Sunday, July 2, 2017

Illinois Youth Survey

The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) has funded the administration of the Illinois Youth Survey (IYS) biennially since 1990.  The IYS is a self-report survey administered in school settings and is designed to gather information about a variety of health and social indicators including substance use patterns and attitudes of Illinois youth.
The administration of the IYS has two major goals, the first of which is to supply local data to schools and school districts throughout Illinois.  During state-funded survey years (e.g., 2010, 2012, etc), the survey is available to all eligible public and private schools in the state at no cost.  Each participating school is eligible to receive a report specific to their own students' responses.  These local reports provide critical information to school administrators, prevention professionals, and community members as they work to address substance abuse issues in their communities. 
The second goal of administering the IYS is to provide a scientific estimate of health and social indicators for the state of Illinois.  The scientific estimate is based on drawing a random sample to represent the state population of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in Illinois public schools.


You can search the results by county or as a whole.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Qualitative Study of American Culture

Here is a set of responses from the NY Times feature called Storywall.  They profile different people and ask them what being American means to them.  Click on the link below and conduct a qualitative study of what it means to be American.  What patterns emerge?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/storywall/hyphen-nation


This can be compared to the findings in this article about what Americans think it means to be an American.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/upshot/the-great-political-divide-over-american-identity.html

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Matthew Desmond's Evicted Data



The data from Princeton University:
Eviction Lab
The Eviction Lab at Princeton University has built the first nationwide database of evictions. Find out how many evictions happen in your community. Create custom maps, charts, and reports. Share facts with your neighbors and elected officials.


Evicted Book website


Evicted Teacher's Guide


Matthew Desmond's excerpt in the New Yorker.

NY Times review from Barbara Ehrenreich.

Matthew Desmond on NPR's Here and Now.