Data Analysis for
Community Organizations

This text was written for people seeking to lead community organizations.  In some ways, it is a guidebook for a crash course in statistics for people working in urban, non-profit environments. The course is taught in Los Angeles, so the examples are largely from Southern California.

The language is purposefully informal and statistical jargon is avoided as much as is possible. It is not a book for statisticians. It fails, purposefully, to fully address many of the footnotes and caveats that mark rigorous statistical testing. Instead, this text paints with broad strokes to bring readers up-to-speed on the basics of data analysis.

People who read this text and complete the exercises should be able to speak with consultants, grant agents, the media, and the public about their community using terminology that describes both the community and the dynamics that create conditions affecting urban communities.

After reading the text and completing the accompanying assignments, you should know how to do some basic data analysis on real-world data. More importantly, should know “what to ask for” if you need outside help with your data analysis.

The text is divided into four parts:

1. Gathering and processing quantitative data about urban environments.

2. Measuring and describing aspects of urban communities using basic statistics.

3. Characterizing differences, needs, and changes in urban communities.

4. Measuring the level of association among urban characteristics as well as cause-and-effect.