- 12th Aug 2022
- 06:03 am
Application Assignment #1
Instructions [25pts]
You will read two peer-reviewed journal articles and answer associated questions. In each assignment, we will focus on different statistical concepts/methods. I recommend reading each article in its entirety first in order to gain an understanding of the overall aims and findings of the article. Then you can focus on the sections that highlight the statistical concepts we have been learning about from the text and lectures.
This assignment covers material from chapters 1-4: Introduction to Statistics and Descriptives; Frequency Distributions; Measures of Central Tendency.
Read the two listed articles and answer the associated questions. Answer each question with complete sentences. Please use 12-point Times New Roman font and 1-inch margins. This assignment will be checked using anti-plagiarism software and returned to your instructor with an originality report.
Article 1:
Andresen, M. A., Frank, R., & Felson, M. (2013). Age and the distance to crime. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 14(3) 314 –33.
1. What are the main research questions in this study? What are the authors trying to determine and why are their questions important? [2pts]
Ans: The main research question in this study is to determine if age has any relationship with the distance to crime. Authors are trying to determine what is the importance of age in distance to crime and it is important in a sense that the result can be used as analysis of a crime. If a strong relationship is established between the two then the likelihood of connecting offenders to crime can be augmented.
2. In table 1, the authors present some central tendency measures. Answer the following questions about their method and findings:
a. What measures of central tendency were used, and what information did it tell us? Discuss why this measure of central tendency was used instead of the other two options? In other words, why was it inappropriate to use the other two measures of central tendency? Be sure to discuss why both of the other options were not appropriate. [4pts]
Ans: The measure of central tendency used was Median. The data has median between 0.0 and 2.51kms. It means that depending on categories, around 50% of crime happens withing the median distance. Overall, 2.51kms distance covers more than 50% of crime. The median is used in this case because it was most appropriate. Mean was not used because the data was skewed right and there were few potential outliers. Mode was not used as the data is continuous in nature and mode in this kind of measurement.
b. Which crime type had the shortest typical distance to crime? Which crime type had the longest distance to crime? Do you find these results surprising? Why or why not? [4pts]
Ans: The shortest typical distance was for Assault with median as 0.
The longest typical distance was for Assault with median as Armed Robbery with median of 2.51.
The results are not unexpected as usually armed robbery is done far from the location to avoid getting caught and Assault is such a common crime that large proportion of crime happens in neighborhood as well.
3. Again, looking at table 1, we see that the authors also included a “count” column that gives us some important information about the types of crime that are being reported to the police in British Columbia. Answer the following questions about crime type:
a. What type of variable is crime type? That is, what is the level of measurement? [2pts]
Ans: Crime Type is a nominal variable which is generally description of crime. It does not have any inherent order between them.
b. What is the mode? How do we know what the mode is? [2pts]
Ans: The mode is 0. Clearly as there are a lot of observation with distance as 0. Any other value is extremely unlikely to occur as many times as 0 which we know occurs atleast half of 49414 cases of Assault and few others in homicide, sexual assault, aggravated assault.
c. Convert the counts for the most frequent and least frequent crimes to percents. In other words, what percent of total crime do the most common and least common crimes account for? [4pts]
Ans: The most frequent crime is Assault with 49414/81257×100=60.8%
The least frequent crime is Commercial Burglary with 340/81257×100=0.42%
Assault account for around 60.8% of all crimes and Commercial Burglary accounts for merely 0.42% of all crimes
Article 2:
Button, D. M., & Worthen, M. G. (2014). General Strain Theory for LGBQ and SSB Youth The Importance of Intersectionality in the Future of Feminist Criminology. Feminist Criminology, 9(4), 270-297.
1. What are the main research questions in this study? What are the authors trying to determine and why are their questions important? [2pts]
Ans: The main research question in this study is whether there is any relation between multiple negative outcomes like poor academic performance, substance use, suicidality; and the LGBQ and SSB youth victimization like feeling unsafe, threatened/injured, property stolen.
Authors are trying to determine the influence of gender, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior on the relationship between victimization and multiple negative outcomes. The study is important from the viewpoint of protecting LGBQ and SSB community and future of feminist criminology directions.
2. What are the independent and dependent variables? How do we know which variables are independent and which are dependent (besides the fact that the authors labeled them for you)? [2pts]
Ans: The dependent variables: Multiple negative outcomes like poor academic performance, substance use, suicidality
Independent variables: gender, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior
Clearly, the dependent and independent variables are classified based on the objective of the study which is to explain and account the pattern in the negative outcome based on potential cause variables.
3. What sampling strategy did the authors use to identify their participants? Was this an appropriate method? Why or why not? [4pts]
Ans: The data used in this study come from the High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey which uses state wise probability sampling method. A random sample of Delaware 9th-, 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade classrooms was selected for survey administration between January and May of 2003, 2005, and 2007.
The method is appropriate as we know that less than 2% students only decline the participation and the sample is selected randomly and hence, it should be representative of the population.
