Wahidi,+W

- criminal offences by month - live births per month in 2007 - live births compared to fetal deaths - in pro basketball, the number of assists per turnover - direct plus indirect greenhouse gas emissions intensity, by industry, annual - years of post secondary education and yearly income
 * __Brainstorming Ideas__**

Does the amount of years a person studies after high school directly affect their yearly salary? In other words, does the type of degree (high school diploma, associate's degree, bachelor degree, master degree, doctorate), have a positive correlation with one's annual income?
 * __Question__**

I hypothesize that the more one studies after high school (which for the most part means a better degree), the higher their yearly salary will be. There will be a strong positive correlation with one's annual income and the kind of degree they have obtained, with few or no outliers. I feel this way because of my personal observations and the raw data which I have reviewed regarding this matter.
 * __Hypothesis__**

The independent variable in this study is the kind of degree or diploma obtained in a certain year. The dependent variable is the amount of money earned annually. **Note:** the race/ethnicity of the people appear to alter annual salaries according to the raw data collected.
 * __Additional Information__**

In general, more often than not, the higher your degree or amount of years that you studied automatically means that you will have a higher annual salary. One may argue that there are external influences such as race and gender which have the potential to skew the results and/or cause bias in the data. All hidden variables aside, there definitely seems to be a strong positive correlation in the study.

"The data shows that a college degree correlates directly to your salary range—and the relationship between compensation and education level is becoming even more prominent. At the turn of the 20th century, American working life was different. Only a minority of adults had a high school diploma. But by 1975, full-time workers with a Bachelor's degree had 1.5 times the annual earnings of workers with a high school diploma. By 1999, this ratio had edged up to 1.8. As our society has continued to evolve, education has become the optimal route to professional success:pursuing a degree is the best way to receive training, to gain expertise in a given field, and even to guide you and help you make choices about your career." (see source 2)



**__My Sampling__** Even with all of my raw data collection, I still decided to go out and survey as many people as I could that were willing to discuss their annual income with me. I surveyed residents in the __Ancaster Meadowlands__ region recently so it would be in the present time frame. This data comes from a __sample__ in the meadowlands area since it was given to certain people and not everyone answered, so it doesn't represent the characteristics of the entire population. I had a small sample size of only 10 participants so the data was vulnerable to outliers, but I didn't run into any except a doctor on my street who earns over $100,000 but also completed 8 years of post-secondary education. I also excluded the possible hidden variable of race/ethnicity and how it could affect salary. However, __non-response bias__ definitely occurred with my survey, as I handed out 24 surveys and only got 10 back. I can't blame the participants since my question may have made some people feel uncomfortable about answering. There is a possibility that some __response bias__ may have also occurred during the surveying process. Since my question was pretty personal, participants may have given false or misleading answers, for example, if their salary is not as much as they'd like it to be. Other than that, I don't feel that my data was skewed in any way because I asked a simple, fill-in-the-blank question; "how many years did you study and what is your annual income?" **__Survey and Calculations__** I found that there is a strong positive correlation in the data (r = 0.98), which supported my hypothesis. Along with the raw data, my survey showed that the more one studies, the higher their annual income will be. Of course like any other study, there is a chance for outliers. Locally, I found no such cases but there are definitely some outliers if you look beyond my survey. Examples of this would be professional athletes, musicians and movie actors. There are so few cases, that I doubt it would affect the correlation coefficient.

**- where “x” is the years of post-secondary education** **- and “y” is the annual salary in Canadian dollars** **-__Note:__** **this data was collected from a __sample,__ not a population.**


 * X ||  Y  || X2 ||  Y2  ||  XY  ||   ||
 * 4 || 45,000 || 16 || 2,025,000,000 || 180,000 ||^  ||
 * 5 || 48,000 || 25 || 2,304,000,000 || 240,000 ||^  ||
 * 4 || 46,000 || 16 || 2,116,000,000 || 184,000 ||^  ||
 * 4 || 44,000 || 16 || 1,936,000,000 || 176,000 ||^  ||
 * 6 || 63,000 || 36 || 3,969,000,000 || 378,000 ||^  ||
 * 8 || 105,000 || 64 || 11,025,000,000 || 840,000 ||^  ||
 * 4 || 43,000 || 16 || 1,849,000,000 || 172,000 ||^  ||
 * 5 || 47,500 || 25 || 2,256,250,000 || 237,500 ||^  ||
 * 4 || 42,000 || 16 || 1,764,000,000 || 168,000 ||^  ||
 * 5 || 45,500 || 25 || 2,072,500,000 || 227,500 ||^  ||


 * **49** || **529,000** || **255** || **31,270,250,000** || **2,803,000** ||



**__Conclusion:__** After doing my survey and the calculations, I found that my hypothesis proved to be correct. The data showed a nearly perfect positive correlation (r = 0.98) and the standard deviation was quite low (s = 1.28) which is a sign that the data is very compact or close together. ** Table 20-2. Median annual earnings of full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 25–34, by race/ethnicity and educational attainment: Selected years, 1980–2006 **
 * (see source 1) **
 * __OUTLIERS__**



|| ||
 * < Race/ethnicity1 and educational attainment ||> 1980 ||> 1985 ||> 1990 ||> 1995 ||> 2000 ||> 2005 ||> 2006 ||
 * < Race/ethnicity1 and educational attainment ||> 1980 ||> 1985 ||> 1990 ||> 1995 ||> 2000 ||> 2005 ||> 2006 ||
 * < White ||> $38,200 ||> $37,500 ||> $37,000 ||> $34,400 ||> $37,900 ||> $36,100 ||> $37,400 ||
 * < Less than high school ||> 30,800 ||> 28,100 ||> 26,200 ||> 23,800 ||> 23,400 ||> 23,700 ||> 25,000 ||
 * < High school diploma or equivalent ||> 35,100 ||> 33,700 ||> 30,900 ||> 29,100 ||> 32,200 ||> 31,000 ||> 30,000 ||
 * < Some college2 ||> 38,800 ||> 37,500 ||> 36,700 ||> 31,800 ||> 35,100 ||> 33,000 ||> 33,300 ||
 * < Associate’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 34,400 ||> 37,500 ||> 36,100 ||> 35,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree or higher ||> 44,000 ||> 46,900 ||> 46,300 ||> 45,000 ||> 46,800 ||> 46,500 ||> 45,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 42,300 ||> 46,800 ||> 42,300 ||> 45,000 ||
 * < Master’s degree or higher ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 52,900 ||> 52,700 ||> 51,600 ||> 50,000 ||
 * < Black ||> 29,400 ||> 28,100 ||> 27,800 ||> 27,800 ||> 29,700 ||> 29,800 ||> 30,000 ||
 * < Less than high school ||> 21,800 ||> 18,700 ||> 19,600 ||> 18,600 ||> 22,200 ||> 21,500 ||> 18,000 ||
 * < High school diploma or equivalent ||> 29,400 ||> 26,200 ||> 24,500 ||> 23,800 ||> 24,600 ||> 23,700 ||> 25,000 ||
 * < Some college2 ||> 31,800 ||> 28,100 ||> 30,100 ||> 29,100 ||> 30,400 ||> 30,100 ||> 28,000 ||
 * < Associate’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 29,100 ||> 29,300 ||> 28,900 ||> 29,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree or higher ||> 36,700 ||> 37,500 ||> 38,600 ||> 36,400 ||> 41,000 ||> 40,300 ||> 40,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 34,400 ||> 38,600 ||> 37,200 ||> 37,000 ||
 * < Master’s degree or higher ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 45,000 ||> 50,300 ||> 45,400 ||> 50,000 ||
 * < Hispanic ||> 33,000 ||> 30,400 ||> 27,800 ||> 26,500 ||> 29,300 ||> 27,900 ||> 28,000 ||
 * < Less than high school ||> 29,300 ||> 24,400 ||> 21,700 ||> 20,600 ||> 21,300 ||> 21,500 ||> 20,800 ||
 * < High school diploma or equivalent ||> 29,400 ||> 28,100 ||> 26,200 ||> 25,100 ||> 26,900 ||> 24,800 ||> 26,000 ||
 * < Some college2 ||> 36,700 ||> 35,600 ||> 30,900 ||> 26,500 ||> 31,600 ||> 33,000 ||> 30,000 ||
 * < Associate’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 31,800 ||> 35,100 ||> 35,100 ||> 32,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree or higher ||> 40,000 ||> 45,000 ||> 41,700 ||> 39,700 ||> 44,500 ||> 42,300 ||> 42,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 38,100 ||> 42,100 ||> 41,300 ||> 40,000 ||
 * < Master’s degree or higher ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> ‡ ||> ‡ ||> 52,300 ||> 48,000 ||
 * < Asian ||> — ||> — ||> 36,3003 ||> 34,4003 ||> 42,1003 ||> 41,300 ||> 45,000 ||
 * < Less than high school ||> — ||> — ||> ‡3 ||> ‡3 ||> ‡3 ||> ‡ ||> ‡ ||
 * < High school diploma or equivalent ||> — ||> — ||> 25,5003 ||> 26,5003 ||> 29,3003 ||> 27,900 ||> 28,000 ||
 * < Some college2 ||> — ||> — ||> 30,9003 ||> 24,6003 ||> 32,8003 ||> 31,000 ||> 32,000 ||
 * < Associate’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 26,5003 ||> 35,1003 ||> 36,100 ||> 36,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree or higher ||> — ||> — ||> 46,3003 ||> 43,7003 ||> 58,5003 ||> 51,600 ||> 55,000 ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 40,3003 ||> 57,4003 ||> 51,600 ||> 50,000 ||
 * < Master’s degree or higher ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 50,3003 ||> 62,0003 ||> 56,800 ||> 60,000 ||
 * < Pacific Islander ||> — ||> — ||> (3) ||> (3) ||> ‡3 ||> ‡ ||> 30,000 ||
 * < American Indian/Alaska Native ||> — ||> — ||> 30,900 ||> 26,500 ||> 28,100 ||> 31,000 ||> 27,000 ||
 * < More than one race ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> 36,100 ||> 35,000 ||
 * < Other ||> $36,700 ||> $37,100 ||> ‡ ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Less than high school ||> ‡ ||> ‡ ||> ‡ ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < High school diploma or equivalent ||> 29,400 ||> 30,000 ||> ‡ ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Some college2 ||> 36,700 ||> 34,100 ||> ‡ ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Associate’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree or higher ||> 44,000 ||> 41,200 ||> ‡ ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Master’s degree or higher ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Associate’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree or higher ||> 44,000 ||> 41,200 ||> ‡ ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Bachelor’s degree ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < Master’s degree or higher ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||> — ||
 * < — Not available. ||
 * < ‡ Reporting standards not met (too few cases). ||
 * < 1 Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Estimates for educational categories for Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and More than one race subgroups did not meet reporting standards. ||
 * < 2 Due to changes in categories across time, the category “some college” prior to 1992 is not comparable with “some college” from 1992 onwards. Prior to 1992, some college may include students who earned an associate’s degree. ||
 * < 3 From 1989 through 2002, data for Asians and Pacific Islanders were not reported separately; therefore, Pacific Islanders are included with Asians during this period. ||
 * < NOTE: Earnings are presented in constant dollars by means of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to eliminate inflationary factors and allow for direct comparison across years. See [|supplemental note 11] for further discussion. //Full-year worker// refers to those who were employed 50 or more weeks during the previous year; //full-time worker// refers to those who were usually employed 35 or more hours per week. The Current Population Survey (CPS) questions used to obtain educational attainment were changed in 1992. In 1994, the survey instrument for the CPS was changed and weights were adjusted. See [|supplemental note 2] for further discussion on both of these changes. ||
 * < SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), March and Annual Social and Economic Supplement, selected years, 1981–2007. ||
 * __Bibliography__ **
 * __1. About.com: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2008/section2/table.asp?tableID=895. (n.d.). //Continuing Education - Info for the Non-Traditional Student, Teacher of Adults, and Lifelong Learner//. Retrieved November 14, 2010, from http://adulted.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=adulted&cdn __ **


 * __ 2. Job Salary Earnings Comparison - College Degrees and High School Diploma; //Top Online Colleges & Universities. // __ ** Retrieved December 6, 2010 from [].

3. Fineday, M. (n.d.). Degree vs. Salary Facts | Campus & Online Degree Programs | WorldWideLearn.com. //Online Degree Programs from Online Colleges & Universities | WorldWideLearn.com//. Retrieved December 6, 2010, from http://www.worl

dwidelearn.com/education-articles/education-salary.html