Class #3: Populations and Samples

Samples in crime reporting

• Displaying Violent Crime Trends Using Estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey. This is a discussion of how the Department of Justice uses sampling to compile crime statistics.

• Rape in New Hampshire: A Report to the State. This is the study on which the Union Leader article was based. The file is in PDF format. If your browser won't open it, you should download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

  

Homework

1. Read the sections entitled "The National Crime Victimization Survey" and "Sampling" in the first "Displaying Violent Crime" link. (If you look later at the rape statistics you can find the figure we used in class to do a sanity check the NH story. Don't panic at the technical details-- we will talk more about these on Thursday.)
   

2. Read the "Executive Summary" and "Introduction" in the New Hampshire report.
   

3. Read handout on the 1994 Winter Term Poll. Turn in on Thursday: an informal short paragraph, record your impressions of this poll (informal means I am not looking at writing style--this is a learning exercise.)
   

4. On the shedule handout, record your classes for this semester, along with a count of the number of students in the main section (not discussion or lab). In the calendar on the reverse side, record your major exams, due dates, and co-curricular events