1
SOC 328
Chapter 1 Exercises
Statistics and Variables
Name Score
______
I Basic Ideas/ Discussion Issues
1.
Check whether each of the following is a constant or a variable.
Constant or Variable? Constant Variable
a. Number of songs in the “Top 40” ______
b. The popularity of ice cream over the past
20 years ______
c. Average family size ______
d. The population of Los Angeles in the
2000 census ______
e. Number of ounces in a pound ______
f. Food preferences of Americans ______
g. Games won by the New York Yankees
in 2001 ______
h. Opinions about prayer in public school ______
i. Americans’ attitudes toward Congress ______
j. Annual federal spending since 1990 ______
2.
Check whether each of the following variables is a statistic or a parameter.
Variable Statistic Parameter
a. The average age of a sample of 1000 college
Professors ______
b. The percentage of U.S. counties that are losing
population ______
c. The percentage of Americans who smoke ______
d. The percentage of General Social Survey ______
respondents who smoke
e. The percentage of voters in a Gallup Poll who
approve of the president ______
5.
Identifying variables’ levels of measurement is crucial for doing statistics well. Identification improves with practice. Here are variables to practice with. Response categories are in parentheses unless implied in the item itself. Your job: Check the level of measurement of each variable.
Level of Measurement
Variable Nominal Ordinal Int/Ratio
a. Whether respondent has ever been ______
married (yes/ no)
b. Estimate of percentage of U.S. ______
population that is Hispanic
c. Religion (Protestant, Catholic, Jewis ______
d. Has one’s financial situation been ______
getting better or worse, or staying
the same?
e. Confidence in science (great deal, ______
only some, hardly any)
f. Opinion about whether a racist should ______
be allowed to teach in a college or
university (allowed, not allowed)
g. Percentage of population that is ______
over weight
h. Average age of state’s residents ______
i. Library visits per capita in the ______
50 states
6.
Now take the same variables and check whether each is best treated as discrete or
continuous.
Kind of variable
Variable Discrete Continuous
a. Whether respondents has ever been divorced (yes, no)______
b. Estimate of percentage of U.S. population that is ______
Hispanic.
c. Religion (Protestant, Catholic, Jewish) ______
d. Has one’s financial situation been getting ______
better or worse, or staying the same
e. Confidence in science (great deal, only some, ______
hardly any)
f. Opinion about whether a racist should be allowed ______
To teach in a college or university (allowed, not allowed)
g. Percent of state’s population that is over weight ______
h. Average age of state’s residents ______
i. Library visits per capita in the 50 states ______
7.
Check whether each of these variables is dichotomous or non-dichotomous.
Dichotomous ?
Variable Yes No___
a. Whether respondent has ever been divorced (yes, no) ______
b. Estimate of percentage of U.S. population that is ______
Hispanic.
c. Religion (Protestant, Catholic, Jewish) ______
d. Has one’s financial situation been getting better ______
or worse, or staying the same.
e. Confidence in science (great deal, only some, hardly any) ______
f. Opinion about whether a racist should be allowed ______
To teach in a college or university (allowed, not allowed)
g. Percent of state’s population that is over weight ______
h. Average age of state’s residents ______
i. Library visits per capita in the 50 states ______
9.
Check whether each of the following is or is not an ecological variable.
Ecological Variable?
Variable Yes No
a. Whether respondent is married of not ______
b. Respondent’s favorite junk food ______
c. Average income in a state ______
d. Number of colleges and universities in a state ______
e. Military expenditures in 50 countries ______
f. Whether respondent was born in the U.S. or abroad ______
g. Percentage of state voting Republican ______
h. Number of children the respondent has ______
i. Spouse’s years of education ______
II Analyses: GSS Data
NOTE: Make sure that you have reviewed basic Student MicroCase operations and use of the Software Guides described in this workbook’s Getting Started instructions before starting these analyses. If requested by your instructor, attach clearly identified printouts of relevant MicroCase analyses to these exercises.
The General Social Survey is a statistical treasure trove of Americans’ opinions about social issues. Here you’ll have a chance to explore some of these opinions.
13. Reproduce and print out the MicroCase pie chart for the variable COMPUSE
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 95) COMPUSE?
View: Pie
14.
Reproduce and print out the MicroCase statistics summary for BOOKS16.
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 30) BOOKS16?
View: Statistics (Summary)
***************************************************
III Supplemental
Answer the following questions:
1 Interval variables have intrinsic orders to values.
Yes ______, No ______
2 Ratio variables have no standard unit of measurement.
Yes ______, No ______
3 Temperature is a
CONTINUOSE variable ______, DESCRETE variable ______
4 Crime rate is a
CONTINUOSE variable ______, DESCRETE variable ______
5 A researcher is going to study and compare crime rates among 30 US cities over the country. In this case, what is the UNIT OF ANALYSIS?
______
SOC 328
Chapter 2 Exercises
Frequency and Percentage Distributions
Name ID Soc 331 Section Score
A. Basic Ideas/Discussion Issues
1. Explain why we usually use percentages rather than frequencies to describe the distribution of a variable.
6. Describe at least five things wrong with this table:
Number of Siblings
PercentNone / 5.1%
1 / 18%
2 / 20.3%
2-6 / 62%
No Answer / .6%
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
B. Paper and Pencil Exercises
11. Here are the educations of 40 General Social Survey respondents:
Education Education Education Education
<Hi School College Hi School <Hi School
College Hi School College Hi School
Hi School <Hi School Hi School Hi School
Hi School Hi School Hi School Hi School
Hi School College <Hi School College
Hi School <Hi School Hi School Hi School
College College Hi School College
Hi School Hi School Hi School College
Hi School <Hi School College Hi School
College College Hi School Hi School
a. Present a pie chart showing the distribution of education.
b. Present a bar graph showing the distribution of education.
c. Present a table showing the percentage distribution of education.
d. Write a short paragraph describing the percentage distribution of
education.
C. Analyses: GSS Data
16. How much confidence do Americans have in the federal government?
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 73) FED.GOV’T?
View: Statistics (Summary)
Response Percent
Great Deal
Only Some
Hardly Any
______
17. Confidence in television?
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 74) TV?
View: Statistics (Summary)
Response Percent
Great Deal
Only Some
Hardly Any
______
18. And in Science?
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 75) SCIENCE?
View: Statistics (Summary)
Response Percent
Great Deal
Only Some
Hardly Any
______
D. Analyses: STATES Data
29. Let’s look at the distribution of crime around the United States. Murder rate---
The variable MURDER in the STATES data file—is a good index of violent crime in that definitions of murder are highly consistent among the 50 states and most murders are known to the police.
Data File: STATES
Task: Mapping
Primary Variable: 86) MURDER
View: Map
Display: Legend
This map shows variation in murders per 100,000 population. You can readily see regional variations in murder.
SUGGESTION: You may find the pattern even clearer with a spot map.
a. How many murders per 100,000 are represented by the following map colors?
Lightest color: (lowest) to (highest)
Darkest color: (lowest) to (highest)
b. What two regions or clusters of states have the highest murder rates?
c. What two regions or clusters of states have the lowest murder rates?
View: List: Rank
d. What three states have the highest murder rates?
State Murder Rate
e. What three states have the lowest murder rates?
State Murder Rate
f. Find the murder rate of the states indicated.
View: Map
Display: Find Case:
California: Ohio:
Rate for your school’s state: States name:
SOC 328
Chapter 3 Exercises Averages
Name ID Soc 331 Section Score
A. Basic Ideas/Discussion Issues
2. Check (√) whether the mean and median are appropriate for each of the following General Social Survey variables.
Mean Median
App Inapp App Inapp Variable Description
□ □ □ □ 21) #Children How many children have you
ever had? Please count all that
were born alive at any time
(including any you had from a previous marriage)
(Coded 0, 1, 2, . . .)
□ □ □ □ 5) Born USA? Were you born in this country?
(Yes, No)
□ □ □ □ 37)Help Poor? Place self on scale1) I strongly
agree the government should
improve living standards; to 5) I strongly agree that people should take care of themselves.
□ □ □ □ 60)USHISP Just your best guess—what
percentage of the United States
population is each group?
Hispanics (Coded 0, 1, 2, …)
□ □ □ □ 53)Income Gap Differences in income in
America are too large—do you
agree or disagree? (Strongly Agree, Agree, Neither, Disagree, Strongly Disagree)
□ □ □ □ 70)Green $$$ How willing would you be to
pay much higher prices in order
to protect the environment?
(Very willing, Fairly willing,
Neither, Not Very Willing, Not
at All)
□ □ □ □ 96)#CRT.WORD Total number of correct words
on vocabulary test (Coded 0, 1,
2, . . .)
3. Check (√) how adding 5 to every score on an interval/ration variable affects each
of the statistics listed below. That is, does adding 5 to every score decrease,
increase, or not affect each of these statistics, or is it impossible to determine without
knowing the scores?
Statistic Decrease Remain the same Increase Impossible to Determine
Mode □ □ □ □
Median □ □ □ □
Mean □ □ □ □
Difference between
Median and Mean □ □ □ □
B. Paper and Pencil Exercises
7. Here are six variables in the General Social Survey:
PRESTIGE—Respondents occupational prestige score Range: 17 to 86; Blank) Inapplicable
MARITAL—Are you currently married, widowed, divorced, separated, or have you never been married?
1)Married; 2)Widowed; 3)Divorced; 4)Separated; 5)Never Married;
9) No Answer
DIVORCE-- ASKED ONLY OF THOSE WHO ARE CURRENTLY MARRIED OR WIDOWED: Have you ever been divorced or legally separated?
1) Yes; 2) No; Blank) Inapplicable
#SIBS--How many brothers or sisters do you have?
Exact number coded; 98)Don’t Know; 99) No Answer
#CHILDREN—How many children have you ever had?
Exact number coded; 98) Don’t Know; 99) No Answer
AGE KD BRN—Respondent’s age in years when first child was born
Exact age coded; Blank) Inapplicable
Look at data for the 10 General Social Survey cases presented as an example of a data file in the text’s Chapter 1:
General Survey Variable
______
Case PRESTIGE MARITAL DIVORCE? #SIBS #CHILDREN AGE KD BRN
______
0001 43 5 1 0
0002 46 3 4 2 20
0003 2 1 4 5 19
0004 21 5 2 1 29
0005 65 3 1 0
0006 39 1 2 2 0
0007 34 5 1 0
0008 39 3 6 2 21
0009 51 1 2 0 1 35
0010 65 1 2 4 3 25
______
Identify each variables level of measurement and where appropriate, find the mean, median and mode of each variable for these cases. Write Inapp for any measure of central tendency that is inappropriate for the particular variable.
Level of Measurement
Variable Nominal Ordinal Int/Ratio Mode Median Mean
PRESTIGE □ □ □
MARITAL □ □ □
DIVORCE? □ □ □
#SIBS □ □ □
#CHILDREN □ □ □
AGE KD BRN □ □ □
C. Analyses: GSS Data
9. Use Microcase’s subset feature to answer the following exercises. ( We will learn more efficient ways to make these comparisons in Chapter 8.)
a.On average, are men or women older when they have their first child?
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 22)AGE KD BRN
Subset Variable: 1) SEX
Subset Category: Include 2) Male
View: Statistics (Summary)
Male Mean
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 22)AGE KD BRN
Subset Variable: 1) SEX
Subset Category: Include 1) Female
View: Statistics (Summary)
Female Mean
□ Men are older □ Women are older □ No gender difference
b.On average do whites or blacks offer higher estimates of the percentage of the U.S. population who are black?
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 58)USBLK
Subset Variable: 2)RACE
Subset Category: Include 1) White
View: Statistics (Summary)
White Mean
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 58)USBLK
Subset Variable: 2)RACE
Subset Category: Include 2) Black
View: Statistics (Summary)
Black Mean
□ Whites estimate higher □ Blacks estimate higer □ No racial difference
c.On average who are more politically liberal—people win their 20s or people in their 60s?
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 33)POL .VIEW
Subset Variable: 3)AGE
Subset Category: Include 20-29
View: Statistics (Summary)
20s Mean
Data File: GSS
Task: Univariate
Primary Variable: 33)POL .VIEW
Subset Variable: 3)AGE
Subset Category: Include 60-69
View: Statistics (Summary)
60s Mean
□ 20s are more liberal □ 60s are more liberal □ No Age difference
D. Analyses: STATES Data
12. In chapter 2 of this workbook you examined maps showing the distribution of murder, education, and povery rates across the United States. Now find the mean and median of each of the variables.