Statistics Homework 2 - During the 2008 presidential election

Mathematics - Statistics Homework 2

1. During the 2008 presidential election, health care and health insurance were identified by voters as important issues. Policy analysts have noted that the number of uninsured is increasing in the United States. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics are presented below.

The Uninsured Population Below 65 Years of Age by Selected Characteristics, 2007

Characteristic     Percentage

Age       

Below 18 Years  16.2

18-44 Years         61.2

45-64 Years         22.2

Poverty               

Below 100% of Poverty Line        25.1

100 to less that 200%      31.6

200 to less than 400%     28.7

400% or more    14.6

Race or Hispanic Origin 

Hispanic               31.3

White Only         48.0

Black      13.9

Asian     4.3

Other    2.4

Marital Status   

Single    40.2

Married                41.8

Separated/Divorced       16.3

Widowed            1.7

Choose one characteristic from above and graphically display it (use excel!). After the graph, write a brief description of the graph using the format described in class.

2. The 2010 General Social Survey (GSS) data on educational level can be further broken down by race as shown on the following page.

a. Construct two histograms for years of education, one for whites (N=636) and one for blacks (N=136). In constructing them, think how we can best compare two different sample sizes (so that you can answer part b).

Note: You do not have to collapse data into groups, like in homework 1.

b. Now use the two graphs to describe the differences in educational attainment by race.

Years of Education           Whites  Blacks

0              2              0

1              0              0

2              1              1

3              2              0

4              0              0

5              3              1

6              5              0

7              2              0

8              13           1

9              8              6

10           17           8

11           27           6

12           180         36

13           56           18

14           101         33

15           27           5

16           103         13

17           32           1

18           32           2

19           12           1

20           13           4

3. Twenty-five students completed an SAT preparation class. Their scores are reported below.

1120 1470 1260 1030 1500 1170 1090 1290 1100 1000

1110 1600 960 1280 1140 1040 1010 1350 1320 910

1030 1070 1190 1200 1030

a. Display these numbers graphically. (Think about how to do this most clearly – so you can look at the graph and quickly know something about how the scores are distributed/ grouped).

b. Calculate the mean, mode, and median of the distribution (show your work!).

c. What is the range?

d. What is the Interquartile Range (IQR)?