This project is intended to give you an opportunity to explore data visualization with Tableau, and work with a larger data set than is typical for textbook exercises. Using data the US Census’s American Community Survey (available to download from Canvas in module 1), you should use the data dictionary and both Excel and Tableau Public to find an “interesting” story, that is to say a relationship in the data that you find interesting, amusing, frightening, or concerning.
Find two or more variables in the Census data that tell an interesting story. Create a data visualization (or set of data visualizations) that illustrate this story. Your data visualizations might be as simple as scatter plots or more ambitious (geographical visualizations, animated charts). Complete this twice, once using Excel and once using Tableau Public. Make sure at least one of these graphs is very strong. Beneath your stronger graph, include a short paragraph reflecting on whether your graph follows the advice for graphs offered by your textbook (you may choose to ignore this advice, but if so you must acknowledge it and justify your different choice). You will then write a short (roughly ½ page) summary of your story. Include a title page, follow academic writing conventions and write in a professional tone, and save as a word document or .pdf file.
Data Note: Be careful about the “Person’s Weight” variable. This does not mean “how much this person weighs” it means “how much weight to assign this person’s answers.” If you’re curious (not required) you can read about statistical weighting here: http://www.applied-survey-methods.com/weight.html (Links to an external site.).
Grade Note: Be sure to “check yourself” against the rubric below. Did you compare/contrast Excel vs. Tableau?
Rubric (40 points total):