Lab: Using existing data to explore your zip code

In this lab you will use information available on the internet to do a study of the zip code you live in.

Data Source 1: The 2000 Census

Go to the American Factfinder at the U.S. Census Bureau. Scroll down and look on the left for "enter your address."

Enter your address in the boxes. Click “go.”

Record the following information:

Highlight "5 Digit Zip Code Tabulation Area," and then click on “Map It.”  You may want to print the map. How do the boundaries of the zip code compare to your idea of where your neighborhood is?

1. As far as you know, what is the name (or are the names) of the neighborhood(s) in this zip code? Is a zip code the same thing as a neighborhood?

2. Based on the "ordinary human observation" you have done as a resident, how would you describe the kinds of people who live in your zip code?

Click on “Go” and scroll down. You will see a list of maps, tables and other materials about your zip code.

You will have to read the labels of these tables carefully to make sure that you are getting the correct information. For some tables you will have to combine percentages.

Select: DP-1 Profile of  General Demographic Characteristics: 2000

Find and record the gender and age distributions for your zip code.

Record Race and Latino Status for the entire population.

Click on Back and select:

DP-2 Profile of Selected Social Characteristics: 2000

Find and record nativity information

3. Overall, how would you summarize the demographic make-up of your zip code? Were you suprised by any of the results? This should be a whole paragraph. Don't include every statistic, but give enough information from the data to support your description.

Data Source 2: Commercial Segmentation Data from Claritas.

Marketers, politicians and others use data from the census and other sources in order to classify people. Often these groupings are called clusters or segments. These clusters are intended to create more complex groups than are possible using just one or two variables. One wbell-known system for this is Prizm NE. Prizm NE divides the U.S. Population into 66 segments or types of people. The systems are then used to describe the types of people living in a specific geographic area.

(Here is a web page with a lot of information about the ideas behind these systems.)

(Here is a USA Today story about them.)

Try for yourself (you just need to enter your zip code).

YOU ARE WHERE YOU LIVE!! - Claritas

After typing in your zip code and clicking “submit” you will get a list of the 5 most common clusters for your zip code. (Clusters must make up at least 5% of a zip code to be listed, so it is possible to have fewer than 5 listed if there are a small number in the other groups.) Feel free to try the other systems too; they tell you about other aspects of lifestyle.

Click on the name of each segment to read a description of the people in the cluster and some of their consumer habits.

4. Summarize what you learned about the people in your zip code from the PRIZM NE and any other segmentation data you looked at. Make sure you give the reader adequate information about the characteristics of each cluster to understand what the names mean.

5. How accurate do you feel the segment data were at describing you and/or the other people who live near you. Do you fit into one of the groups? Do members of your family? Do the people who live near you? Do they reflect what you know about your zip code area?

6. How do you think that the cluster data compares to the census data? Which did you find more interesting? Which did you think was more useful? What purposes would each type of data be used for?

Please make sure to put your name, section and zip code on the top of your response.

Keep a copy of your answers for yourself to use while doing your homework and hand one in at the end of lab.