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CountyTrends Operations The CountyTrends software and database enables you to analyze county demographic composition and trends in several ways. This section provides information on operation and use of CountyTrends. Features and Operation. The main operations are controlled by options in the control panel at the left side of the screen. These operations are described in detail below. In the following sample display, the user selects preferences by clicking on desired REG1 and REG2 (Race-Ethnicity-Gender) categories, the display format (population values or percentage values), and then dbl-clicks the county of interest. The display immediately appears in the grid and written to an Excel file. Click on the following graphic for a larger view (and then press F11 key). Maricopa County, AZ Hispanic population trends by age -- each cell as percent of total population 
Data Presentation and Interpreting the Data Display. In the above example, the REG1 is set to H_M (Hispanic Male) and REG2 is set to H_F (Hispanic Female). Data displayed in the grid cells are the sum of the REG1 and REG2 race-ethnic-gender selections. If you only wanted to view Hispanic Females, you would select H_F for REG1 and None (at top of list) for REG2. The selected options are displayed in the status bar below the grid display. In the data display shown above, the time series is arrayed from left to right starting in 2000 with columns continuing to 2005. Interpreting the data, the data value for "Total" (referring to the total for the selected REG combination) and "2000" is 26.00. This says that 33.14 percent of the total population were Hispanic as of July 1, 2000. Proceeding to the right, the 2005 value shows that 29.03 percent of the total population were Hispanic as of July 1, 2005. Components of Population Change. Every grid and spreadsheet display contains a summary section for the total population components of population change. Even though you may select a subset of the total population, such as Hispanic, to view and as displayed in the upper section of the grid, the components of population change is always for the total population. This way it is easy to see what a proportion or value of a population group might be in terms of the total population. The components of change section provides insights on how the total population is changing with respect to the "population identity" equation: P[t] = P[t-1] + B[t] - D[t] + M[t] Whereas the population values are as of July 1 each year, the births, deaths, and migration are for the calendar year. 
Control Panel Operations. The control panel is shown at the right.
The triggering operation to display data for a county or a set of counties is either 1) dbl-clicking a county listed in the
county listbox or 2) clicking the Go button when using making county selections using a file list.
Before using a triggering operation, make settings using the upper three listboxes. Select the REG1 and REG2 race-ethnic gender combinations. Items highlighted in blue are the selections in use. Select the type of view/format with the third listbox. If you want to view population values, click on Series: Population. If you want to view the population data as a percent of total population, click on Series: Pct of TotPop. Select a county to view. If you want to view the data for only one county, dbl-click that county item in the lower county listbox. The view displays and the Excel file is written (see below). The county listbox lists all 3,141 counties in the U.S. Each line or row in the listbox contains the 5-character state and county FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code followed by the county name. As an example, the FIPS code for Maricopa County, AZ is 04013 (state FIPS code 04 and county FIPS code 013). You can scroll to find the county of interest or use the Find operation. To use Find, key in name of the county in the edit box to the left of the Find button, spelling it (or a part of it) exactly in upper and lower (case sensitive) text and then click the Find button. Selecting Multiple Counties. There are two ways to select more than one county. The first method is to click on one county in the county selection box then, holding the Ctrl down, click on additional counties to be requested -- finally dbl-clicking the final file to be selected. When multiple counties are selected, the display panel will shown the summary (aggregate) values for all counties selected. At the same time, Excel spreadsheets are written to disk for each county and the summary (aggregate). The Excel spreadsheet naming conventions are described in a later section. The list of counties used to prepare a summary display is presented in each grid summary display and spreadsheet in the area below the the demographic data. The second method used to display data for a group of counties is to use a file containing the state+county FIPS codes. To use this option, requires creating a text file (using for example the Windows notepad). This file contains a record for each county being selected in the group with the 5-character state+county FIPS code for the county located in characters 1 through 5. With the county group selection file created, make sure that the proper file name appears in the edit box below the label Select by county list file. Finally, click Go to start the process. Select by Metro. The third method to select counties is to click on a selected MSA in the dropdown box Select by Metro. Excel Output. CountyTrends grid displays are automatically written to an Excel file for further use. The files are placed in the directory of execution (normally c:\countytrends) and named based on the query performed. For example, the Excel file written based on the Maricopa County display (presented earlier) is named in the manner: f_1_04013 Maricopa _TOT_M_TOT_F.xls Breaking the file name down, "f_" always leads the name. This makes it easier to keep all files together, identify them, and systematically delete them when no longer wanted. The next character is a 1 for the population display and a 2 for the percent display. Next is the state and county FIPS code, followed by the county name, followed by the subject matter item(s) aggregated for the analysis. The Excel file showing percentages of Hispanic population by cell for Harris County, TX is named as follows: f_2_48201 Harris _H_M_H_F.xls Area summary spreadsheets. A spreadsheet is also generated for the summary (aggregate). If Series: Population is in operation, the file is named summary.xls. If Series: Pct of TotPop is in operation, the file is named summary1.xls. These files are overwritten in subsequent county grouping displays. |
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