Econ assignment

Data analysis exercise

It’s not enough for a researcher to ask great question; you also need to answer them.

The purpose of the data analysis exercise is to help you choose your research topic, sharpen your research questions and to confirm that some empirical evidence does exist to help you answer your research questions.

Instructions

In approximately one page (400-500 words)

· State your main research question

WHAT IMPACTS IMMIGRANTS’ DECESION TO STAY/LEAVE CANADA?

· State hypotheses. What do you think are potential answers to your question? For instance, if your topic is different transit ridership rates, do you think it owes to city size, city density, gas prices, etc.

· Specify variable(s) you will use to test the relationship, including the units in which they are measured. Which are the dependent variables (the issue that needs explaining) and which are the independent variables (causal variables) that may explain? Taking the transit topic again, you may say the dependent variable is the variance in transit ridership rates (% of workers using transit to commute), while the independent variables are the potential causal factors, including city size (population), density (population per sq/km), gas prices ($/L unleaded gasoline).

· Identify the source(s) from which you will be accessing the data. It is not enough to state from which website or other source, but specify the name of the dataset, years. You can search from various sources, and I can help you once you have specified research questions. For instance, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca you can choose CANSIM and then select a topic and see if they have CMA-level data. There are many other sources of data, including http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

· In a separate page, produce a table that shows data for each of the variables you have specified, including the year. For instance, you may choose to present transit ridership rates for 5 Canadian cities, and then add additional columns showing independent variables suggested by your hypotheses (population, density, gas prices).

· Discuss the data you have presented. How do the data speak to your research question? At first glance are they suggestive as evidence for your hypotheses? What limitations might there be – ex. you may want transit ridership rates for the entire population, but you have to settle for transit rates for workers.

Criteria that may help you choose variables.

· Relevancy. Indicators measure meaningful and important features

· Accuracy. Indicators approximate/proxy what is intended to be measured

· Accessibility. Data are easy to find and inexpensive to acquire

· Periodicity. Data are updated regularly.

· Comparability. Data are comparable across jurisdictions

· Scalability. Data are available for neighborhood through national levels

Examples by topic

Economy

· GDP, growth rate

· Unemployment rate

· Industry or occupation concentration

· Exports

· Innovation, startups

Poverty

· HH living under poverty threshold

· Income inequality

· Housing affordability

Land use and sprawl

· Population density

· Street density

· Walkability index http://www.walkscore.com

Transportation

· Public transit ridership

· Airport passenger traffic

· Cargo shipments

Pollution

GHG

Crime

Crimes per 100,000

Taxation

· Municipal tax rates

· Public services

Diversity, openness

· Immigration rates

· Visible minority rates

Downloading and saving StatCan data

1. go to www.statcan.gc.ca English CANSIM (far right column, under “features”

2. Into search field enter “unemployment census metropolitan area”

3. Choose table 282-0110

4. Choose “Add/Remove data” tab

5. In “Step 1: Geography” click “+ Expand” and remove all selections by clicking “All”

6. Select “Canada” and census metropolitan areas of interest

7. Scroll to “Step 2 – Select variables of interest

8. In step 3, leave as is, unless you want to focus on differences between sexes

9. In Step 4, leave as is. If you want to compare age groups, select 15-24, 25-44 and 45 and over

10. In step 5, Select “From 2003 to 2013” unless you had a specific range of interest

11. In “Step 6 (Select the screen output format) leave the default “HTML table, time as columns.”

12. Click “Apply”

13. Under “Download” tab, go to “option 1” ensure “English” is the chosen language, select “Time as columns” and ensure “CSV” is chosen as file format

14. Click “Download data” under “Option 1” (not “download entire table” under “Option 2”)

15. Click “Download file from CANSIM (CSV version)”

16. Save document by clicking on “Save as,” choose a recognizable name such as “Econ3091 assignment” and choose “Excel workbook” (.xlsx) as the format (do not save under csv format)