{"id":483,"date":"2019-01-30T17:58:51","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T17:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/locallinkages.org\/?page_id=483"},"modified":"2019-06-26T13:53:02","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T17:53:02","slug":"3-7-analyzing-numbers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/course\/module-3\/3-7-analyzing-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"3.7 Analyzing Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>Estimated time to complete this section: 13 minutes<\/h6>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We might not immediately consider numerical data when researching local history. Yet, family inventories, census records, tax assessments, membership rosters, social surveys, mortality and disease data, and city directories that might reside in library collections have the capability to both fill gaps and add new perspectives to community narratives. The process of analyzing numbers requires that we make three determinations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How reliable are these numbers?<\/li>\n<li>Which questions can we ask of the numbers available to us?<\/li>\n<li>Which are the best ways to organize and read the numbers to answer our questions?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>3.7 Video<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/teachinghistory.org\/best-practices\/examples-of-historical-thinking\/25206\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1804 Inventory<\/a> (Total Video Time: 10:59; video transcripts on page)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>How reliable are the numbers?<\/td>\n<td>Determining the reliability of numbers is essential. It\u2019s common to assume that numbers are objective, but as with any other source, they were collected within and are a reflection of a specific context. It is essential to ask questions about the operating assumptions and biases grounding the collection and dissemination of these numbers, and to account for them throughout your work.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When was this data collected?<\/li>\n<li>How was this data collected?\n<ul>\n<li>What alternate methods for data collection might have been used?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Who collected this data?\n<ul>\n<li>What was their process of collection?<\/li>\n<li>What forms of data were not collected? Why?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>What was the purpose of this data collection?<\/li>\n<li>What other sources might be available to assist in fully understanding this data?\n<ul>\n<li>and\/or the process by which this data was collected?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>What questions can we ask of these numbers?<\/td>\n<td>Once you have determined the reliability of the numbers, you can review them to consider the kinds of historical questions they can (and cannot) help you answer. <em>Note-the following questions are examples<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How many people have lived here over time?<\/li>\n<li>How have the number of homes shifted across a geographic area<\/li>\n<li>How do we account for transient workers in the local area who might be missing from a census record?<\/li>\n<li>What might be the relationship between the local population and the local climate?<\/li>\n<li>What might be the relationship between the membership of a place of worship and the community surrounding it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Which are the best ways to organize and read the numbers to answer our questions?<\/td>\n<td>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Example: using census records to track the number of people living in a location over time.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Organizing this data as a table will allow for easier identification of patterns.<\/li>\n<li>The same data from the table can also be placed in a graph, which may further clarify the patterns identified first via the table.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you identify patterns and visualize the numbers, remember the operating assumptions and biases that informed the initial collection and dissemination of these numbers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How might the purpose and process of collecting these numbers impact the patterns you are identifying?<\/li>\n<li>How will you note this impact?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>adapted from Gary Kornblith, &#8220;Making Sense of Numbers,&#8221; History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web,http:\/\/historymatters.gmu.edu\/mse\/numbers\/, July 2002.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/locallinkages.org\/course\/module-3\/3-6-analyzing-music\/\">Previous Section<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/locallinkages.org\/course\/module-3\/3-8-analyzing-oral-histories\/\">Next Section<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Estimated time to complete this section: 13 minutes &nbsp; We might not immediately consider numerical data when researching local history. Yet, family inventories, census records, tax assessments, membership rosters, social surveys, mortality and disease data, and city directories that might reside in library collections have the capability to both fill gaps and add new perspectives [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":81,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page-sidebar-left.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1382,"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/483\/revisions\/1382"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/locallinkages.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}