Challenge 1

Code

library(tidyverse)

knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = TRUE, warning=FALSE, message=FALSE)

Challenge Overview

Today’s challenge is to

1. read in a dataset, and

2. describe the dataset using both words and any supporting information (e.g., tables, etc)

Read in the Data

Read in one (or more) of the following data sets, using the correct R package and command.

• railroad_2012_clean_county.csv ⭐
• birds.csv ⭐⭐
• FAOstat*.csv ⭐⭐
• wild_bird_data.xlsx ⭐⭐⭐
• StateCounty2012.xlsx ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Find the _data folder, located inside the posts folder. Then you can read in the data, using either one of the readr standard tidy read commands, or a specialized package such as readxl.

Code

railroad_data <- read_csv("_data/railroad_2012_clean_county.csv")

Add any comments or documentation as needed. More challenging data sets may require additional code chunks and documentation.

Describe the data

Using a combination of words and results of R commands, can you provide a high level description of the data? Describe as efficiently as possible where/how the data was (likely) gathered, indicate the cases and variables (both the interpretation and any details you deem useful to the reader to fully understand your chosen data).

Code

railroad_data %>%
summary()

    state              county          total_employees  
 Length:2930        Length:2930        Min.   :   1.00  
 Class :character   Class :character   1st Qu.:   7.00  
 Mode  :character   Mode  :character   Median :  21.00  
                                       Mean   :  87.18  
                                       3rd Qu.:  65.00  
                                       Max.   :8207.00  

Code

length(unique(railroad_data$state))

[1] 53

The dataset is a simple, pre cleaned spreadsheet consisting of three columns: State, County, and Total_Employees. These three columns are self explanatory, labeling the state, county, and the amount of employees in said railroad system. Using the summary function,we can see that there are 2930 reported counties within 53 states (including DC, Armed Forces Europe, Armed Forces Pacific). This data could be useful to determine the size of specific railroad systems based on employment. The dataset could be enhanced by adding in overall population data so one can answer questions such as the percent of people in a county who work on railroads.