Locating and Accessing Secondary Data

This assignment is designed for you to learn how to locate and access secondary data--statistical information and machine-readable data--in via conventional published forms and via the Internet. Below are a series of questions about information that you are to locate, access, and present, with proper citation. All sources should be cited according to American Psychological Association format for citing material retrieved from the WWW.

1. What percentage of children under the age of 18 were living in poverty in 2003?

Answer: 17.6 percent.

Source: DeNavas-Walt, C.; Proctor, B.D., & Mills, R. J.. (2004). U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P60-226, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, Table A. Retrieved January 24, 2005 from http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p60-226.pdf.

2. What percentage of Hispanics, 25-29 years old, were not high school graduates in March 2003?

3. How many public school districts in the United States in 2002-03 enrolled 25,000 students or more?

4. What is the projected percentage change in the total number of students enrolled in California’s community colleges between 2006 and 2015?

5. What was the total public school enrollment in California in 2005-06?

6. What percentage of high school seniors from Dos Pueblos High School in 2002-03 completed all the high school courses required for UC and CSU admission?

7. Locate the study: School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2000, via the ICPSR website.

a. Print a copy of the study summary.

b. When was the data collected?

c. What is the correct bibliographic citation for the dataset?

d. Try downloading one of the available files.