amyflo / censussurveys

Census Survey Explorer created for the U.S. Census Bureau that allows users to filter, search, and locate surveys easily as part of my extension for the 2020 Civic Digital Fellowship.

Census Survey Explorer

Description

Discover U.S. Census Bureau surveys or censuses by filtering and searching by geography, frequency, topics, and subtopics. Created for the U.S. Census Bureau as a tool that allows users to filter, search, and locate surveys easily as part of my extension for the 2020 Civic Digital Fellowship.

Background

This project was created as part of my extension from the Civic Digital Fellowship by Coding it Forward (Summer Cohort '20). Designed as a reference tool as an alternative for the U.S. Census Bureau's List of All Surveys & Programs, this project first started as a data visualization project that transformed into its current version.

Features

• Use geography, frequency, topic, and subtopic dropdowns to filter through surveys
• Search by keyword or survey name for relevant surveys
• View support pages for more information and background on Census surveys
• Mobile-responsive layouts: use this tool wherever you want

Alternatives

• Explore Census Data: Finding datasets and using the Census API
• List of All Surveys & Programs: The foundation for this project

Contributing

Please visit the CONTRIBUTING.md for more information on how to contribute!

Authors and acknowledgment

Special thanks to Mary Leisenring, Eric Coyle, Elliott Tran, Logan Powell, Anthony Calabrese, and Alexandra Barker for their consistent support and guidance through this project. Additional thanks goes to Coding it Forward for all the opportunities they've given.

censussurveys's Issues

Build frequency page

• List of frequencies and definitions
• Header image / copy

Add link to MSA pdf to geo page

A collective term, established by the Federal OMB and used for the first time in 1990, to refer to metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), consolidated metropolitan statistical areas (CMSAs), and primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSAs). In addition, there is an alternative set of areas termed NECMAs. See also metropolitan districts. Data scientists use this term as a county equivalent that has one urban area that has at least 50,000 population.

Adding survey topics

Drop down Filters

• Create JS function to write drop downs?
• Introduce subtopic and topic filtering
• Opportunity to search through filters?

Autocomplete

• Build JS array & content to autocomplete for survey names
• autocomplete drop down on search?

This is a tentative option but might involve adding a button to the search so that it searches on click rather than keyup to avoid any bugs.

Question: What is the behavior after text is entered? Should there be a reset button or users can just type again?

Search / filter issue

Cant search and filter at the same time! Look into how the search toggle and the filter is working. The filter function is showing when the .class is selected and hiding all cards. The search is toggling in the cards themselves. Need to find a way to build it so that the input is passed in as a value?

Another thing to consider is the checkbox on change. When a new checkbox is checked, what happens to the function? So either on keyup or on change there needs to be a function that can handle both requests!

Create topics page

• Subtopics for each main topic
• Build and link to nav of index.html

Build geography page

• List of geographies and definitions
• Photo and/or header copy

Browser opens a new page when clicking to link outside of tool

For surveys, have links open to a new page by setting the target attribute to _blank.

Details here on how to complete issue

Reset Filters button

Problem

User research: users want the reset filters button to clear their search input and their filters in the dropdown.

Current Result

The reset filters button clears all the checkboxes within the dropdown, but not the searchbar.

Possible Fix

Refreshing the page (window.onload) when the button is clicked.

Highlight Navbar

From edits:

• Highlight guidance page titles (similar to CA)
  - Census Academy navbar highlights orange and grey when hovered

Add language to homepage to prompt people to open guidance pages.

Add to homepage above search bar.
Proposed text:

"Use the geography, frequency, topic, and subtopic filters below to discover surveys relevant to your needs. Use the tabs across the top of this page to learn more and obtain guidance for using this tool. For more details about a survey or to learn about data sources for a survey, click on the survey name to go to the survey’s webpage.”

Searchbar UX changes

• Add “No results found. Please try different selections or search terms to find relevant surveys. Click on the tabs at the top of this webpage for guidance.”
• Move search bar to the end of the row
• When you use the mini search bar within Subtopic, the reset search does not clear that search bar.

Add additional FAQ questions

FAQ:

Q: Why does the search bar not produce the survey results I would expect?
A: The search bar works best when using specific keywords only found in in this tool. It is not able to function as a traditional search engine. It is sensitive to spelling. Please use the all the guidance pages for suggested search terminology.

Why can I not find my specific state (ex. Maryland)?
A: Please use the dropdown filter under geographies “State”, navigate to your survey of interest, and then access data from there or using our data tools.

Update UI of search and filter bar

Goal: elevate the filters as the first thing we want people to do before they search. Display filters and then search in a visual hierarchy or side by side.

Example image:

Adjusting Help page copy

• Add FAQ

Q: Why does the search bar not produce the survey results I would expect?
A: The search bar works best when using specific keywords only found in in this tool. It is not able to function as a traditional search engine. It is sensitive to spelling but not case. Please use the all the guidance pages for suggested search terminology. You can use a search bar search in combination with filters.

Q: Why can I not find my state (ex. Maryland)
A: Please use the Geographies filter “State”, navigate to your survey of interest, and then access data from there or using our data tools.

Q: Where can I find Decennial data for previous year data not available in data.census.gov or other Census data tools.
A: You can visit the Decennial Census by the Decade webpage to view and access previous Decennial Census data and information.

Q: Why doesn’t a particular survey or program appear when selecting certain topics/subtopics I know were part of a survey?
A: Many surveys and programs have changed over time. The Census Survey Explorer only provides filters for current topics/subtopics related to a particular survey or program.

Q: Now that I know what survey(s) have the data I am looking for, where do I go to find the data?
A: You can visit the survey webpage directly by clicking on a survey name or you can visit our Data Tools and Apps webpage. Not all surveys publish their data the same way. Some survey webpages will direct you to the appropriate data tool(s) and others will provide direct links to data tables (csv files), reports, and more.

• **Edit the answer to this FAQ:

Q: How do I know what topic terms to use when I search?
A: We provided a list of available subtopics for you to look use while using the subtopic dropdown or the search bar. The search bar can find words in the survey descriptions. Please use the topics page for guidance. For example, if you use the search bar for the term “car” it may not pull up all the applicable surveys, but the topics page informs you that the subtopic “vehicle” is the best subtopic term to use to find the most applicable surveys.

Q: How do I use the topics and subtopics dropdowns?
A: This is a list of subtopics found across all of our listed surveys. As detailed here, subtopics are categorized under five broad topics, which represent the types of surveys we conduct.

Use this subtopic list to help you find the right subtopic search term that relates to your subject matter of interest. (For example, if interested in “cars”, find that the subtopic term “vehicle” is best) To use the Survey Explorer by subtopic, find a subtopic in the subtopic dropdown or type it into the search bar to find the survey(s) that has your subject matter of interest.

• Edit top paragraph to say:

No matter what your experience level is, the survey explorer is a useful tool to help discover which survey may have the information you need. Use the dropdown lists to select geographies, frequencies, topics, or subtopics you are interested in or use the search bar to find a survey based on a keyword.

The filters you select are displayed. To clear all the filters and start a new search, click on “Reset Search.”

Clicking on a program and survey listing will take you to its respective website where you can find more information about the program/survey such as links to data tools, data tables, contact information, respondent information, news releases, and more.

What makes the survey explorer unique is that it is a reference for all our surveys/censuses in one place and a guide that can help you figure out if there is data available and where it may be found across all of the Census Bureau’s surveys and censuses.

Potential Airtable to Javascipt api link

• Setting up API token key
• Linking it to Census Surveys Airtable

https://airtable.com/api

Potential notes: creating a private read-only key, passing in arrays, and making a separate base/view

FAQ / Learn More pages

• Talk to Mary about copy on these pages
• Design and build pages
• Link to relevant Census websites

Copy changes to topics page

Copy changes to Topics pages

• Would it fit or be more clear to change the top tab to say Topics/Subtopics?
• Move existing text box sentence up to header and change the copy to:

This is a list of subtopics found across all of our listed surveys. Subtopics are categorized under five broad topics, which represent the types of surveys we conduct.

Use this subtopic list to help you find the right subtopic search term that relates to your subject matter of interest. (For example, if interested in “cars”, find that the subtopic term “vehicle” is best) To use the Survey Explorer by subtopic, find a subtopic in the subtopic dropdown or type it into the search bar to find the survey(s) that has your subject matter of interest.

Helpful Tips:

• Some surveys contain more than one primary topic.
• Some subtopics can be found under multiple topics.
• You may select or search for multiple subtopics at once
• You may search by topic, subtopic, or both to expand or narrow your search parameters.
• If you can not find the subtopic you are looking for, use the list below to look for comparable terminology.

• Explain topics and subtopics better and connect their relationship to each other, advise on how to use. Add the following to the blue text box. Add this copy to the blue text box:

Topics are broad and will allow you to see the most survey options across these high-level categories and the many subtopics within them. Subtopics are very specific and allow you to see which primary topics a subtopic can be found in.

Example A, Selecting a Topic First: Selecting the “economic” topic reveals all surveys that collect any type of economic data. Economic data is available across multiple subtopics such as business or household. Using the subtopic dropdown next, will allow you to pick what kind of economic data you want.

Example B, Selecting a Subtopic First: Selecting the subtopic first will reveal all surveys across all primary topics that have your subtopic. If you selected the household subtopic, you will see that data can be found in economic, social, housing, and demographic surveys. Using the topic filter next will allow you to see the type of survey you want.

These two options should yield the same choices when both topic and subtopic are selected, but depending on the research needs and interests, it may be helpful to select one method or the other.

• Added subtopics in SE that need to be added to the topics guidance page? (this will be ongoing project please make green when complete)

• Business adds: Unemployment; Expenditures

• Demo adds: Housing adds: Expenditures, Expenses

• Social adds: Expenditures, Expenses

• Government adds: Expenditures, Expenses

Adding reference for different geographies

Creating popup modals with information

Multiple key words in search query

Problem

Searchbar currently is not combining search keywords and terms when a user types in an input.

Current Result

Currently, the searchbar looks for a str input and checks whether that is found within the inner HTML of each survey card element. Unfortunately, that does not pick up on combined key word requests. For example, an input of "state geography" will look for the term "state geography" in the text, not "state" and "geography".

Process

1. User types in a one word input and is able to find surveys matching this input.
2. User decides to add another key word to their search query.
3. On keyup, nothing shows up because the search bar is looking for the combined string of their input, not separate key words.

Possible Fix

Taking in the input and splitting it into a javascript array, then iterating through the array and cards to show cards if any string in the array is within the

Update links to geography glossary

Add “A glossary with these and additional geographies can be found here.” to the top text box.
*note the last link tagged to go to the bottom of the glossary, I think I have fixed the link in the new text

Reinsert the link in “Additional geographies can be found here” at the bottom to match the link in the first bullet point. It tags to go to the bottom of the webpage

Creating left and right buttons for horizontal scrollbar