Question about demographic research project

April 28, 2015 6:18 PM

My question is about how to find someone who can appropriately choose a representative set of zip codes from a larger set. How could I get someone to choose, in an intellectually defensible way, a list of 30 to 50 zip codes that essentially represent my entire state? In other words, how could I come up with a list of 30 to 50 zip codes that economically/demographically are a representative subset of the entire state?

My state encompasses roughly 700 zip codes. I have lots of data for each zip code. Each zip code takes me roughly 20 to 30 minutes to analyze. I’d like to analyze the entire dataset from my state, but I don’t have the time. I think a second-best solution would be to come up with a set of 30 to 50 zip codes, analyze the data from them, and draw conclusions about the makeup of the state from that data.

I have a budget for getting the list of 30 to 50 zip codes and could pay someone a reasonable amount. Please let me know if you have any advice on finding a business or individual that performs this kind of service.

posted by Mr. Justice to Science & Nature (3 answers total)

So... I don't know how to specifically find somebody who could pick those zip codes for you, but this site (Esri), which marketers use (I think) might be able to give you an idea of the demographics of almost every zip code in the US. From looking up zip codes that I am familiar with, it seems pretty (almost creepy) accurate! Here is a WSJ article about the site.
posted by gemutlichkeit at 6:37 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

It would be helpful to know what kind of data you're working with, but I'm guessing whoever could code some kind of stratified sampling design could just as easily code something to analyze the full set..
posted by one_bean at 6:53 PM on April 28, 2015

You could enter all your zip codes into this randomizer, and the pick the top 30-50.
posted by maurreen at 5:54 PM on April 29, 2015