SCIL07002 Data Literacy

Contains a selection of UK data from European Social Survey 2018. You can assume that this data is a random sample from the UK adult population. The word document ESS9_THE _ guide.docx contains a description of the variables contained in the file. You should make a copy of the Excel file to work from. (Thus if you delete or change parts of the file in error you can always make another copy of the original file.) The version of the excel file sent to you is unique, so that the correct answers to this section of the exam may be different for different candidates. Answer the following questions using the data in your copy of the excel file. Numbers in squre brackets indicate the marks for each question.

How many cases are there in the dataset?

What level of measurement is the variable polintr?

Report the median and interquartile range of the ages for those participating in the survey who:

(a) were born in the UK

(b) were not born in the UK.  

What conclusion can you draw from your answer to Q(3)?

Report the mean and standard deviation of the score for survey participants general life satisfaction (stflife)

If life satisfaction scores were approximately normally distributed, about how many survey participants would you expect to have a score of 3 or less?

How many cases in the dataset actually have a score of 3 or less?

Comparing your answers to Q(7) and Q(6), what do you conclude?

Assuming that survey participants are a random sample of UK adults, produce a 95% confidence interval for the mean score for general life satisfaction. Show the calculations you arrive to produce the interval.  Assume that a 95% CI requires you to use 2 standard errors. Round your answer to two decimal places.

Report the Pearson correlation coefficient r for the association between survey participants’ views about European unification and their views about immigration. Assume that each of these variables is at the interval level of measurement.  Round your answer to two decimal places.

Give a short (one sentence) interpretation of your results for Q(10) to someone unfamiliar with statistics terminology.

Report the Pearson correlation coefficient r for the association between survey participants’ views about European unification and their score on life satisfaction. (Assume that each of these variables is at the interval level of measurement).

A friend looks at your results for Q(12) and comments “This shows that Brexit makes people unhappy”. Explain briefly whether you would agree with your friend’s interpretation of your result and why.

Using the binomial formula, find the approximate probability that in the population from which this random sample of men and women was drawn, men and women were equally likely to say that they were very/quite interested in politics.

(Assume that in a binomial distribution, the area under the curve is approximately:

68% within one standard deviation of the mean

95% within two standard deviations of the mean

99.5% within three standard deviations of the mean

99.99% within four standard deviations of the mean).    

A friend looks at your results and says. “This proves that men are more interested in politics than women.” Explain whether or not you would agree with your friend’s comment, and why.

In politics people sometimes talk of “left” and “right”. Where would you place yourself on this scale, where  0 means the left and 10 means the right?

All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole nowadays? means extremely dissatisfied and 10 means extremely satisfied.

Now thinking about the European Union, some say European unification should go further. Others say it has already gone too far. Using this card, what number on the scale best describes your position? means unification has already gone too far and 10 means unification should go further.