Geography 111
Human Geography
EXERCISE #3 INSTRUCTION SHEET
WHO ARE WE ?
General Description and Objectives
In this exercise you will be examining the racial, ethnic and nationality composition of your hometown County in relation to the make up of your home state and the United States. There are a few main goals:
1. Introduce, or further acquaint, you with using census data online.
2. Understand racial and ethnic compositions at a variety of scales, and how they compare and contrast.
3. Learn how the Location Quotient is used to measure relative concentration.
What you will need
1.
Computer hooked up to the Internet; the fastest links are usually on campus.
2.
The worksheet below (READ through it carefully before you begin !!!!!!)
3.
A calculator
Getting your data
Accessing the data you will need is simple if you follow these instructions.
Step 1 : Go to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American FactFinder website at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet?_lang=en&_classic=
Copy and paste this into the Address line of your browser, and hit Return. Bookmark this page.
Step 2
: In the rectangular box that is titled “Basic Facts” where it says “Show Me” click on the right arrow and scroll down to Census 2000 Quick Tables titled "General Characteristics: Population and Housing" or
"Social Characteristics: Education, Ancestry, Language and More," depending on whether you are working on Part A or B on the attached worksheet.
Step 3 : Directly underneath this line there is a line that says “For.” Click on the right arrow and change to
“county” “state” or “United States” depending upon the scale you need.
Step 4
: If you hit “County” underneath that line it will ask you for a state. Select your state.
Step 5
: When the page returns, you must select your county to the right of the “State” box, Then hit “GO.”
Step 6 : On the table, scroll down to find the categories you need on Race, Hispanic origin, or Ancestry.
This is how you get to your data set. Once you get in you should try to familiarize yourself with navigating around.
In particular, you will need to change scales: County to State to United States.
Final Product
All you need to do is turn in the completed worksheet (only the 2nd and 3rd pages of this document). Please type the information in and print it out. SET YOUR MARGINS AT 0.5 INCHES FOR THE RIGHT AND LEFT
MARGIN. STAPLE YOUR TWO PAGES TOGETHER . Good luck and have some fun with this !

Your Name:
Your County and State:
EXERCISE #3 PAGE 1
Circle section: 001 or 005
A. RELATIVE RACIAL COMPOSITION
Find the following numbers using the online census data described in your directions. Go to the “General
Characteristics: Population and Housing” table. Use the categories “ One Race” and “ Hispanic or Latino (of any race) .” In Part A. do not use the subgroup categories (Mexican, Chinese, Two Races, etc .)
Total
Population
Total
White
Percent
White
Total
Black
Percent
Black
Total
Hispanic
Percent
Hispanic
Total
Asian
Percent
Asian
Your
County
Your State
United
States
County and State Location Quotient: Divide Percent (Black, Hispanic, and Asian) at county level and state level by percent (Black, Hispanic, and Asian) at United States level. A Location Quotient of 1 means that your county or state has the exact make-up as the U.S. A number more than 1 means an over-concentration and a number less than 1 means an under-concentration. Keep that in mind as you look at the results.
EXAMPLE: If U.S. Blacks are 12.3% and Joseph County Blacks are 3% , then the County LQ of 3 / 12.3 = 0.24
LQ (Blacks) County = _________________ State = _________________
LQ (Hispanics) County = ________________ State = __________________
LQ (Asian) County = ________________ State = __________________
B. ANCESTRY: Three parts and you must answer part 1 first!!
1.
Think about your hometown in terms of the major ethnic groups who settled there, past or .present—such as
Germans, Norwegians, Hmong, Somalis (Subsaharan Africans), and others. Read the landscape of your hometown to see ethnic (not just racial) influences of all the groups you can. What are some visible or nonmaterial cultural clues in your hometown that might provide about those people (i.e. lutefisk dinners, last
Answer names in the phone book, churches, building designs, signs, the types of food you find, accents, common phrases or saying, etc.) Think about it and be creative before you start writing—anything may have an ethnic origin! Ask your family and friends back home. (Answer below)

EXERCISE #3 PAGE 2
Your Name:
Your County and State:
Your Section #:
2.
Find the following numbers using the online census data described in your directions. Go to the “Social
Characteristics: Education, Ancestry, Language, and More” table. Using the category titled Ancestry (Single or
Multiple) , you will be determining the top five ancestries reported in the UNITED STATES (This includes the
“Other Ancestries” and “U.S. Americans” groups.) You will then go back to the table to determine the top five ancestries in your HOME COUNTY . You will then determine the degree of concentration of those particular groups relative to the U.S., using the Location Quotient (much as you did earlier). You ARE NOT comparing #1 in the U.S. to #1 in your county (unless they are the same ethnic group). You ARE comparing the county percentage of a group with the U.S. percentage of the same group. The goal is to find out whether your county has a higher or lower percentage of the group than the U.S. as a whole. If a Top-5 group in your county is not in the Top-5 U.S. list, then go back to the entire U.S. list to find them, to calculate the LQ in the fifth column.
U.S. Most Cited
Ancestries
1.
2.
3.
4.
Percent of Total
U.S. Population
Your County's Most Cited
Ancestries
1.
2.
3.
4.
Percent of Total
County Population
County LQ compared to U.S.
5. 5.
3.
How do your observations in B1 match up with the data in B2 and in what ways? Compare your predictions of your home county with the statistics. Be detailed.
Answer
STAPLE YOUR TWO PAGES TOGETHER—I do not have a stapler for you .