CRITERION #2

ASSIGNMENT #2C

DUE IN SESSION #5

This assignment involves obtaining and organizing basic population, housing and economic data about your chosen community for 2000.

If your community is an entire city or town, then you will need to obtain Census data for the same city or town as for Assignment #2A. If, however, your community is a neighborhood of Boston, you should obtain Census data for the same Census tract as for Assignment #2A.

Where to Obtain the 2000 Census Data:

You are very strongly encouraged to obtain the Census data the Census Bureau website or the U. Mass. Healey Library, rather than seeking it at a local agency or library. The reason is that some local agencies only have Census data from the "short-form" Census questionnaires, not the "long-form" questionnaires. Census data from the long-form questionnaires is sometimes referred to as Summary Tape File 3 (STF 3 or STF 3A), while short-form data is known as STF 1A. If you do seek the data locally, you must make sure that it is STF 3A, NOT STF 1A. If you cannot find STF 3A data locally, then you will need to obtain the data from the U Mass library, or the Census Bureau, or another university library.

All of the 2000 Census information that you need for this assignment can be found on the Census Bureau website and in the U Mass Library on microfiche (5th floor Periodicals and Microforms, in the room to the right of the desk). There is a cabinet with a drawer containing Massachusetts 2000 Census data, labeled STF 3A (Summary Tape File 3A).

To locate the STF3A data for your community, you need to know the County in which your community is located. Also, if you are looking at a neighborhood within a city or town, you need to know the number of the Census Tract you are studying (You should have obtained the Tract Number as part of Assignment #2A).

The microfiche sheets are arranged alphabetically by County. Once you have located the block of microfiche sheets for your county, then the sheets are arranged alphabetically by city/town within the County. You need to be very careful at this point, because the info for your city/town may start in the middle of one sheet of microfiche and then continue onto the following sheet or sheets. It is not obvious which city/town is on a sheet: in some cases, someone has written the name of the city/town on the white envelope holding the fiche; if not, some trial-and-error searching using a microfiche reader may be necessary.

Once you have located the microfiche sheets for your community, you need to be very careful to make sure that you have located the data for the appropriate geographical level within the city/town. For each city or town, first there will be data for the entire city/town; then data for the lowest numbered Census Tract within the city/town; then data for each Block Group within that Census Tract; then the next highest numbered Census Tract, etc. That is, if you are studying a city or town, be careful that you do not have the info for a Census Tract or Block Group within the town. If you are studying a Census Tract within a city, be careful that you do not have the info for a Block Group within the Census Tract.

2000 Data:

For each geographical area (city/town, census tract, block group), the microfiche has imprints of 6 pages that contain all of the 2000 Census data for that geographical area. You need to print out the full set of 6 pages of data from the microfiche for the city, town or census tract you are studying. Make sure that at the top of the first page you have located the proper geographical area. At the lower right hand corner of each page you will find the page identified by a 4-digit number followed by a letter (A-F). Make sure that all 6 pages have the same 4-digit number in the lower right corner.

Organizing and Presenting the Census Data:

After you have printed out the 6 pages from the microfiche, you will need to go through these pages and locate the same types of information as you did for 1990 in Assignment #2A. There will be workshop time in the class to assist you in locating the data, if you need assistance.

In order to carry out this assignment, you should use the same spreadsheet you have set up for Assignment #2A, or the same set of forms that the instructor provided for Assignment #2A. As you locate the data from the Census printout, insert the data into the appropriate places on the spreadsheet or forms.

After you have obtained and entered all of the required data from the 2000 Census, you then have to compute the percentage distributions for each data item, entering each percent into its appropriate place on the forms, as you did for 1990 in Assignment #2.

REMINDER: Be sure to bring your pocket calculator to class every week.