Data visualization in Atlanta's neighborhood indicators partnerships

Public Policy Research Quantitative Inquiry

Summary Problem Set #3

the Urban Institute's National Neighbourhoods Indicators Partnership

The two partners of the National Neighbourhoods Indicators Partnership chosen for the assessment here are: Atlanta Regional Commission and Neighbourhood Nexus. Both of these are situated in Atlanta and work towards building better and more cooperative communities.

After visiting the web domains of both these partners, there are some clear similarities and dissimilarities that one can see. Before we detail these aspects, it is important to note here that both these organizations seem to have taken a different approach to represent them in the online world. We will use the overall viewpoints presented by Tufte (2001) and Miller (2008) to analyze the representation of data and the organization that these two chose to represent them in the online world.

According to Tufte (2001), the visual graphics (in this case the graphics of the community indicators) are usually completed for the attainment of certain significant aspects inclusive of: representation of the data in a pictorial and easy to decipher format; enticing the reader's attention to the information rather than the design; present large amounts of data in a concise format; and serve a specific aim amongst others. Miller (2008) asserts that the representation and use of data graphs mainly depends on the users need and demands. He claims that all data graphs are designed for the better understanding of the audiences and hence have to be designed keeping in mind their overall capabilities and needs.

Keeping these aforementioned aspects in mind, when analyzing the representation of Atlanta Regional Commission, it is safe to day that they have a very structured and delegated format through which they guide the viewer to a specific domain without having much navigational issues. Furthermore, the division of each segment (e.g. environment, land use, local government, resources, workforce, etc.) into separate sections and further dividing the relevant information with minimal texts and links to detailed date graphics and presentations on PDF files allows the user to attain the details of exactly what they want without causing any navigational issues. The overall presentation of graphics and community indicators is very detailed and yet specific to help the users attain the most information in the least amount of time. This representation of all data sets and files with minimum initial texts on the web portals is a very effective format for the website as the user can get exactly what they want in one or links to the files and not have to filter out relevant information from one file or one link. The improvement for this particular approach could be to perhaps make the overall representation a little more vibrant and appealing to the user. Right now, the data graphics fulfil the aim to draw the focus of the user to the information, asserted by Tufte (2001) but in doing so have somewhat ignored the appropriate and dynamic presentation of data graphs that elevates the overall appeal of the data graphs without boring the user or making the representation dry. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the structure of the organization, the Atlanta Regional Commission web portal does offer a complete and inclusive representation of the community indicators with easy navigational links.

For Neighbourhood Nexus, the approach is somewhat less specific. They have primarily limited their community indicators to health, education and housing. They have thus divided the representation of these indicators into two main sections: one, the county profiles and two, the data centre. The former gives detailed accounts of the three indicators in the form of texts, reports, articles etc. The latter offers link to the data graphics of the three indicators and all other relevant aspects like population, mortgage, bank loan structures, etc. The most effective approach for this method is that the users who are looking for detailed texts only will not have to filter out data graphs from the files that they access and those users who want the relevant data graphs can download those directly without irrelevant textual details of what the graphs represent and how they came about to do so. Hence, this structure practically supports the approach taken by Miller (2008) to present data graphs to a targeted audience keeping in minds their basic demands. On the other hand, the one aspect that can be improved here is perhaps the expanse of these texts and data graphs. This simply means that they are focused on three primary community indicators and all relevant data sets that apply to these indicators; they can however expand these to include other aspects like role of the local government, employee/salary breakdowns, vocational opportunities, etc. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the structure of the organization, the Neighbourhood Nexus web portal also offers a complete and inclusive representation of the community indicators with easy navigational links.

Question 2: Community Indicators

The community indicator that I have chosen to focus on here is the healthcare structure. The developed countries have given a significant importance to the service sector of the country. With every passing day the segment of employment is growing and increasing very rapidly. This ultimately gives the members of the society a life with high quality and setting high standards for the members to a live a good life. Service sector contributes as a major portion of the country and without it other sectors cannot also develop. It also faces competition with global world. The main point of this competition is to bring free circulation of the services and products. Getting confidence of the consumers is an essential part and while facing competition they need to provide the best services in order to sustain in the market. The quality of the services being provided is hence the main difference between numerous community organizations and partners and has to be measured; the quality of the service after measurement is then chosen to analyze and include in the data graphs. There are various methods to measure the service quality including statistical methods, benchmarking, servperf and SERVQUAL amongst others (Buyukozkan, 2011).

a) Describe two factors that should be considered when assessing the reliability of the measure.

The factor which distinguishes the similar products and services is the service quality. Hence, service quality is the first factor that has to be considered when focusing on the reliability of the measure of healthcare. It differentiates it from other product and services. So, the companies need to focus on the quality of service they are providing in order to be different and competitive in the market. The service quality has gathered a lot of significance in today's era. However, the service quality of healthcare sector may vary as the health of human may be fluctuating. The health of the individuals is very important and that is why healthcare department is given so much importance. It is also expected that services provided by healthcare should be meeting the expectations of the patients. This sector is taken for implementation in Turkey as it is a growing country with increasing population. The major purpose of this study is to find out the factors which provide quality service by the healthcare sector and then those factors are considered to measure and evaluate the performance of the home healthcare staff (Buyukozkan, 2011).

The second important factor to gauge the reliability of the measure is the abilities and courteous attitude of service providing staff and their competence to send some trustworthy message and confidence. This attitude cannot be created without ensuring job satisfaction and employee retention. For healthcare workers the rate of turnover is very high and it's even further more for healthcare house employees. It is reported by Stonerock (1997) that the turnover is at about 75% between healthcare employees in few parts of country and it is also found that labor prefer other such jobs more enthusiastically rather than health care jobs. That's why most of healthcare centers worry about holding the workforce and are working for its recovery and are also trying to provide more healthy, disagreeable, and supportive work climate so that it help in holding the workforce more easily (NIOSH, 2010).

b) Describe two factors that should be considered when assessing the measure's operational validity.

It is difficult to measure the quality of the services as they are intangible, inseparable and heterogeneous. It cannot be measured easily because there is no proper concrete way to describe its quality. The evaluation is done by the analysis of the evaluator of the linguistic variable so it should be performed in an environment o uncertainty and fuzziness. The fuzzy set theory (Zadeh, 1965) is used in the measurement of performance to prevail over the issue. This theory helps in going through the uncertainty and indistinct perspective of the concepts which are connected with subjective finding of the human being. These days, fields like management sciences have been using fuzzy set theory for decision making (Hsu, Chen, & Tzeng, 2007; Huang, Chu, & Chiang, 2008; Kahraman, Buyukozkan, & Ates, 2007; Liu & Lai, 2009) but it is also mentioned that this is used in a limited way in the grounds of the service quality (Bilsel, Buyukozkan, & Ruan, 2006; Tsaur, Chang, & Yen, 2002; Tseng, 2009a, 2009b). Hence, two factors that can be used as to analyze the operational validity of the measure must include: the linguistic variable and the use of the fuzzy set theory in the healthcare structure.

c) Identify one variable you think is correlated with the indicator. Are the variables causally linked? Using Miller Chapter 3 as your guide, describe the most important factors that should be considered when assessing causality between these two variables.

The quality of service is the most significant variable correlated to all healthcare structures whether these structures are for the hospitals, elderly care, child care, etc. The casual association between these two variables is such that if the overall quality of service improves on the basis of healthcare provider's ability, technological advancements, products' use, etc.; the overall impact on the healthcare structure will be immensely constructive as well. Some of the factors that should be considered when assessing causality between these two variables can include: risk evaluations, behavioural changes, evolution of diets, psychological consistencies, social encouragement structure like family assistance, financial aid, etc.

d) Draw a diagram depicting the relationship between the two variables -- as well as other potentially confounding variables you think should be considered when assessing the relationship between the variables.

The diagram below shows the independent variable (quality of healthcare service) and how it influences the primary dependent variable (healthcare industry). The factors directly influenced by the independent variable are represented in the green circles i.e. they have a casual association with the independent variable and the circles with the green outline are the ones who share a compounding relation with the independent variable. The orange circles represent the variables that share a casual relationship with the dependent variable and a compounding relationship with the independent variable. The circle in the orange outline shares a compounding association with both the dependent and the independent variable.

Quality of Healthcare Service

Healthcare Industry

Behavioural Changes

Capability of Staff

Staff

Motivation

Risk Evaluations

Packages provided to Workforce

Social Structure and Consistency

Long-term Job security and consistency

Psychological consistencies

Diet Consistency and Progress

Question 3: Compton County Records

3. Compton County records indicate that the average (mean) time it takes for employees to be reimbursed for professional expenses is 32 days, with a standard deviation of 7 days. Assuming a normal distribution:

a) An employee attended a training conference related to her job in the County Recreation Department. She filed for reimbursement for conference expenses 42 days ago, but she has not received payment. What percentage of expenses is typically paid prior to 42 days? Should she be concerned?

The overall percentage of expenses compensated in accordance to the Compton county Records for professional use includes all those unforeseen expenses that were incurred and hadn't been part of the package offered by the company to begin with. With regards to training conference criteria, these expenses could include the shortage of distributive material for the company, the demand for certain products of the company (this could include shipping costs as well), amongst others. While the employee attending the conference could have compensated for the expenses on her own to satisfy demands, it falls on the company to reimburse her for these expenses at a 45% rate at least.

With the average deviation being 7 days only, the employee who had asked for reimbursements if has not received the reimbursement after 10 days should definitely be a little concerned but should go about dealing with it in a professional manner. A polite reminder to the relevant authorities could be one way, another would be to simply track the reimbursement certificate and see where the progress is for the reimbursements.

b) The head of the Compton County Accounting Department wants to establish a standard regarding the length of time that employees can expect to wait to receive reimbursement for professional expenses. She has asked you to help her identify that standard. In discussion with her, you establish she wants to publish a standard that states the number of days it takes the department to process 95% of the claims filed. Write a few sentences (

The standard for reimbursement of professional expenses should be a balanced principle whereby both the company and the employee are able to compensate and be compensated without unexpected pressures. When designing a standard for the return of 95% claims filed for all professional expenses, one has to understand the verification processes that the company has to go through before reimbursing professional expenses hence appropriate time will need to be allotted for that as well. The amount of time given will also have to take into account the following aspects before reimbursement is issued: the aspects included as part of the professional fees; the eligibility for reimbursement; the annual rates allotted; license and certification fees; classifications that are eligible for reimbursements; the complete knowledge of the expenses to those who allot the reimbursement of professional expenses; possible alternatives to reimbursements for both the employers and employees; the principles of reimbursement upon termination of employment; and, alternatives if reimbursements was denied amongst others. Keeping this in mind, a period of 2 months should be allotted for the processing of 95% of the claims filled. The employers should make sure that they give at least a percentage of 25% of the expenses back every two weeks so as to satisfy the employee as well. The deviation for the 2 months standard would be 12 days.

Question 4:

4. A vehicle manager for the northeast region of the forestry service has responsibility for purchasing automobiles for service use. Because forestry service employees often drive long distances in isolated regions, the manager is particularly concerned about gasoline mileage for the vehicle fleet. One automobile manufacturer has told him that the particular model of vehicle that interests him averages 29.1 miles per gallon with a standard deviation of 2.4. Assuming a normal distribution:

a) The manager would like the cars to get at least 30 miles per gallon. According to the road test data, what percentage of the cars can be expected to meet this standard?

Solution:

% deviation= (Actual value -- Expected value) / Expected value

% deviation= [(30 -- 29.1) / 30] x 100

% deviation= (0.9/30) x 100

% deviation= 0.03 x 100

% deviation= 3%

The percentage of the cars can be expected to meet this standard is 3%.

b) If he will settle for an average of 27 miles per gallon. What percentage of the cars can be expected to meet this standard?

Solution:

Difference = 29.1 -- 27 = 2.1

Average = first value + second value/2

Average = 29.1 + 27/2

Average = 56.1/2

Average = 28.05

2.1 as a % of 28.05 is 2.1/28.05 x 100 = 7.4%

The percentage of the cars can be expected to meet this standard is 7.4%.

c) While negotiating with the automobile manufacturer, the manager gets a sinking feeling that some of the cars he is thinking of purchasing might average less than 25 miles to the gallon. According to the road test data reported by the manufacturer, what percentage of cars can be expected to fall below this mileage level? Should he be worried?

Solution:

Difference = 29.1 -- 25 = 4.1

Average = first value + second value/2

Average = 29.1 + 25/2

Average = 54.1/2

Average = 27.05

4.1 as a % of 27.05 = 4.1/27.05 x 100 = 15.157%

He must be worried 15.157%.

Question 5:

5. Administrators at the national headquarters of the Center for the Display of Visual Arts are authorized to make small work-related purchases using a work-issued credit card. The average amount administrators charge to their cards per month is $140 with a standard deviation of $40. The auditing staff at the centre is concerned with the spending patterns of an administrator who has averaged $349 per month in charges for the previous year.

a) Assuming monthly balances are normally distributed, what percentage of balances do we expect will exceed $349 per month?

Solution:

Difference = 349 -- 140 = 209

Average = first value + second value/2

Average = 349 + 140/2

Average = 244.5

209 as a % of 244.5 =209/244.5 x 100 = 85.48%

b) Should the auditing staff be concerned about the spending of this particular administrator? Write a few sentences (

Solution:

Yes the auditing staff must be concerned about the spending of the particular administrator. The massive difference of 209 alone is proof of that. The difference is spending too is above 80% which is so much more than the average anticipated difference of corporations nowadays.

Question 6:

6. A February 12, 2011 survey of Virginia voters finds 60% rate Governor Bob McDonnell's performance "good" or "excellent" with a margin of error of +/- 5% and a 95% confidence level.

a) Estimate the survey sample size.

Solution:

Margin of Error = 5% or 0.05

Confidence level = 95% or 0.95

= 1-0.95= 0.05

Critical Standard Zone "Z" = 1- ? / 2 = 1-0.05/2 = 0.975

From table Z = 1.96, Mean = 0, Standard deviation = 1

n= [ Z2 x ?2 ] / ME2

n= [ 1.962 x 0.052 ] / 0.052

n= [ 3.8416 x 0.0025 ] / 0.0025

n= 3.8416

b) Double the estimated sample size in (a). What is the resulting confidence interval?

Solution:

Confidence interval = P± (1.96 x S.E)

S.E = ? P (1-P) / n

S.E = ? 0.60 (1-0.60) / 7.6832

S.E = ? (0.60 x 0.4) / 7.6832

S.E = ? 0.24 / 7.6832

S.E = 0.031236

C.I = 0.60± (1.96 x 0.031236)

C.I = 0.60± (0.0612)

C.I = 53.88%, C.I = 6612%

Confidence Interval is between 53.88% and 66.12%.

c) Based on the February 12th poll estimate of 60% +/- 5%, calculate the difference if the researchers had chosen a 99% rather than a 95% confidence level.