Assignment 3

Chapter 3: Measures of Central Tendency

Submission date: 28-10-2019

Marks: 15
Group-based Assignment
(Use Excel or SPSS to complete this Assignment. Hand written document will not be
accepted).

The following data were drawn from the Latin American Migration Project, a collaborative
research effort based at Princeton University and the University of Guadalajara, supported by the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
(http://lamp.opr.princeton.edu).

A random sample of respondents was drawn from three Latin American countries: Nicaragua,
Guatemala, and Costa Rica. The variable if interest is the duration (in months) of stay in the United
States during a respondent’s first migration to the United States.

Nicaragua: 4, 6, 6, 6, 12, 36, 36, 36, 36, 60, 72, 78, 96, 120, 126, 156, 162, 162, 186, 540
Guatemala: 1, 1, 12, 24, 24, 24, 36, 36, 42, 60, 78, 84, 102, 102, 102, 102,132, 144
Costa Rica: 12, 12, 12, 12, 14, 15, 15, 18, 18, 24, 36, 48, 66, 120, 150, 150, 174, 282, 288

1. Specify the level of measure for the variable of interest here. That is, what is the level of
measurement of duration of stay during first U.S. migration?
2. Explain why the values of 12, 24, and 36 are so common in the data? What do these three
values have in common?
3. Calculate the mode for Costa Rica.
4. How does the mode for Guatemala compare to that of Costa Rica?
5. In light of your answers to Questions #3 and #4, one explanation is that respondents from Latin
American countries closer to the United States have a higher modal duration of stay during
their first U.S. migration than respondents from Latin American countries that are further
away. Does the evidence from Nicaragua support this idea? (Hint: examine a map of Latin
America to see whether you would expect the mode for Nicaragua to be greater than or less
than that for Costa Rica and Guatemala.)
6. Given your answer to Question #5, you are interested in extending this idea to the value of the
median. Which country would you expect to have the highest median duration of stay in the
United States during first U.S. migration?
7. Which of the three countries above has the highest median value? Does this support your idea
that respondents from Latin American countries that are closer to the United States have a
higher median duration of stay in the United States during their first migration than respondents
from Latin American countries that are further away?
8. At this point in your efforts, you notice that both Guatemala and Costa Rica have some very
low and very high values? Which measure of central tendency is most susceptible to such
extreme values?
9. Given your answers to Questions #5 and #7, you are interested in extending the idea that
respondents from Latin American countries that are closer to the United States have a higher
 mean duration of stay than respondents from Latin American countries that are further away.
Which country would you expect to have the lowest mean duration of stay during first U.S.
migration?
10. Which of the three countries has the lowest mean duration? Does this support your idea that
respondents from Latin American countries that are closer to the United States have a higher
mean duration of stay than respondents from Latin American countries that are further away?
11. For each country, identify the direction in which (if any) the distribution is skewed? Provide
specific evidence using your answers from the previous questions.
12. Select one country from Question #11 and illustrate your conclusion graphically using the
histogram. On your graph, be sure to highlight the mode, median, and the mean.
13. Construct box-whisker plot for each country separately. Interpret your findings.