Analyzing data

Once you have your data downloaded, either to CSV or in your R environment, then you are ready to clean and re-shape your data.

Document your process

Setting up adequate documentation throughout the process is crucial. Communicating your methods and process to your stakeholder or audience is important to be transparent and build trust. More documentation is always better than less. Because census data is public, you want to make sure someone else can understand and replicate your methods themselves.

Key analysis guides

Once you have set up documentation and cleaned/reshaped your data, reference the following sections as you analyze your data:

• Statistical reliability

• Significance testing

• Analyzing microdata

• Ground-truthing and contextualizing data