tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post3740573592069066985..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: Anchorage Has The Three Most Diverse Census Tracts In United StatesStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-27790244214899656892014-05-30T09:43:22.380-08:002014-05-30T09:43:22.380-08:00icr - I appreciate that broad categories can be mi...icr - I appreciate that broad categories can be misleading and ignore many details, and the sociologist - Chad Farrel - who did this research acknowledges it. Your comment reminded me to add an updated <a href="http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2014/04/where-are-most-diverse-us-census-tracts.html" rel="nofollow">link to his presentation</a> at the Alaska Press Club this year on this topic. But I'm not sure how this matters directly in this post, which is merely talking about the diversity of these units based on available census data which is, as you point out, quite broad. Can you explain what you think the difference would be? Or is this comment just an excuse to put a link to your blog? It's on an interesting topic, but comments, as I see it, should be more about the post you comment on and less about your own blog. Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-65620953827180608912014-05-29T09:48:23.319-08:002014-05-29T09:48:23.319-08:00What ethnic groups do the whites come from? Irish,...What ethnic groups do the whites come from? Irish, Italian, Swedish, Polish? Then ask the same about the other broad categories presented.<br /><br />Sometimes even small ethnic differences are important:<br /><br /> <a href="http://jaymans.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">All Human Behavioral Traits are Heritable</a><br />"My favorite example of assimilation is southern Sweden, called Scania. It was taken from Denmark 1658, and they still behave as Danes, more ballsy and politically incorrect, more into visual and performing arts etc. Many even want to belong to Denmark and have a referendum about it. And that’s after living in Sweden for 356 years. That’s between two similar countries who have no special ethnic or religious conflicts, disputes over natural resources or anything of that sort."<br />icrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11379038875116266168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-92149863278053536032013-04-24T09:31:07.864-08:002013-04-24T09:31:07.864-08:00Kathy, sorry it's taken so long to respond. A...Kathy, sorry it's taken so long to respond. All good questions. Before I posted I looked for a map of the three Anchorage census tracts and found one, but with different percentages. They had put the 2010 data on 2000 maps. I emailed Chad to ask about the discrepancy and he replied that there are different ways to calculate a diversity index and offered to look into the other method more closely. I need to get back to him.<br /><br />I'm not sure about your question about subcategories. The article mentioned that our score was higher in part because of the high number of Alaska Natives and also the high percentage of people who identified themselves as mixed race. But I'm guessing the researchers could only go as far as the Census data categories. It's possible that people could write in identities beyond those provided by the form.<br /><br />I've never actually gone to the School District and asked for a list of the languages. My wife taught in the bi-lingual program in the Anchorage School District (really it was an English as a Second Language program) and says there used to be a list of 60 or 70 languages that the program distributed. But after a change of administration, they no longer got the list. That's when the reported number of languages rose. The languages would have been self reported by parents filling out the forms. It is conceivable. We have lots of immigrants from many different programs - including Sudanese and Hmong. We also have a lot of Alaska Native languages. <br />Many people believe that the Alaska Permanent Fund makes Alaska a desirable destination, especially for people with large families since each family member gets a check. I haven't seen any studies that prove that's the reason, but I'd guess it plays a role for some. Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-70528599579059018732013-04-19T04:32:39.243-08:002013-04-19T04:32:39.243-08:00this is interesting -- I think --
I don't kn...this is interesting -- I think -- <br /><br />I don't know, because the "explanation" is solely in statistical terms, not in examples that ordinary people can understand. Perhaps you can tell us more. For instance, are the six categories shown in the table the only groups that are compared in this analysis? Do you get extra credit for having different varieties of Asian or Latino in your census tract? <br /><br />Do you really have 100 different languages in Anchorage? Which ones? I never thought of Anchorage as a hotbed of immigration. Tell us more.kathy in KYnoreply@blogger.com