In many ways, we have come to understand the gravity and trends in the COVID-19 pandemic through data. Regardless of media source, people are consuming more epidemiological information than ever, primarily through reported figures, charts, and maps.
This assignment is your opportunity to work directly with the same data used by the New York Times. While the analysis is guided through a series of questions, it is your opportunity to use programming skills to ask more detailed questions about the pandemic.
You should start this assignment by opening up the analysis.R script. The script will guide you through an initial analysis of the data.
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Coding prompts. Complete the coding prompts in
analysis.R. You MUST use thedplyrpackage. -
Reflection prompts. Throughout
analysis.R, there are prompts labeled"Reflection". Please write at least 1-3 sentences for each of these prompts below in thisREADME.mdfile. As appropriate, provide evidence, give justification for your opinions, or genuinely reflect on your views. Please strive for concise, clear, and interesting writing.
Before actually calculating the total number of COVID cases and deaths, record your guesses for the following questions.
Guess: How many total COVID cases do you think there have been in the U.S.?
Guess: How many total COVID-related deaths do you think there have been in the U.S.?
Guess: Which state do you think has the highest number of COVID cases, and which state do you think has the lowest?
Did the number of COVID cases and deaths surprise you? Why or why not? What about the states with the highest and lowest number of cases? How did your guesses line up with the actual results? Answer in at least 1-3 sentences
Which county has the highest number of cases in the state of Washington, and does it surprise you? Why or why not? (You may need to google this county to learn about it) Answer at least in 1-3 sentences
Why are there so many observations (counties) in the variable lowest_deaths_in_each_state? That is, wouldn't you expect the number to be around 50? Why is the number greater than 50? Answer in at least 1-3 sentences
What do you think about the number and scale of the inconsistencies in the data? Does the fact that there are inconsistencies mean that people should not use this data? Why or why not? Answer in at least 1-3 sentences
Why were you interested in this particular question? Were you able to answer your question with code? What did you learn? Answer in at least 1-3 sentences
What, if anything, made you curious about this COVID analysis? What, if anything, surprised you? What might you do the same or differently on your next data wrangling project? Answer in at least 1-3 sentences