Social Studies 201

Social Studies 201

Fall 2004

Problem Set 1

Due Monday, September 20, 2004

This question asks you to comment on the attached article "Students hit in wallets again," by Tom Switzer, published in the Leader-Post, September 3, 2004, p. B1. Some of t he data for this article comes from "University tuition fees," from Statistics Canada, The Daily, September 2, 2004, available at the web site http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040902/d040902a.htm . I have placed a copy of the Statistics Canada article in the Social Studies 201 binder at the Reserve Desk in the University Library, and you may find some parts of it useful in making your comments. Read through the Leader-Post article and write a paragraph or two addressing any problems you see with the data or analysis, or any questions you may have about the data cited and the comments of those interviewed. Some of the issues of data production, from sections 2.7.3 through 2.7.6 of Chapter 2 of the text, may guide you. Mention any other issues you consider relevant.
Use the questionnaire of the Survey of Student Attitudes and Experiences Fall 1998 (SSAE98) for this question. For each of que stions 17, 45, 33, 43, 49 in the questionnaire, (i) clearly identify or name the variable in the question; (ii) state the highest level of measurement the variable has (nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio), explaining your reasoning; and (iii) for each v ariable, explain whether it is discrete or continuous.
The data in Tables 1a and 1b report the annual hours volunteers in two age groups said they spent volunteering for cultural and recreational organizations. The numbers in the table are ada pted from data about Saskatchewan respondents in the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 1997, conducted by Statistics Canada. Construct an (i) unordered and (ii) ordered stem-and-leaf display for each of the two age groups. (iii) From the stem-and-leaf displays construct frequency distribution tables of annual hours spent volunteering for cultural and recreational organizations for each of the two age groups. (iv) In words, briefly describe and compare the frequency distr ibutions.
Table 2 contains frequency distributions of annual hours worked at jobs for all Saskatchewan respondents and for those in two different age groups. These data come from Saskatchewan respondents in the Survey of Labour and Income Dy namics, a cross-Canada survey of adults, conducted by Statistics Canada. Use these data to construct a histogram for the distribution of annual hours worked at jobs (a) for respondents aged 15-24 and (b) for respondents aged 35-44. In words, briefly comment on similarities and differences between the two distributions.

Table 1a. Annual number of hours spent volunteering for culture and recreational organizations, 1997 fifty-eight Sask atchewan 15-24 year old volunteers

44	80	16	4	1	32
21	11	11	60	12	1
63	101	42	15	4	5
5	58	45	32	24	18
120	5	24	25	7	93
120	112	1	2	3	35
60	95	38	2	46	45
22	108	49	53	10	6
90	60	4	54	6
105	75	5	4

Table 1b. Annual number of hours spent volunteering for culture and recreational organizations, 1997 thirty-five 55-64 year old volunteers

3	61	72	22	12	27
72	77	90	104	139	48
12	32	68	58	120	40
12	4	140	104	50	51
81	34	5	64	29	180
125	58	8	170	42

Source: Adapted from Statistics Canada. National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 1997: Main file [machine readable data file]. Ottawa, Ontario, Statis wtics Canada. August 20, 1999.

Table 2. Annual hours worked at jobs, 1999, by age, Saskatchewan respondents

Annual hours worked at jobs	Number of respondents by age
Annual hours worked at jobs	All ages	Ages 15-24	Ages 35-44
250-750	264	129	39
750-1,250	259	91	44
1,250-1,750	340	93	74
1,750-2,250	1,134	132	380
2,250-2,750	232	34	63
2,750 plus	257	23	84
Total	2,486	502	684

Source: Adapted from Stat istics Canada. Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), 1999: Person file [machine readable data file]. Release 1 Edition. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada. 4/16/2003.

44	80	16	4	1	32
21	11	11	60	12	1
63	101	42	15	4	5
5	58	45	32	24	18
120	5	24	25	7	93
120	112	1	2	3	35
60	95	38	2	46	45
22	108	49	53	10	6
90	60	4	54	6
105	75	5	4

3	61	72	22	12	27
72	77	90	104	139	48
12	32	68	58	120	40
12	4	140	104	50	51
81	34	5	64	29	180
125	58	8	170	42

44	80	16	4	1	32
21	11	11	60	12	1
63	101	42	15	4	5
5	58	45	32	24	18
120	5	24	25	7	93
120	112	1	2	3	35
60	95	38	2	46	45
22	108	49	53	10	6
90	60	4	54	6
105	75	5	4

3	61	72	22	12	27
72	77	90	104	139	48
12	32	68	58	120	40
12	4	140	104	50	51
81	34	5	64	29	180
125	58	8	170	42

44	80	16	4	1	32
21	11	11	60	12	1
63	101	42	15	4	5
5	58	45	32	24	18
120	5	24	25	7	93
120	112	1	2	3	35
60	95	38	2	46	45
22	108	49	53	10	6
90	60	4	54	6
105	75	5	4

3	61	72	22	12	27
72	77	90	104	139	48
12	32	68	58	120	40
12	4	140	104	50	51
81	34	5	64	29	180
125	58	8	170	42