General Layout of Tables
We have employed a 2-panel ("newspaper column") format in an attempt to deliver more information with less scrolling. The numbered "tables" go down the left column (tables 1-15) and then continue at the top of the right panel. Despite our efforts to make this a very compact "just the highlights" report, users will note that they need to scroll down the equivalent of about 7 or 8 full screens to see all the data. This can be reduced somewhat by setting your browser's font size to a smaller value.
The lines of the table consist of Table Header lines identifying the subject matter and "universe" (i.e. the kind of entities being counted or measured). These are highlighted with a gray background. The first table header line is a hyperlink to the metadata where you can get more detailed information about the variables in that table. The detail lines of the table are divided into 4 columns. The Subject column identifies the data displayed on the line. Indentation is used to indicate subordinate data. For example, in Table 24, "Owner Occupied Units" is indented within "Occupied Housing Units". Typically, the first detail line in a table contains the total universe count and is displayed in bold. All items that count or measure the entire table universe are left justified and bolded.
The Number column contains the count or other measure (mean, median or occasionally a percentage). The Percent column will be filled in if and only if the item is a count. It is usually (but not always) a percentage of the next higher level count. Thus, in Table 16 (as shown here)
|
16. Employment Status |
|
Universe: Persons over 16 |
| Over 16 Yrs of Age |
1,242 |
80.2 |
P43 |
| Civilian Labor Force |
897 |
72.2 |
|
| Unemployed Persons |
35 |
3.9 |
|
| Civ. Labor Force, Female |
425 |
47.4 |
|
| Unemployed Females |
28 |
6.6 |
|
| Over 16 Not in Labor Force |
343 |
27.6 |
|
the Percent value in the "Civilian Labor Force" line is 72.2, which is 897 as a percent of 1242 (the count of persons over 16 on the previous line.) The next line, Unemployed Pesons, is indented within Civilian Labor Force. The Percent value there is 3.9, which is 35 as a percent of 897. Each time we indent another level the percentages use the previous level totals as the new denominator. The Percent figure on the first line of Table 16 (80.2 in the example) is, of course, based on using Total Population as the denominator. If this seems too confusing, you can also follow the links to the metadata (on the Table Header lines, or there is a link to the full report in pdf format at the bottom of the report) and it will show for each line of the report a column labeled "Universe Variable". If there is a Percent entry for that line then a value will be displayed in this column. It will be a value that will match a value shown in the "Variable Name" column of the report. For example, in Table 5 the row for Families (i.e. with "Families" appearing in the column labeled "Variable Name") the entry in the Universe Variable column is "TotHHs". This refers to the variable defined in the previous line of the report, Total Households. So the Percent entry in this line of the report represents the number of families as a percent of the total households.
The SF3 Table column is a link to the table(s) on the full Summary File 3 dataset that was/were used to derive the data shown for this line (and usually subsequent lines) of the dp3_2k table. In many cases the "parent table" is a single-item table which we just copied to create the extract variable. In these cases, we identify the table but we do not make it a hyperlink (why waste time and resources displaying a table that is exactly the same as what you already have?) In most cases the table number(s) are hyperlinks which you can click on to see a display of the complete source table.
Printing the Tables and the Panels Parm
These tables have been optimized for quick and relatively compact display in your browser. Hard copy printouts are possible, but not optimally formatted. If your browser supports a "shrink to fit" option you can use this to display the profiles in portrait orientation on standard letter size paper. (We can do this with the Firefox browser but we have not been able to do so with the IE 6.0 browser; the latter has a Shrink-to-fit option -- under Preferences /Effects, hidden under the "Print On" option as a sub-option -- but it does not seem to work.) If you are unable to use shrink-to-fit then you should specify landscape orientation to avoid having the right panel data truncated. With default settings using the IE browser it takes 7 landscape pages to display a profile. (It takes only 4 and looks much better using Firefox in portrait.) The page breaks do not honor table boundaries, so you need to arrange your printed pages to view complete tables on the printout.
Another alternative is to specify the panels parameter to have the tables display in single-panel (versus the default two-panel or "Newspaper Column") format. This format is more convenient for printing, though it will require more pages. To get single panel format append the parameter spec
&pa=1
to the end of the URL in the Address/Location box of your browser. (You can also code &panel=1 or &panels=1.)
Downloading the Data
At the bottom of the report you will see a row of hyerlinks to important related pages. The second of these is "Extract Data via Dexter". This refers to the MCDC's Dexter web application for accessing our data collection. This hyperlink bypasses the usual explore-the-directory phase of accessing a dataset, and takes you directly to the dexter (data extraction utility application) first screen with the appropriate dataset already selected. The page includes a link to a Dexter Quick Start Guide, appropriate for first-time users, as well as to more detailed online help for usijg the application. You may need to specify a filter to avoid getting data for the entire dataset (this would typically involve coding a filter based on SumLev and/or State variables.) You will also have the opportunity to select variables, so you do not have to take the entire 417 variables (more or less -- it varies slightly with geographic level).
In fact, if you are creating a csv file to load into Excel, you must limit the extraction to 256 variables or less since that is all Excel can handle. There is also a 65,xxx row limit in Excel, so you may have to code filters and break the data into subsets.
Related Applications
For most geographic levels there will also be a hyperlink at the bottom of the report labeled "Related Applications". This link will take you to our intermediate "applinks" application that will allow you to choose from a menu of other reports/applications available for the geographic area. For example, you will be able to link to the corresponding "dp1_2k" report (SF1-based profile) and a comparable report based on 1990 census data (for many, but not all geographic areas nationwide). Some of these applications will only be available for Missouri and/or Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.
More Detailed Data
There is a lot more data available from the 2000 decenial census and even from Summary File 3. It is way beyond the scope of this document to go into details -- a good place to start would be at the Census Bureau's Census 2000 Gateway page. This will lead you to American Fact Finder, where you can get just about everything that is available. For more data from the Missouri Census Data Center you might want to check out the Readme file in our sf32000 data directory.
More Detailed SF3 Tables Using sf3tabgen
If you are not familiar with all the tables available on Summary File 3 see the 
