Problem:
One of WidgeCorp's regional sales managers contacts you with a request. In preparation for rolling out a new type of snack food, she's been trying to make sense of some demographic data available through the AMA (American Marketing Association) and is overwhelmed. She explains to you that there are two files which contain reports generated from AMA's (American Marketing Association) website. AMA's website provides free demographical services where one can choose from a variety of criteria and generate reports based on the U.S. Census decennial data obtained at the beginning of each decade. These files contain 4 reports: General Summary, Census Trend 1980 to 2000 Summary, Occupation and Employment Summary, and Income Summary. In these demographics reports the data for many of the variables is distributed into many different categories. For example, there are 7 different categories for Educational Attainment in the General Summary Report and 20 categories for Employment by Industry in the Occupation and Employment Summary Report. Help this regional sales manager see a smaller number of comprehensible categories.
Using all four demographic reports: (Overview, Trend, Employment, and Population Detail) for zip code 60614, choose four variables (including at least one from each report) and explain how you would collapse the categories and why.