Research Proposal Report

Introduction

The educational attainment in U.S.A varies across the different States and counties in the country. To evaluate how different counties range in the level of education, a study was done to determine the educational attainment of the U.S citizens. The report presents the questions for the study, source and data used, the methodology used to collect and analyze data and the results of the study. The analysis is based on the recent data for 2013-2017 (Data.gov, 2018).

Research Questions

The research questions of the study are;

i. Which State has the highest number of people with highest level of education

ii. Which level of education does the majority of the residents of U.S.A belong

Data

The dataset used for the research study relates to the educational attainment for the U.S., States and counties that ranges from 1970 – 2017 obtained from data.gov. The data was organized based on states and counties from each state. The educational attainment variable was categorized on 20 levels: Less than a high school diploma to bachelor’s degree or higher. Based in the 56 states, (including United States and Puerto Rico), the counties for each State are presented as they are (Hursh, 2017). The distribution of each educational level attainment was provided at the county level for every state. The dataset contains 3,278 observations with 40 variables (the categories and percentage of each category in the county). The data was obtained in the excel format. The person responsible for the collection of data on educational attainment is Tim Parker, [email protected].

Methodology

The study methodology was excel in which data sorting, preparation and analysis was done. The excel data analysis Tool Pak was used frequently due to its capacity to analyze raw data easily. States which does not contain all the data in every field were cleansed from the dataset. The summary statistics such as mean, median, variance and standard deviation were determined. Tables and graphs were used to analyze the trend and relationship of various categories from the dataset.

Results

The result shows that the State of California recorded the highest number of adults with Bachelors’ degree or above totaling to approximately 17 million. The States of Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania follows although with a very big difference in that order respectively. Other States recorded less than 5 million Bachelor’s degrees in 2013-2017. The results are present in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Bachelor’s Degrees per State

Based on the educational level attainment for the majority of the citizens in United States, in 2013-2017, Figures 2 and 3 shows that majority of the people have high school diplomas and above. As shown in the figures, very few individuals have less than a high school diploma in all States. However, Bachelors’ degree or high seem to be the educational attainment in most states with most of them having more than 25% of the total educational attainments for its citizens. Nevertheless, high school diploma and college associates follow each other closely (Data.gov, 2018). Less than high school diploma is small since most States record less than 15% of the individuals fall in this category apart from Puerto Rico with 25%.

Figure 2: Educational Attainment per State

Figure 3: Educational Attainment per State

The five number summary of the education attainments for the United States as shown in Table 1 below shows that on average more than 2.5 million of the U.S citizens have Bachelor’s degree or above while approximately 1.1 million have an educational attainment of less than high school diploma (Hong, S. G., Trimi, S., & Kim, D. W., 2016). The variation is highest in the Bachelor’s degree or higher as reported by the standard deviation. Also, the range in profound in the Bachelor’s degree or higher and college or degree associates than in other categories.

Table 1: Five-number Summary

Summary of Results

Majority of the citizens of United States have achieved higher educational attainments based on the results above. The indication therefore is that the literacy level of the U.S citizens is increasing and with time almost every citizen of U.S will have acquired more than the basic education. As the level of education increases, the productivity of the country rises if the economy is able to absorb them. Also, majority of the States has showed that most of its residents has acquired at least high school diploma as reported in the results.

References Data.gov. (2018). United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-level-data-sets/download-data/ Hong, S. G., Trimi, S., & Kim, D. W. (2016). Smartphone use and internet literacy of senior citizens. Journal of Assistive Technologies, 10(1), 27-38. Retrieved from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/JAT-03-2015-0006 Hursh, D. (2017). The growth of high‐stakes testing in the USA: accountability, markets and the decline in educational equality. British Educational Research Journal, 31(5), 605-622. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01411920500240767

Bar Graph for Bachelor’s degree or higher, 2013-17 per State

Bachelor’s degree or higher, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 1607156 275642 2569314 874856 16907462 2892946 1906398 403538 540846 8191716 4007062 630700 570282 5797168 2212616 1144850 1220692 1385136 1446904 582054 3193994 3961722 3774082 2571500 834636 2311418 432616 754904 932242 677116 4695672 742588 9641626 4051432 280540 4297254 1268728 1805854 5346438 480792 1796162 312228 2333546 10020790 1134302 322284 4266994 3374696 514842 2268962 207908 1191538 Less than a high school diploma, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 962118 72354 1219298 572234 9087060 650038 485000 139288 92994 3574696 1839314 164920 207790 1982848 1021586 337290 358426 883318 972170 151256 835432 916160 1313366 534098 650556 884844 98888 224732 557636 134556 1333564 414974 3790878 1779388 74924 1611286 637306 547386 1797964 184722 894952 96068 1207048 6011808 286932 67766 1247874 897116 364148 647598 56260 1211240 High school diploma only, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 2025102 262586 2182678 1362972 10691084 1583366 1347164 406270 168238 8340936 3754424 546324 584404 4563048 2949744 1303500 989698 1977042 2092050 621448 2055216 2325366 3932220 1877692 1188280 2537768 412646 658464 1113702 525782 3445194 730028 7182574 3543484 263306 5293216 1607510 1311842 6323572 406710 1957042 341824 2922728 8744860 795624 259022 2757476 2203808 1049420 2445582 223188 1318730 Some college or associate’s degree, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 1958898 340302 3061060 1161478 15216030 2210604 1222032 353984 153608 8684784 3786852 626696 768150 4989094 2554956 1350188 1204666 1726902 1673014 567414 2106212 2209824 4420276 2413920 1238730 2466388 463688 829584 1332466 541488 2852968 875670 6706540 4193792 352210 4574544 1593432 1930824 4303932 386298 2003046 371090 2493578 10131404 1269322 226728 3089186 3316490 658920 2453490 289878 1060074

State

Bachelor’s degree or higher, 2013-17

Proportions of Educational Attainment per State

Percentage of adults with Less than a high school diploma, 2013-17 Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 0.16628895951691655 0.1079023044922832 7.0241036255591902E-2 9.1070007342917494E-2 0.14167415726340596 7.1612641582337294E-2 0.10817887116161902 0.15017551732374079 0.13875012819518961 0.13114500369101162 7.71632783373499E-2 0.10213332657213668 0.12479126590765259 9.7819012685345319E-2 0.10116888981969632 0.12665012937754797 0.13455492706431108 8.5682432372169354E-2 0.13476180374906496 0.17221437925991401 8.2305560814415785E-2 7.7376113267869376E-2 0.10983327069505604 9.1616209376732899E-2 0.14074277343825489 8.2859326027632824E-2 7.2384893095258307E-2 0.25331365225985875 Percentage of adults with High school diploma only, 2013-17 Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 0.30373687248255588 0.30946812711254473 0.29310616704478781 0.26683481353366151 0.28294943707466835 0.2798287546928005 0.27947454929255955 0.26419084704298545 0.26288977468318309 0.26116295167722869 0.27117551339883417 0.33551694630553425 0.31476748666921484 0.23442888425931385 0.35581844738544083 0.27885078181885498 0.29423884585071991 0.30487063083632859 0.32631021893735557 0.25050544472059844 0.22822229489010895 0.29575473852477735 0.24270287540498506 0.22505956326062512 0.40559959494923337 0.31290905201268432 0.2871567636001513 0.27579365992259464 Percentage of Adults with Some college or associate’s degree, 2013-17 Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 0.3166324233769115 0.30076369277761206 0.32936175895237946 0.33617918663815949 0.33852907206877153 0.28818771414977151 0.23143310534794123 0.31689743274248533 0.2454664288183811 0.30909215264986334 0.36273661661414242 0.28996304583457466 0.31201086513819526 0.34504225053101323 0.24217616275935738 0.26485579237063273 0.30115549039106015 0.33097278832689686 0.27839743661311389 0.29022441350279476 0.36410110780280996 0.25888102306462663 0.27189876715547995 0.33869002697069372 0.25467180452435523 0.31392087037874866 0.37296103876052772 0.22169942918473426 Percentage of Adults with Bachelor’s degree or higher, 2013-17 Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico 0.21334174462361605 0.28186587561755999 0.30729103774724081 0.30591599248526147 0.23684733359315416 0.36037088957509067 0.38091347419788019 0.26873620289078842 0.35289366830324614 0.29859989198189635 0.28892459164967355 0.2723866812877544 0.2484303822849373 0.3227098525243276 0.30083650003550549 0.32964329643296431 0.27005073669390883 0.27847414846460522 0.26053054070046555 0.28705576251669274 0.3253710364926653 0.36798812514272666 0.37556508674447897 0.3446342003919482 0.19898582708815651 0.29031075158093422 0.26749730454406268 0.24919325863281233

State

Proportion

Proportion of Educational Attainment per State

Percentage of adults with Less than a high school diploma, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota 0.14681485925966167 7.6091300305820689E-2 0.13499233311375222 0.14408365520679636 0.17508234229842004 8.8597802303244641E-2 9.7770549252770941E-2 0.10689136507351812 9.7306018922533127E-2 0.12415530742912682 0.13738884159821305 8.3773569570871259E-2 9.7525328236865591E-2 0.11440283431526529 0.11690095620708414 8.1553198053690823E-2 9.4985480254046531E-2 0.1479000562253219 0.15720380107947138 7.8690148436248164E-2 0.10199571375585501 9.7328481073978818E-2 9.7721091695024923E-2 7.2202627747488576E-2 Percentage of adults with High school diploma only, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota 0.30902141433427016 0.27614935155076747 0.24165117605052949 0.3431847595643 0.20598741820007369 0.21580699565514516 0.27157312208981427 0.31177671363231729 0.17603899188645644 0.28969497639146696 0.28043931826133517 0.27751341027308191 0.27428746293342893 0.26327062100403192 0.3375417186278093 0.31517268126237358 0.26227712229712502 0.33102984764243776 0.33829290355422209 0.32330509444524214 0.25091596065562882 0.24703582422401529 0.29257711192844255 0.2538378658980886 Percentage of Adults with Some college or associate’s degree, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota 0.29891898309150511 0.35787961517913858 0.33889962191456263 0.29245028376901655 0.29317052741844207 0.30129724133475555 0.24634791720507665 0.27165177886238756 0.16073061654141632 0.30163740566346392 0.28286155033011018 0.31833956436931077 0.36052784486812794 0.28785186472451957 0.29236579149188308 0.32646135187440095 0.31924519581648991 0.28914717337993884 0.27053309612431031 0.29519418657643542 0.25714192927868085 0.23476119167047696 0.32889095371230714 0.32632844004699069 Percentage of Adults with Bachelor’s degree or higher, 2013-17 Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Lousiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota 0.24524474331456309 0.28987973296427322 0.28445686892115563 0.22028130145988709 0.3257597120830642 0.39429796070685463 0.38430841145233818 0.30968014243177699 0.56592437264959417 0.28451231051594233 0.29931028981034163 0.32037345578673604 0.26765936396157747 0.33447467995618319 0.2531915336732235 0.27681276880953465 0.32349220163233849 0.2319229227523015 0.23397019924199622 0.30281057054207428 0.38994639630983535 0.4208745030315289 0.2808108426642254 0.34763106630743212

State

Proportion