Hello readers! SimplyAnalytics will be exhibiting at the Virtual ALA Annual Conference this year on June 23-26. Be sure to drop by our booth, and click the banner image to video chat with us! We’ll be available during the hours below providing demos and answering any questions you may have about SimplyAnalytics.
Also, don’t forget to click on the Swag-a-palooza link for your chance to win some socks or a $250 Amazon Gift Card!
Hello readers! We hope you are doing well and staying safe. Today we are excited to introduce the Simmons NCS crosstabs functionality! This is a feature we’ve been working on for a while, and we know many of you out there have requested it. The wait is officially over, and this data/feature is now available for trial or purchase right now. Let’s dig into it.
What is a crosstab?
A crosstab is a table showing the relationship between two or more data variables. This is extremely useful in identifying correlations, patterns or trends when working with large datasets.
What exactly does that mean?
This means you can instantly look up to see if there is any relationship between age groups and social media patterns. Or trends between income and the types of sports people watch on TV, or the types of vehicles owned relative to exercise habits. Because we use the Simmons NCS data, there are literally tens of thousands of demographic and consumer behavior variables you can research!
Why should I be excited?
Traditionally, doing this type of analysis is tedious and requires users to be well versed in advanced data analytics platforms that require a lot of time and effort to learn. In SimplyAnalytics, however, we’ve developed this feature to enable all users to run crosstabs in a few mouse clicks!
Show me!
In SimplyAnalytics, click on New View > Create under the crosstabs report. This opens the Edit View screen.By default, the USA will be selected as the location since Simmons NCS data is only available at the national level.
Hello readers! We hope you are doing well, and thank you for your continued support of SimplyAnalytics. We are excited to announce that scatterplots are officially live! Scatter plots are a great way to visualize the relationship between two different data variables, and we know you will enjoy them as much as we do.
Let’s take an in-depth look at this new feature.
What is a scatter plot?
A scatter plot is a graphical representation where the values of two data variables are plotted along the x and y axis. Each dot represents both the x and y values for a single location, such as a ZIP Code or county.
Why use a scatter plot?
Scatter plots enable users to identify correlations between two different variables. Let’s take a look at an example below using SimplyAnalytics where we’ll use the % of Adults (25+) with a college degree and Median Household Income to see if there’s a correlation between the variables for Counties in the USA.
We find ourselves in the middle of an unprecedented crisis the likes of which most of us have never experienced before, and hopefully won’t have to experience again. There is the occasional moment that makes us smile in the middle of it all (like when people are buying up all the fluffy yellow baby chicks out there – but please, don’t cuddle your feathered friends), but overall the situation is scary and it’s probably safe to say all of us are feeling anxious about the near and distant future alike. The reason we’re so concerned is not just because of the scale of this outbreak and the impact it’s having on individual people, society, and the economy, but also due to uncertainty and confusion. We don’t yet know much about this novel virus, and that’s why everyone is trying to collect and share as much information as possible. To that end, we want to provide some insight into the spread and severity of the Coronavirus using health and demographic data.
Aside from actual virus spread data, we can look at various factors that might indicate elevated risk of developing severe illness if and when the virus spreads in an area, i.e. who will need extra help recovering from COVID-19, the lung disease caused by the Coronavirus. These risk factors are most reliably described by national and international health organizations such as the CDC, the WHO, and the ECDC. And although these sources do emphasize that we don’t yet know for sure what sort of factors actually affect our susceptibility to the virus and severe progressions (for example, we do see young, healthy people becoming very ill), they provide what amounts to their current best estimate.
As COVID-19 spreads across the United States researchers need access to the latest data visualization and analytics tools. As a result, the SimplyAnalytics team just added COVID-19 data at the national, state, and county levels to SimplyAnalytics. The data is from USAFacts.org and we update it daily with the latest numbers.
The following data variables are now available in SimplyAnalytics:
Confirmed COVID-19 Cases by date
Prevalence of confirmed COVID-19 cases (per 100,000 individuals) by date
Deaths from COVID-19 by date
Prevalence of deaths from COVID-19 (per 100,000 individuals) by date
You can find the COVID-19 data in SimplyAnalytics in two places:
[recommended] Go to the Data tab, click on the “Data Folder” view (located just below the data search box), then scroll to the bottom of the list of data folders, or
Go to the Data tab, click on the Health category icon, then check the box next to COVID-19 in the list of health sub-categories
This data can be combined with our demographic and health data variables to identify areas with vulnerable residents, such as the elderly, people with respiratory illnesses, and smokers.
Here are the best ways to view this data in SimplyAnalytics:
Map View: map the COVID-19 data by County or State
Ranking View: rank all counties in the United States to identify areas with the highest counts or rates of COVID-19
Comparison Table View: add your counties and states and any COVID-19 variables to this report to compare rates over time
Related Data Table View: add one variable from a folder to this view and all of the rest will be added automatically
Here are two examples showing the data being used in SimplyAnalytics, a map and a ranking (click to enlarge):
Come meet the SimplyAnalytics team at the 15th annual Electronic Resources and Libraries conference, held at the AT&T Hotel & Conference Center in Austin, TX. We will be exhibiting at Table 707 during the following exhibit hall hours.
Stop by to say hello and get a quick demo of SimplyAnalytics!
SimplyAnalytics will be exhibiting at the PLA Conference, held this year at the Music City Center in Nashville, TN on February 26 – 28. Visit the team at Booth 1444 with your questions, feedback, and to learn more about SimplyAnalytics. We look forward to seeing you then!
Happy New Year! SimplyAnalytics will be exhibiting at the ALA Midwinter meeting, held this year at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on January 24th-27th. If you attend, please stop by Booth 1754 with your questions and feedback. We look forward to seeing you there!
Exhibit Hall Hours
Friday, January 24 – Opening Reception on the Exhibit Floor – 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Saturday, January 25 – 9:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday, January 26 – 9:00am – 5:00pm
Monday, January 27- Exhibits Closing Events – 9:00am – 2:00pm
Hi everybody! We’re back this week with another question from our Help Desk. This time featuring SimplyAnalytics Canada. Let’s get started!
Question: How can I analyze all of the PRIZM5 segments for my target area so I can identify the most common segment?
Note: For those unfamiliar with the PRIZM data, this dataset is a marketing segmentation system where households are grouped into one of 68 unique segments based on: demographics, lifestyles, consumer behaviour and settlement patterns in Canada. These segments help you understand what customers are buying, doing and thinking. This is ideal for target marketing, trade area analysis, merchandising and media planning.
Please give us an email if you would like a free trial to the PRIZM data – it is available for both SimplyAnalytics USA and SimplyAnalytics Canada.
Answer: The quickest and easiest way to analyze many similar variables at once is to utilize the Related Data Table. The Related Data Table automatically adds in any similar variables to your chosen one. In this example, we’ll add one PRIZM segment, and the report will add all of them in. This can be used with any variable or dataset – give it a try!
Here’s how:
1.) Click on New View towards the top right, then create under Related Data Table
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 out to us at: support@simplyanalytics.com – let’s get started!
Question: How do I search for only the largest businesses in my area?
Answer: The Advanced Business search in SimplyAnalytics enables users to run more advanced business queries. This example requires setting up a query to only show businesses that have more than 250 employees.
Note: To do this search, users will need access to the Premium D&B business file which allows you to search by additional fields of data
1. In your Businesses View, select the Businesses block towards the top-left.
2. Click on Use Advanced Search
3. Set the first dropdown in the panel to # of local employees
