Karen Cameron, FACHE

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Digging for DataNonprofit Learning Point Program

• Karen Cameron, FACHE
• Central Virginia Health Planning Agency
• Gail Harris and Anne Talley
• United Way of Greater Richmond Petersburg
• July 2009

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Understanding Your DataIs it rocks or gems?
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Define Your Population(s)

• Which Geographic Area(s)?
• Often breakdown by sub-areas is important (i.e.
  health districts, counties/cities, census tracts,
  ZIP code areas, voting districts)
• What Population Group(s)?
• Demographic (Age, Race/Ethnicity, Gender)
• Income
• Occupational/Employment Status
• Household Structure (Marital Status, Children,
  Year of Home)
• What Disease or Risk Group(s)?
• Diagnosis/Procedure/Condition (bipolar, cardiac
  catheterization, diabetes)
• Chronically homeless
• Behavior/Background (tobacco use, history of
  abuse or crime)

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What Is Being Measured?

• Is the data actual, an estimate or based on a
  sample, or a projection?
• Actual includes each member of a given
  population (ex. Census year population counts)
• Sample a subset of the population is used to
  represent the larger population group
• Estimate an approximation based on actual or
  sample data (ex. current population between
  Census years)
• Projection an estimate of the future (e.g.
  population in 5 years)

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Ratios and Rates

• Ratio measures the relationship between two
  numbers
• Examples More than 1 out of 10 households
  reported having a member who needed mental health
  services in the last year.
• Two out of three children were prepared for
  kindergarten.
• Rate an indication of how common an event is in
  the population being studied
• Rates are commonly per 100, 1000, or a multiple
  by 10

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Ratios and Rates

• Rates allow comparisons between population
  groups and over time caution when using a small
  n

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Ratios and Rates

• Which age groups and areas would you focus on to
  reduce births to teenagers? Why? Is there other
  information you would like to know?

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Percent Percent Change

• Percent is a rate per 100
• Where would you focus your efforts to reduce low
  birth weight infants based on this data?

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Mean, Median Mode

• Mean and Median are both measures of the central
  tendency of a data set
• Mean (also called the average) is the sum of the
  measurements divided by the number of
  measurements in the data set
• Median is the middle number of a data set
• Mode is the most frequent number in the data set.

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Mean, Median Mode

• Median is often used with income data since a few
  households with an unusually high or low income
  could skew the typical income the number and
  percentage of households that fall in each income
  group is available

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Rankings

• Rankings compare entities, often geographic
  areas, in relative order
• Know what criteria is being used and the weight
  applied to each criteria in determining ranking
• A change in rank can be due to a large change in
  one ranking criteria or small changes in many
  criteria

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Ranking Example Simple One Variable
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Ranking Example Complex Composite Score
Fiscal Stress Rank Scores 1.0Highest
Stress/134.0Lowest Stress
http//www.virginiaallies.org/research.asp

• Composite Fiscal Stress Index Scores, Rank
  Scores, and Classifications (February 2008)   As
  approached by the Commission on Local Government,
  the measurement of fiscal stress entails the
  construction of a three-variable index founded
  upon chronologically equivalent indicators linked
  to the most current observation period for which
  relevant statistics can be obtained across all
  counties and cities. More precisely, the stress
  index taps jurisdictional measures denoting the
  level of revenue capacity per capita during a
  specified fiscal period the degree of revenue
  effort over the same time span the magnitude of
  median adjusted gross income for individuals and
  married couples in the pertinent calendar year .
  It should be noted that the composite index
  score, though not an absolute indicator of
  financial hardship at the local level, identifies
  the standing of the designated jurisdiction in
  relation to every other county or city throughout
  Virginia.
• Source Staff, Commission on Local Government

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Viewing all the Facets of Your Gem

• The number, percentage, and change over time can
  all impact the decisions you make
• If your goal is to reduce the number of children
  in poverty where would you focus?
• What if your goal is to prevent childrens
  families from slipping into poverty?

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Are you digging in the right places? Criteria
for evaluating web sites and data sources
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Evaluating a Web Site What to look for

• Author and sponsors
• Objectivity
• Accuracy
• Currency
• Intended audience
• Efficiency and ease of use

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Evaluating Web Sites

• Handout Web Page Evaluation Checklist
• http//www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Int
  ernet/EvalForm_General_Barker.pdf
• http//www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate/evalu
  ating.html
• University Libraries of VA Tech
• Exercise
• http//lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalexpl.html

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Reference list for the URL

• .gov Government agency
• .net Internet Service Provider
• .com Commercial site
• .edu Higher education
• .mil Military site
• ("tilde") Personal site
• .org Organization (charitable,
  religious, or a lobbying group)
• Country names appear as a two-letter abbreviation
  in the domain name. www.XXXXX.hanover.va.us

Source http//www.lesley.edu/library/guides/res
earch/evaluating_web.html
Additional resource. Presentation about using
web search features more effectively.
http//www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/In
ternet/google_and_beyond_2009_spring.ppt
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Data Warehouse Sites

• Kids Count and Kids Cliks
• Child Trends DataBank
• Virginia Performs
• GOSAP

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http//datacenter.kidscount.org/
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Kids Cliks http//datacenter.kidscount.org/data/
bystate/Default.aspx
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http//www.childtrendsdatabank.org/index.cfm
A great source for background research
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http//www.childtrends.org/_portalcatchildind.cfm?
LID44DD5860-64F3-49F7-946021F56994AFE5
Good resource to subscribe to
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http//vaperforms.virginia.gov/agencylevel/index.c
fm
Try Select An Agency
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http//vaperforms.virginia.gov/extras/metaData.php

Good links to source data
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http//www.data.gosap.governor.virginia.gov/GOSAP_
App/Home.aspx
Check out the tutorial
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http//www.data.gosap.governor.virginia.gov/GOSAP_
App/Resources.aspx
Good resource list
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• Community Profiles

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http//www.vawc.virginia.gov//analyzer/default.asp
?
These community profiles are great
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• Nice snapshot of
• locality data kept very
• current
• Demographic profiles
• Economic profiles
• Education profiles

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http//virginiascan.yesvirginia.org/communityprofi
les/default.aspx
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Additional local reference sites

• www.cvhpa.org Central Virginia Health Planning
  Agency Focuses on 27 localities in Central
  Virginia some statewide data Includes
  primarily secondary data grouped and analyzed by
  locality updated as data becomes available
  primary data/information from triennial household
  level community needs assessment survey Includes
  locally specific needs assessments around certain
  geographic areas and/or health needs
• www.Vakids.org Voices for Virginias Children
• http//www.yourunitedway.org/
• United Way of Greater Richmond Petersburg

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Demographic Data

• Types
• Age
• Race/Ethnicity
• Gender
• Location of Residence
• Martial Status Family Size
• Language Spoken/Place of Birth
• Year of Entry into U.S.
• Socio-economic Information

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Demographic Data Sources

• Census www.census.gov
• American Fact Finder -
• http//factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_
  langen
• Weldon Cooper Center http/coopercenter.org

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Demographic

• Census site
• Decennial Census of Population Housing
• Conducted every 10 years
• Most comprehensive count of U.S. residents
• Great detail on population housing
  characteristics
• Good mapping capabilities
• Geographic detail to block level
• Comparable from census to census
• Note that some census data is estimated from
  representative samples some years include
  greater efforts to document those normally under
  represented (e.g. homeless, immigrants).

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Demographic

• Census site continued
• American Community Survey
• On-going survey sent to a sample of the
  population
• provides more up-to-date data than decennial
  census
• 1 year estimates available beginning with 2005
  data for localities with populations of 65,000
• 3 year estimates available beginning with 2005
  data for localities with populations of 20,000
• 5 year estimates (data for 2005-2009) will be
  available in 2010 for localities with populations
  under 20,000
• American Fact Finder
• Provides fact sheets an easy-to-use tool to get
  snapshot of a geographical area

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Demographic

• Census site continued
• Includes special surveys and data sets
• Annual Economic Survey
• Annual Population Estimate
• etc.
• Includes in-depth, analytical reports on
  population change, race, age, family structure,
  housing, apportionment, and more

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http//www.census.gov/
Site search function here
Fact Finder
Look here for additional help
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http//factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_
langen
2000 data available by locality ZIP for all
areas 2007 comparisons available for larger
communities
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• Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates
• http//www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/

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Demographic

• Weldon Cooper Site
• Affiliated with the University of Virginia
• Includes official population estimates for
  Virginia various Virginia data by locality
• Good methodology explanations definitions
• Includes maps (easy source for census tract maps)
• Good employment, career, education data (e.g.
  projected school enrollments)

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http/coopercenter.org
Scroll down for population estimates, maps, etc.
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http/coopercenter.org/demographics/
Good publications and presentations
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Safety Social Services Data Sites

• Virginia State Police http//www.vsp.state.va.us
  /Crime_in_Virginia.shtm
• RichmondCrime.org - http//richmondcrime.org
• Virginia Department of Social Services -
  www.dss.state.va.us

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Safety

• Virginia State Police Site
• Can download Crime in Virginia 2008 report and
  earlier years reports
• Cannot download electronic data from site
• Some stats (such as time of day of offense) only
  published at State level number of arrests by
  adults juveniles available by type of offense
  by city/county (need to calculate rates for
  comparison)
• Number of officers available at city/county level
  by State, local, and college campus

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http//www.vsp.state.va.us/Crime_in_Virginia.shtm
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Safety

• Richmond Crime Site
• Reports crime by exact address by neighborhood
  for City of Richmond
• Gives detail on each offense during specified
  period
• Has great maps and charts, including ones for
  offense type (such as murder)
• Reports data by month and year

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http//richmondcrime.org
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Social Services

• Virginia Department of Social Service Site
• Includes locally specific information on such
  things as
• Child abuse neglect
• Foster care children
• TANF recipients
• Food stamps
• Earned income tax credit
• Annual statistical report for State only gives
  trends back to 1997
• Data available through State FY2008 some more
  recent (monthly reports)

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www.dss.state.va.us
Click here, then select Reports Studies
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Virginia Self-Sufficiency Standard

• http//www.dss.state.va.us/geninfo/reports/agency_
  wide/self_sufficiency.cgi

2006 is most recent
By locality The Self-Sufficiency Standard
measures how much income is needed for a family
of a certain composition in a given place to
adequately meet their basic needswithout public
or private assistance. The Self-Sufficiency
Standard calculates a family sustaining wage that
does not require choosing between basic
necessities such as child care, nutritional food,
adequate housing, or health care. On the other
hand, the Standard only covers immediate,
day-to-day necessities, excluding longer-term
needs such as retirement savings or college
tuition, purchases of major items such as a car,
emergency expenses, or extras such as gifts,
video rentals, or after school activities.