Student worksheet – Teacher version

Your task

During this activity, you will do research using microdata from the Census. You will have the opportunity to:

• ask questions and make predictions based on the data provided
• use technology to generate graphics using the microdata and then analyze these graphs
• develop a research question that makes use of the microdata

You are encouraged to work with a partner.

Student instructions:

1. View the 2001 Census attributes from the Statistics Canada website.
   1. 43
   2. 9
   3. Age, total income
   4. Numeric attributes: values are fully numeric
      Categorical attributes: values represent categories and are alphabetic or alphanumeric
   5. 34
   6. Mother tongue, religion
2. Ontario

One-variable analysis:

1. Total income
   1. Mean: $29,641.20
      Median: $22,944.50
      Standard deviation: $28,238.60
   2. 
      
      
      
      
      
   3. The histogram simplifies the graph. The dot plot shows the detailed distribution more clearly. A box plot simplifies the data but hides the details of the variability.

Two-variable analysis:

Two numeric attributes: Attribute 1: Total income ; Attribute 2: Value of dwelling

1. 
   
2. Please fill in the information below from your graph.
   1. Value of dwelling = 0.371 * Total_income + 149,800
   2. 0.371
   3. 149,800
   4. 0.058
   5. 0.07
3. Weak. Many dwellings are worth more than the $200,000 maximum value shown. Many individuals in the dataset are not the main wage earners in their family or household, e.g., children and spouses.

Two categorical attributes:

1. Attribute 1: First official language spoken ; Attribute 2: Religion
2. 
   
3. I can tell that there is a correlation between the two variables because almost all those with French as their first official language are of the Catholic religion, and many of those whose language is neither English nor French are non-Christians, such as Buddhists or Sikhs.

A second example for two categorical attributes:

• Attribute 1: Commuting distance in km ; Attribute 2: Mode of transportation
• 
  
• I can tell that there is a correlation between the two variables because most people who walk to work have a commuting distance of less than 5 km; most people who bike to work have a commuting distance of less than 10 km. For commuting distances greater than 10 km, almost everyone takes public transit or travels by car.

One categorical and one numeric attribute:

1. Attribute 1: Total income ; Attribute 2: Total years of schooling
2. 
   
3. In general, the higher the total number of years of schooling, the higher the median total income. To make a difference in median total income, people need to not just start high school but to complete it (i.e., 12 years of schooling).

Developing a Research Question:

1. What factors influence the mode of transportation other than commute distance?
   What role do age, gender, income, immigrant status and education level play in the decision of how to travel to work?