Lab Assignment 1

Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper. WRITE YOUR NAME on the assignment before turning it in. Staple all work if you have multiple sheets. You should type your answers, print the assignment and return it to the TA on the specified due date. DO NOT include your output. You cannot answer these questions without producing output and thus, we do not need to see the output itself. This is not group work. You should work on these responses on your own. Please consult the readings for further assistance if necessary.

Choose 3 independent variables and 1 dependent variable from the 2001 GSS dataset. The dependent variable must be continuous (interval ratio). Make sure to provide the name of the variables as well as the nature of the question asked in the survey regarding that variable (including the variable’s attributes).

1. Develop 3 hypotheses and provide a justification for these (6pts).

Suppose you’re interested in the length of time (in weeks) that a respondent is using contraception (drcntrus).

2. Why does the distribution of the variable look peculiar (2pts)?
3. By recoding the variable using “system-missing for new values”, how many actual meaningful cases are there (1pt)?
4. Report the appropriate measures of central tendency and dispersion for this (6pts)
5. What is the nature of the distribution of weeks using contraception? Justify your answer (4pts).
6. Recode this How many people did not use contraception (or used for less than 1 week) at the time when asked? How many used it for 300-599 weeks, how many used contraception 1800 weeks and more (3pts)?
7. Suppose you suspect that contraceptive use is somehow related to how many children a respondent intends to You want to analyze a variable that measures the intent to have a certain number of children. Which variable in the data best captures this and what is its level of measurement (2pts)?
8. How many missing cases does this variable have (1pt)?
9. Provide all the relevant descriptive statistics for this variable (6pts)
10. Describe the nature of this variable’s distribution and justify your answer (4pts)