Class slides for SOCI 30, fall 2018

1. Community Data
Nicole Branch, Librarian
Santa Clara University Library
Image courtesy of Flickr user Rosa Menkman.

2. Today we will…
• Critically analyze data & data sources
• Find data relevant to your placement site
• Compare data from your placement site to
your home community

3. Finding Community Data & Statistics
Think about WHO might collect the data you are
interested and WHO might publish the results.
Government agencies
Non-government organizations
Academic institutions
Private sector

4. Finding Community Data & Statistics
Think about if the data/statistics you are looking
for will be made readily available.
Controversial/harmful data
Not broadly applicable data

5. Finding Community Data & Statistics
Think about your timeframe & geography
Lag time for publication
Sampling and geographic specificity

6. Critiquing Data & Data Sources
 Who is the source of the data?
 Does the source of the data have a bias/interest in
the data and how might this impact how the data
was collected or analyzed?
 What is the sample size and how was the data
collected?
 What is the larger context of the data?
 Correlations are not causations.

7. Analyzing Data
 Review data sources linked on the guide
 Discuss:
What are your interpretations of the data?
What questions do you have?
What might be problems with the way the data is
presented?
Report back

8. Group 1

9. Group2

10. Investigate Sources

11. Group3

12. Group 4

13. ContextMatters

14. Group 5

15. Group 6

16. Group7

17. Data Sources
• American Community Survey (ACS)
o Part of the U.S. Census Bureau surveys
o Estimates
o Detailed data
• DataQuest
o California Department of Education
o California Healthy Schools Survey
• School Accountability Report Cards (SARC)
o State data
o Required by California law for schools receiving public
funding.

18. School & Community Exercise
• Find a SARC for a community school
• Use DataQuest to find more school data
• Find neighborhood data using the ACS:
Look up the address for the school and use the ACS
address search function to access census tract data
If that address does not work in ACS, find a residential
address near the school

19. Example

20. If you are not at a school or you are at
a private school: INSTRUCTIONS
● If you are at Saint Patrick School look up data for
Horace Mann Elementary 55 N. 7th St. San Jose
● If you are at Sacred Heart Community Service
look up data for Washington Elementary School
100 Oak St. San Jose
● If you are at Cristo Rey look up school data for
San Jose High School 275 North 24th Street San
Jose
For everyone: for the Census tract data you can use
the address of your school or organization

21. Next Up
• Exploring community assets
• Issue area data