New OECD Data Analysis Tool For researchers seeking to compare their region with other regions around the country and the world, there is a new tool at their disposal, the OECD eXplorer. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), released this tool in March. According to the user guide, "eXplorer enables users to explore spatial, temporal and multivariate data from multiple perspectives simultaneously, to discover interesting relationships, to share their incremental discoveries with colleagues and finally to communicate selected relevant knowledge to other users." Of additional interest to researchers is that the tool is free and allows users to upload their own data to the program to perform analyses. OECD eXplorer allows users several options for analysis. The first is to view it on a map. This method allows users to select one of approximately 20 different variables to display and compare. After that, simply decide on the graphics needed by selecting a color scheme and legend options appropriate for the analysis. Another data analysis option within OECD eXplorer is to view it on a scatter plot. The scatter plot option allows users to select variables for the horizontal axis, the vertical axis, and the dot size. With twenty available variables, there are a number of combinations of axes and dot sizes allowing the user to compare states and regions in different ways. For example, a researcher can compare R&D Expenditure with Patent Applications for all states, revealing, of course, that states spending a higher percentage of their GDP on R&D generally have more patent applications than other states. Users may also analyze data in eXplorer as parallel coordinates and as simple data tables. The variables available for these and the two other data analysis methods depend on whether the user seeks to analyze large or small regions. With large regions (e.g. countries and states), the user can choose to view such variables as labor productivity, unemployment rate, and GDP per capita. For small regions (e.g. MSAs), the user can choose to view population growth rate, elderly dependence rate, and total population, among others. While the list of available variables is somewhat limited, OECD eXplorer allows users to import their own data into the program and provides detailed instructions on how to do that correctly. By importing their own data, users can analyze countless variables with the OECD eXplorer. To use the OECD eXplorer, please visit http://stats.oecd.org/OECDregionalstatistics. Or, to read more about the functionality of the OECD eXplorer, please visit http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx |