Literature v3 · Research topic
Did losing a parent to COVID-19 make kids in your county more likely to be poor?
Using public data, we'll check if counties where more kids lost a caregiver also saw bigger jumps in child poverty from 2019 to 2023.
Why this matters
Imagine a hidden pandemic aftershock: over 167,000 children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19. What happened to their educational and economic futures? Using public census data, we can trace the ripple effects of this loss across American communities—uncovering whether the safety net held or frayed.
Project scores
Difficulty
This project requires comfort with data analysis and public datasets. Over 8 weeks, you'll learn to clean and merge county-level data from sources like the Census Bureau and CDC. Expect to spend time on statistical correlation analysis and interpreting results. Prerequisites include basic statistics and spreadsheet or Python skills. The pace is moderate, with weekly milestones for data collection,
3 of 5 difficulty
Strengths
- Timely and socially relevant topic
- Clear, testable research question
- Uses publicly available data
Skills built
Zero-cost data
Zero-cost dataResearch gap
Imagine a hidden pandemic aftershock: over 167,000 children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19. What happened to their educational and economic futures? Using public census data, we can trace the ripple effects of this loss across American communities—uncovering whether the safety net held or frayed.
Curriculum alignment
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