Exercise 11.2: Collecting, Organizing and Coding Data from the 2000 U.S. Census

In this exercise you will collect data about the states from the 2000 U.S Census and create an SPSS file that is ready for analysis.

1. Begin by accessing the U.S. Census Bureau Homepage.
2. Explore the web site, paying special attention to data that describe the states.
3. Choose four variables that describe socioeconomic conditions of the states.
4. Choose three variables that describe some aspect of politics (eg. election results)
5. Choose three variables that indicate the result of state public policies (e.g., expenditures on education).
6. Create a codebook listing the variables you have chosen (See Figure 11.1 for an example).
7. Obtain or create a coding form (See Figure 11.1 for an example) and label the rows by state and the columns for your variables.
8. Using census tables you found transfer your data to your coding form.
9. Create an SPSS data file (for a review of this process see Chapter 8) by transferring the data from your coding form to an SPSS matrix. Be sure to label your variables.
10. Click on Analyze, then on Descriptive Statistics, then on Descriptives.
11. Select all of your variables by highlighting them and moving them to the "variables" box with the right arrow, then click OK.
12. Print your results.
13. You need not save your output, but save your data.