occupancy, physical, and financial variables; simple counts to detailed cross tabulations • Business – crosses many different Census economic programs Topics shown a like a cameleon, they change to suit the year/dataset/program selected!

24. Exercise #4 - Characteristics • Select the states of Florida, New York, and North Carolina as geographies; select table QT-P1 for the 2010 Census. • Hint: People by Age and Sex • Add Profile DP-1 • Add Profile DP-1 for the 2000 Census

25. What Did We Learn? You have to cycle through the result geographies for each geographic area selected You have to cycle through result tables for each table and geographic area The large number of resulting tables and products means you have to filter more to reduce the number of pages.

26. Exercise #5 – The ACS Analyzing Poverty Rates Add Profile DP-1 Add Profile DP-1 for the 2000 Census

27. * *

30. What Did We Learn? Margins of Error get smaller as sample size (length of period estimate) gets larger MUST evaluate statistical significance of differences

31. Retrieving Your Data All we’ve done so far is view and copy our data Heavy data users need more Need to compile lots of data Put in formats for further manipulation

32. FactFinder Options • View • Modify your table • Bookmark • Print • Download • Download • Build “zip” file • Save to your local machine

33. Modify Table Hide data rows/columns Collapse and expand categories Rearrange rows and columns Sorts Transpose rows and columns

34. Address Searching Access through the “Geographies” window, or “Address Search” on Main page Type in your street address Geography Results shows ALL levels of geography that your address is in

35. Mapping Analyzing Poverty Rates Select all Census tracts in New York City Select 2010 ACS 5-year Dataset Select DP03 – Selected Economic Characteristics “Create Map”

36. American FactFinder Hazards Too many results – indicates a need for further filtering Page scrolling with too many pages – results per page Order of results – often difficult to find things you know exist Confusing table titles Confusing topic categories Select Geographies “List” – beware of “Statewide” in County type