Social Studies 201

Fall 2004

Problem Set 1

Due Monday, January 19

1. Attached are copies of the articles “Grandparents take active role in households,” by Caroline Alphonso, published in the Globe and Mail, December 10, 2003, p. A5, and “Grandparents and grandchildren, 2001,” from Statistics Canada, The Daily, December 9, 2003, available at the web site http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/031209/d031209b.htm. The Globe and Mail article was based on the Statistics Canada article. Read through both articles 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. 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, but mention other issues where you consider them relevant.

2. Use the questionnaire of the Survey of Student Attitudes and Experiences Fall 1998 for this question. For each of questions 11, 26, 38, 47 (first row), and 56 in the questionnaire, (i) clearly identify or name the variable in the question. (ii) For each variable state the highest level of measurement the variable has (nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio) and, in a sentence, explain your reasoning. (iii) For each variable, also explain whether the variable is discrete or continuous.

3. The data in Tables 1a and 1b represent the monthly hours males and females reported they spent at the household activity of cooking. The data come from General Social Survey, Cycle 12, 1998: Time Use, conducted by Statistics Canada. Present an (i) unordered and (ii) ordered stem and leaf display for each of males and females. From these construct (iii) a table showing the frequency distribution of monthly hours spent cooking for each of males and females, and (iv) a histogram of the distribution of monthly hours spent cooking. (v) In words, briefly describe and compare the frequency distributions.

4. Table 2 contains information about the age at which survey respondents last did paid work. These data come from 4,297 respondents in Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, 2001: Family History, a cross-Canada survey of adults. Table 2 gives the frequency distribution for the number of respondents who reported each age at which they last did paid work, for each of male respondents and females respondents. Use these data to construct histograms for the distribution of age last did paid work for each of males and females. In words, briefly describe similarities and differences between the two distributions.

Table 1a. Monthly number of hours spent cooking – fifty-five Saskatchewan males

0	3	15	40	0	8
0	68	13	5	8	2
25	0	0	10	22	0
5	5	20	23	10	19
2	5	20	29	5	7
27	95	0	2	10	0
5	22	62	22	0	8
10	7	25	0	50	5
0	17	5	0	3	0
5

Table 1a. Monthly number of hours spent cooking – sixty-five Saskatchewan females

22	40	82	7	0	8
23	55	38	25	98	30
15	17	28	30	15	20
57	70	92	32	45	0
2	5	8	15	23	60
43	55	0	25	53	95
30	28	15	0	38	27
0	15	22	20	50	65
12	37	30	90	5	22
25	2	5	25	51	65
20	15	0	67	15

Table 2. Frequency distributions of age when respondent last did paid work

Age in years	Number of respondents by sex
	Male	Female
15-24	40	521
25-34	103	687
35-44	168	435
45-54	266	509
55-59	253	319
60-64	317	259
65 plus	238	182
Total	1,385	2,912

Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, Cycle 15