Body Disposition: Trends and Statistics



Death, Dying and BereavementBody Disposition: Trends and StatisticsData Analysis Exercise #3This exercise is designed to familiarize you with historical trends in cremation and body disposition in the United States. In addition to gaining a better understanding of variation in burial and cremation rates, this exercise will also give you experience working with Excel, a spreadsheet software program that allows sociologists (and others!) to analyze quantitative data. This assignment will give you practical experience working with quantitative data. You will analyze information using percentages and prepare a line chart using percentages which you will also interpret. You will also get experience critically analyzing quantitative data and understanding why variation exists. This assignment is due on FEBRUARY 29 The maximum length for this assignment is 5 pages (plus bibliography) and it must be typed.Whenever you copy anything directly from the Internet, be sure to use quotation marks and put quotes around it. Otherwise, please reword the material in your own words! Meanwhile, please do not only copy material form the Internet – I want you to also put the information in your own words.PLEASE NOTE THAT EVERY STUDENT MUST DO THIS ASSIGNMENT INDIVIDUALLY. WHILE YOU ARE WELCOME TO DISCUSS THIS ASSIGNMENT WITH OTHERS, YOUR WORK MUST REFLECT AN INDIVIDUAL EFFORT. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE EXCEL GRAPHS. ETC![1] Learn about the history of cremation with information from the “Cremation Association of North America” () and Discovery Health () Do not just copy from these web sites!When did cremation first begin and where? Please draw on both web sites to respond to this question and note any differences indicated in the two web sites. Historically, where has cremation been practiced and by what groups? Please provide specific evidence from both the web sites above.To what extent was cremation practiced prior to 1800 in North America? When did the modern era of cremation begin in the United States and what prompted this?[2] Learn more about cremation in terms of what different religious groups have to say about it. Go to and summarize what the major religious groups say about cremation. Again, please either use quotation marks for any material you quote and please reword the information in your own writing. Please do not just copy the web site.[3] Look at the Report of the Cremation Association of North America (this is in the documents section of blackboard). Look at the data on the states with the highest percentage and the lowest percentage of cremation deaths! What five states had the highest proportion/percentage of deaths that ended up cremation in 2008 (indicate the top five and indicate the proportion/percentages of deaths that ended in cremation for those states)? What five states have the lowest proportion/percentage of cremation deaths (indicate the lowest five, and indicate the percentage of deaths that ended in cremation for those states)? What factors might account for these differences? (Feel free to discuss this with your colleagues.) [4] What are some of the countries with the highest and lowest cremation rates/percentages and how do they compare to the United States? (Some information will be provided in this chart: ). Be sure to look at the percentage column and indicate information for at least 3 countries in the high and low categories! What factors might account for these differences? (Feel free to discuss this with your colleagues.)[5] Find out more about cremation in the United States. The Cremation Association of North American issued an interesting report (). Please carefully review this entire brief report and describe what people are being cremated in and what typically happens with cremains (cremated remains)? (Please carefully read pages 3 and page 4 to answer this question.) Please provide actual data to support your position![6] Using Excel, make a LINE CHART showing trends in cremation from 1960 to 2008 in the United States. The data are available in the Cremation Report in the documents section of Blackboard (look at page 17-18, and be sure to use the % column!). There are instructions below for how to do this!IF USING MS OFFICE 2003:Open up ExcelIn cell A1 write “Year”In cell B1 write “Percent of deaths that were cremated” (or some similar label)Enter the data in Excel as follows: (I have used 4-year intervals here, but you need to use at minimum 3-year intervals.). I will automatically add one point to your grade if you use single-year intervals!Year Percent of deaths that were cremated‘19603.56‘19643.76‘19684.35‘19724.941976Etc.Highlight the rows and columns you want to graph (only those that have writing in them – nothing more, nothing less).Go to insert and select “chart.” Select “scatterplot” and click “next’ (make sure you select a scatterplot with lines that connect the dots)The chart automatically assumes you want to call it “Percent of cremation deaths” – but please change the title – perhaps something like “Trends in Cremation from 1960 to 2008 in the United States.”Your category (x) axis: is “Year”Your category (y) axis is “Percentage.”Click “Next”Select “as new sheet in chart 1”Now select your chart (by using the mouse to click on all of it – when you do so, little tick marks will appear in the corners of the chart’), copy it, and paste it in a Word document. Put your name in the corner!IF USING MS OFFICE 2007:Open up ExcelIn cell A1 write “Year”In cell B1 write “Percent of deaths that were cremated” (or some similar label)Enter the data in Excel as follows: (I have used 4-year intervals here, but you need to use at minimum 3-year intervals.). I will automatically add one point to your grade if you use single-year intervals!Year Percent of deaths that were cremated‘19603.56‘19643.76‘19684.35‘19724.941976Etc.Highlight the rows and columns you want to graph (only those that have writing in them – nothing more, nothing less).Go to insert and select “scatter” In the Scatter option, make sure you select a scatterplot with lines that connect the dots.The chart automatically assumes you want to call it “Percent of cremation deaths” – but please change the title – perhaps something like “Trends in Cremation from 1960 to 2008 in the United States.” You can simply go to the title and change it by writing over itSince Excel will automatically place the chart within your sheet, while you’re in the “design” tab, select “move chart location” and select “New sheet: Chart 1” and click “OK.” Now your chart will be in a new page. At the bottom of the page, you can click on the sheet 1 tab to go back to your data.To add labels to the X and Y axis, go to “Layout” and select “Axis titles.” Here you will want to select “Primary Horizontal Axis title” and select “Title Below Axis” and type in “Year.” You will also want to select “Primary Vertical Axis Title” and indicate how you want the title to appear (whatever way you select is fine with me) and type in the title!It may have a legend now that says “Series 1” – you can just highlight this and delete it since it’s not necessary.When you hand in you’re your line chart, please also hand in the excel data sheet with your name that you used to prepare it!!![7] Question: After you have prepared the chart, comment on what the data reveal. What trends do you observe? Please interpret what the chart indicates and make specific references to percentages that you have graphed (including 1960 and 2008). Please interpret the percentages as we have done in class indicating what the numbers mean without using the world percentage (or percent sign) in your interpretations. Approximately what percent of deaths are estimated to end in cremation in 2010? (See for this information). What are the reasons people choose cremation and why are rates increasing over time? (See page 19 of the cremation report for help in answering this question.)[8] Include a bibliography that correctly cites all the sources (including web sources) you have used for this assignment. Please note that there are instructions in the Reader packet for how to correctly cite web sources. Please refer to the last two pages of Part 4 of the reader packet. The final page will show you have you correct cite Internet/electronic sources! ................
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