IF Exercise 1

Exercise No. 1 -- Mapping a variable

Open up the IF program.

Go to "Data Analysis."

Open up "World Map."

Click on "Display Data"

Choose "Population" under "Data Table" and under "Variable Name" find "InfMor" (Infant Mortality).

Go to "Display Options" and then to "Labels" and choose "add." It is also a good idea to change the "color" to yellow if you plan to use the maps in your country study -- yellow reproduces more accurately on the web.

You should now have an easy time of finding your country on the map. Click your mouse over your country and "zoom in" so that just your country's region appears on the map. (Clicking on a country places it in the center of the map and zooms in on it.) For example, if your country is in Africa – try to zoom and recenter so that all of Africa appears on the map.

Go to the "Display Data" window and see which "Display Type" ("equal interval" or "equal count") gives your the most useful map. You can also change the number of categories -- increasing them from "6" to "10" for instance -- and see if that produces a more useful map. (For your new number of categories to be applied to the map you must change something -- like the Display Type -- before it will be implemented). It should look something like this:

Once you have the map on the screen just the way you like it, follow these instructions to place the map into a Microsoft Word document:

SAVING YOUR MAP:
Follow these instructions to "save" a country map (or any screen within the International Futures Program) into a Microsoft Word document.
With the map on your computer's screen, hold down the ALT key and then hit the "Print Scrn" key. This will copy whatever is on the screen into the Window's clipboard. Then go to the start menu and go to "Programs," and open "Microsoft Word." Go to "File" and "Page Setup" and then choose the "landscape" mode (using landscape mode will allow you to have a "big" version of the map). Then go to "Edit" and "paste" the map into this Word document. You have now inserted the "screen" into a Word file as a picture. You should save this file to a floppy disk or a zip disk and actually write your commentary in the same file that contains the picture of the screen -- just write your text right around or under the picture of the screen. This will allow you to use a color printer to print out the map. PLEASE REMEMBER TO SAVE THESE WORD DOCUMENTS FOR LATER USE. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SIMPLY COPY AND PASTE YOUR MAPS AND COMMENTARY INTO YOUR COUNTRY STUDY IF YOU REMEMBER TO SAVE THEM!!.

While the map is present in your IF program you can click on the "i" (identify) icon and then click on your country and its neighbors to get their exact Infant Mortality Rates to use in your analysis.

Now go back and follow the same steps to produce a map of Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (ppp). You will find this variable (GDPPCP) in the "Data Table" under the "Economics" section. Save this map in the same way.

You are now ready to write your commentary. Do it in the same Word file that contains your maps. Look at the map of Infant Mortality Rates and write a one page analysis (typed, either single spaced or double spaced) of the information reflected on this map. Please include the following:

1. A clear description of the variable you mapped. Don't tell me that you mapped "IMR" -- tell me that you mapped the "Infant Mortality Rate" and try to put into your own words what the variable means. The description of the variable found in the "Data Field" entry is helpful.
2. Describe how this particular variable is distributed throughout the region you are examining. For example, which countries or areas in Africa have a higher "Infant Mortality Rate" than others, which have relatively low IMRs?
3. Finally, include a description of your country's status with respect to this variable compared to the other countries in the region. For example, if your country is Sudan, is its IMR high or low for an African country? Don't forget to tell me your country's name -- and identify its location on the map.

Now write another one page commentary of your Gross Domestic Product per Capita Map.