Using SimplyMap to Identify Relationships Between Variables
Inspired by a recent help desk ticket, we wanted to discuss how users may utilize SimplyMap to identify relationships between unique variables. For example, does having a college degree significantly impact the median income of areas? And how does median income effect spending on eating out? Let’s take a look at ZIP Codes within the state of North Carolina.
To quickly analyze a larger area by its smaller geographies, a Location Analysis Report is ideal.
Click on New Tabular Report > Location Analysis:
Choose the state of North Carolina, and navigate to the variables you would like to see compared and analyzed. In this example, we’ll use:
Household Inc, Median
% Education, College, Master's or Doctorate Degree, 2015
% Education, High School
Food away from home (Household Average)
# Households (HHs)
Once you’ve selected your variables, close out the Variables Panel and your report will be created. Be sure to select ZIP Codes from the Analyze Data By option that appears towards the top, shown below.
The last step is to choose a variable (column header) and Sort Descending. For example, if you sort descending for Median HH Income, you will get a ranked list (from high to low) of income by Zip Code. Scan the other columns to get a sense of education levels in these locations, and how much they tend to spend eating out.
Sort Descending Income Results:
Conclusion: The results yield that higher median income areas tends to also have a higher percentage of residents who have at least a college degree. The money spent eating out was somewhat surprising as results did not vary significantly in lower median income areas (although it did go down and especially in the very low income areas).
Note: You may also want to look at # Households or Population Totals in these areas as the averages and percentages would be impacted by those figures.
These results seem to verify a relationship that’s already well known and somewhat intuitive, however, with more than 60,000 variables in SimplyMap you could study relationships between Median Income and Whiskey Drinking, or Pet Ownership, or Yoga Participation, Transportation to work... the possibilities are endless. We’ll be sure to revisit this same topic in the near future!
More from SimplyAnalytics
Posted on Aug 02, 2016 by Admin
Did you know that you can use SimplyMap to identify which make and model of vehicle is most prevalent within any location in the United States? In this week’s SimplyMap report, we’ll take...
Posted on May 25, 2010 by Admin
We will be exhibiting at the 2010 SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO June 13-15 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA. Join us at booth 1537 - bring your quest...
Posted on Mar 02, 2009 by Admin
ACRL's 14th National Conference will be held at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center in downtown Seattle, March 12-15, 2009. Every other year, ACRL offers its premier profe...
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 by Admin
Men's Health magazine has published a ranked list to help readers find the cities where Americans are the saddest and where they are living with big smiles on their faces. As they note, "...
Posted on Nov 19, 2019 by Admin
Hello readers! Today we are bringing you a new blog entry inspired by a recent Help Desk question. If you ever have any questions about SimplyAnalytics, please do not hesitate to reach ou...
Posted on Feb 24, 2023 by Admin
We are excited to attend SCELCapalooza 2023, a three-day conference for academic and research librarians in Southern California. The Vendor Day showcase will take place on March 1st, 2023...
Posted on Aug 27, 2018 by Admin
Welcome readers! This week we are excited to feature our newest view in SimplyAnalytics, the Time Series Table.What is it?The Time Series Table allows you to quickly pull all years availa...
Posted on Apr 23, 2018 by Admin
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s blog. This week we will discuss how to create and utilize filters for your research. Why Use a Filter? Filters are a great way to identify target...
Posted on Oct 27, 2017 by Admin
Welcome to our first ever SimplyAnalytics blog! Every Friday we’ll post a write up on a specific feature or highlight some interesting data in SimplyAnalytics. The goal of these posts is ...
Posted on Dec 16, 2015 by Admin
Visit the SimplyMap team at the ALA Midwinter Meeting 2016 in Boston. We will be at booth #1913 offering product demonstrations, tips & tricks, and of course Ghirardelli Chocolate! Ex...



