Data Visualization Portfolio

Julia García Galindo

During my time at Harvard, I have taken multiple coding classes and become familiar with the coding languages R and Python. As a brief illustration of my data visualization skills, here are three examples. The first is U.S. population pyramids from 1900 to 2019. The second is a map with information on average teacher sick days in different regions of England. The third is a sequence of U.S. maps that show which states flipped political parties in U.S. presidential elections.

US Population Pyramids

This graph shows how, throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century, the age distribution of the U.S. population has varied. In 1900 the U.S. population distribution resembled a pyramid, for the younger people far outnumbered the older people. In the early 1960s however, the graphs resemble a mushroom. There is a substantial number of people younger than 17 - correlating with the Baby Boom - and a marked dip in people between the ages of 36 and 27 - likely caused by World War II deaths. The 2019 population distribution resembles a square. This is probably a consequence of a lower birth rate, which results in a less marked discrepancy in population difference between younger and older people.

Average Teacher Sick Days

This map was inspired by the question: Does location impact the number of sick days employees take? To study this, I examined the average number of sick days that teachers in different English regions took during the 2022-2023 school year. This map shows that there is a slight variation in the average number of sick days teachers in different regions took. Those in the northernmost region took an average of 6 sick days, while those in the southern regions took an average of 4.8 sick days. I have two hypothesis to explain this. One, there could be different festivities in the northern regions for which teachers choose to use their sick days. Two, the colder weather could lead to more illnesses/impact illness recovery time.

Swing States Over Time

Throughout the 2024 U.S. presidential election we repeatedly heard about the seven key swing states. One wonders however, have U.S. presidential elections always been determined by 7 states? How often do other states flip? To examine this question, I created maps of all U.S. presidential elections from 1980 to 2020 and highlighted the states that flipped. These maps show that, throughout the end of the 20th century, there were a lot more swing states. This speaks to a broader trend of political polarization, where states are increasingly solidly blue or red.