Internet Activities

Chapter 13

Click on the following links - please note these will open in a new window

Much scholarly work has gone into understanding the HIV/AIDS epidemic, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers have suggested that there may be a relationship between the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in a given country and education and literacy levels, particularly among women. The idea is that education and literacy contribute to a greater understanding of prevention and, if infected, the care a maintenance of the infection. For this exercise we will explore this relationship using data from the Population Reference Bureau's Data Finder tool available on its website: http://www.prb.org/Datafinder.aspx.

Navigate to the above URL and select the following world regions: America - North, America - South, Asia, Europe, Africa - Sub-Saharan, and Oceania. Once you have checked each of these regions, click Next. Locate and select the following variables. Click on the HIV/AIDS link and check HIV Infected Adults Who are Women Population. Click on the Education link and check Literacy Rate, Ages 15-24, 2000-04, Female. At the bottom of your screen, click Get Report. You should now have the data of interest on the screen in front of you.

Begin by constructing a scatter diagram using these data with the literacy rate as your independent variable and the percentage women infected with HIV as your dependent variable. Does there appear to be a relationship between the two variables? If so, what type of relationship? What direction does the relationship appear to have? Next, follow the example from Table 13.4 in your text book to calculate the various quantities necessary to construct a linear regression equation, Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), and the coefficient of determination (r2). Based on your analysis, write up a summary of your results, characterizing the relationship between these two variables.