2.1. Is the world's wealth distributed evenly?
6 The data can be split into country groups (using the BY subcommand in MINITAB). A clear representation of the data is obtained when a boxplot for Gross National Product is drawn for each country group. Outliers are clearly shown but will need to be identified by the students.
7 Further questions will naturally arise: Why are Singapore and Hong Kong outliers in Asia? Why is Libya an outlier in Africa? How do these richer countries compare to countries in Western Europe or the Middle East?
8 One of the main aims of this kind of analysis is that students will generate their own questions. They do not need external motivation to think about and interpret the graphs and statistical results. Histograms can be compared to the boxplots and their relative merits discussed.
9 Suggested analyses and graphs are summarised for the other questions; as before, students are encouraged to discuss what they have found and to ask further questions.
Are birth rates related to death rates?
How quickly are populations growing?
5 In previous courses MINITAB has been used to analyse the data, but another package such as SPSS (Windows) would be equally suitable. In answering the questions, the following statistical techniques may be used.