A SNAP take on �Height and Weight

A data story on exploring if there is a relationship between height, weight, and food assistance programs.

Introduction

People come in all shapes and sizes. Think about how tall you are and how tall you are relative to your family, friends, and teachers. Using data collected from people across the country, we can look at how tall people are and how much they weigh. We’re going to look at the height and weight of people in every state of the country.

Grade Band I

Introduction

Across the United States, millions of families and children who do not have enough to eat. Using data from different sources, we can look at how many people receive benefits from two major government programs: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the National School Lunch Program. We can also look at how many people receive benefits from those programs compares with rates of poverty and obesity, as well as characteristics of each state like age and race.

Grade Bands II and III

Time to look at the data!

Data Question - Notice

What do you notice about the data? Start by saying, “I notice that…”

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Learning Goal: For all Grade Bands

Data Question - Wonder

What do you wonder about the data? Start by saying, “I wonder if…”, “I wonder why…”, or “I wonder how…”

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Learning Goal: For all Grade Bands

Data Question

• Which state has the most people?
• Which state has the tallest people?
• Which state has the shortest people?
• In which state do people weigh the most?
• Which state has an average weight of 178 pounds?
• Is the average height in your state higher than the nation as a whole?

Grade Band I

Data Question

• Which state has the most people receiving benefits from SNAP?
• Which state has the fewest number of people receiving benefits from SNAP?
• Which states are the tallest and shortest, on average?
• How many states have poverty rates that are at or below 10%?
• What is the average number of kids participating in the National School Lunch Program in Northeastern states?

Grade Band II

Data Question

• Are average height and weight correlated?
• Are the number of people participating in SNAP and NSLP correlated?
• Why might this relationship be weak or strong?
• Is the total number of SNAP participants completely representative of a state.

Grade Band III

Data Collection

Which notice and wonder statements can we answer?

• Insert your notice and wonder statements

Learning Goal: For all Grade Bands

Data Collection

Which notice and wonder statements can we not answer?

• Insert your notice and wonder statements

Learning Goal: For all Grade Bands

Data Collection

What we can answer:

• Do you think you could tell someone your exact height?
• Do you think you could tell someone your exact weight?

Grade Band I

Data Collection

What we cannot answer:

• Can we find the exact tallest and shortest person in each state?
• Can we find the exact heaviest and lightest person in each state?

Grade Band I

Data Collection

What we can answer:

• Do you think it’s easier to count the number of children receiving lunches in the NSLP program or the number of lunches?
• Do you think people are more or less likely to answer some of the questions in the data more accurate?

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Grade Band II

Data Collection

What we cannot answer:

• How might self-reported height, weight, and obesity data be inaccurate?
• Who might not be counted in the total population?

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Grade Band II

Data Collection

What we can answer:

• Why is the poverty rate an imperfect measure of poverty?
• What are some things to consider with the data about race?

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Grade Band III

Data Collection

What we cannot answer:

• Do you think people consistently characterize their race in the data?
• The unemployment rate only captures people who are not working and are looking for work; it does not include people who have decided not to look for work at all. How might this affect your interpretation of unemployment rate data?

Grade Band III

Data Analysis

Data are often “messy,” such as missing values and in the wrong units (e.g., feet vs. inches).

Time to look at a “messy” version of the data and identify what parts of the data are messy!

Learning Goal: For all Grade Bands

Data Analysis

Insert the selected visualization.

Grade Bands I and II

Data Analysis

Time to analyze the data! Follow these steps:

1. Sort, filter, and aggregate the data.
2. Report how you altered the data.
3. Compare states above and below the national average.

Grade Band III

Data Visualization

Grade Band I

Data Visualization

Grade Band I

Data Visualization

Grade Band I

Data Visualization

Grade Band I

Data Visualization

Grade Band II

Data Visualization

Grade Band II

Data Visualization

Grade Band II

Data Visualization

Grade Band II

Data Visualization

Grade Band III

Data Visualization

Grade Band III

Data Visualization

Grade Band III

Data Equity - Who is represented �in the data?

• Are you represented in the data?
• Are you family members represented in the data?
• Are your friends represented in the data?
• Are people in your community represented in the data?
• Do the data reflect your experiences?

For all Grade Bands

Data Ethics - How should we �report the data?

Suppose we published our data analysis and data visualization.

• What would the title be?
• What information, key concepts, and takeaways would be included in the article?

For all Grade Bands

Data Ethics - How should we �report the data?

Now, to evaluate our answers from the previous questions.

• What conclusions would someone make from the title alone?
• Does the content of the article match the title?
• Does the article credit who collected, analyzed, and/or visualized the data?
• Would it be important to know the answer to the previous question? Why or why not?

For all Grade Bands

Data Privacy - Are we telling the �right data story?

• Suppose the data were collected at the state region level (Northwest, West, Southwest, Mid-West, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast). Would the answer to the data question change? Why or why not?
• Suppose the data were reported at the city level. Would the answer to the data question change? Why or why not?

For all Grade Bands

Data Privacy - Are we telling the �right data story?

• If your information was part of the data, would you be more comfortable with the data being reported at the state region level or city level? Why or why not?
• At what geographic level would answer the data question while protecting your personal information?

For all Grade Bands