Counting the U.S.: The 2020 Census

In 2020 the government will count each resident of the United States as part of the constitutionally-mandated decennial census. In this course we will consider the importance and challenges of the census for measuring trends in sociological topics such as education, inequality, family composition, and race. Students will develop their skills in quantitative social science research by completing an independent project using census data. The class may also collaborate with local community organizations to use census data to identify how and where to provide services. Previous experience with the software package R is helpful, but not required.