Analytical methods
Module 1 Assignment
Chapter 1
1. Determine the level of measurement (nominal; ordinal. Interval-ratio) for each of the following variables. Identify the highest level at which the variable might be measured.
a) Income
b) IQ
c) Number of children in your family
d) Race
e) Social class
f) Type of Offense with which a defendant is charged
Create a meaningful set of mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories for the nominal and ordinal variables.
For each variable that you classified as interval ratio, identify whether it is discrete or continuous.
2. Construct potential hypotheses or research questions to relate the variables in each of the following examples. Also write a brief statement explaining why you believe there is a relationship between the variables as specified in your hypothesis.
a) Age at release from incarceration and Recidivism.
b) Gender and Type of Offense with which a defendant is charged.
c) Community poverty rate and Attitudes toward police.
Chapter 2
3. Suppose you have surveyed 30 people. You ask them:
• Would you describe yourself as White (w) or Non-White (nw)?
• Would you describe yourself as Middle (m) or Working (w) Class?
• Have you been a victim of a crime in the past year? (Yes = 1 or No = 0)
• If yes, how many times have you been victimized? (number of times victimized [interval-ratio variable])
Case Race Class Victim N_times_vic
1 w w 1 1
2 w m 0 0
3 n w 1 1
4 n w 1 1
5 n w 1 2
6 w w 0 0
7 w m 0 0
8 w m 0 0
9 w w 1 1
10 n w 1 1
11 n w 1 2
12 w m 0 0
13 n w 0 0
14 w w 0 0
15 n w 1 1
16 w m 0 0
17 w w 1 2
18 w w 1 1
19 w w 1 1
20 n m 0 0
21 n m 1 2
22 w w 1 1
23 w w 0 0
24 n w 1 1
25 w m 0 0
26 w w 1 1
27 n m 0 0
28 n w 0 0
29 n w 0 0
30 w m 1 1
a) Construct a frequency distribution for each of the four variables.
b) Calculate the percentage of cases in each of the categories.
4. The US Bureau of Prisons reports the estimated percent of sentenced prisoners under state and federal jurisdiction by sex and age as of December 31, 2011. Percentages on inmates from age twenty through 64 are resented below.
Age Males Females
20-24 12.8% 11.4%
25-29 16.9% 17.7%
30-34 17.1% 17.8%
35-39 14.2% 15.0%
40-44 13.0% 14.3%
45-49 11.4% 12.0%
50-54 8.0% 7.1%
55-59 4.4% 3.3%
60-64 2.3% 1.4%
Total 100.0% 100.0%
a) Calculate a cumulative percentage distribution for Males.
b) Calculate a cumulative percentage distribution for Females.
Chapter 3
5. For each of the following variables tell whether it would be more appropriate to use a bar graph or a histogram. Explain your choice.
a) Ages of Male Inmates
b) Attitudes toward police
c) Community poverty rate
d) Gender
e) Income
f) IQ
g) Number of children in your family
h) Patterns of criminal offending
i) Race
j) Social class
Module 1 Learning Check
Discuss the characteristics of a rate in light of the definition presented in Chapter Two. As defined by chapter 2, rate is defined as “A number obtained by dividing the number of actual occurrences in a given time period by the number of possible occurrences”. Describe a specific research problem in criminology or criminal justice that is particularly appropriate for the use of rates other than those given in the text or lecture. Can you suggest a research problem where the use of rates may be inappropriate?