SOC 331



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

| |Percent |

| | |

|None |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

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