Type of graph for comparative suicide rates: The World health Organization track

Question

Type of graph for comparative suicide rates: The World health Organization tracks suicide rates by gender across countries. For example in 2011, the rate of suicide per 100,000 men was 17.3 in Canada, 17.7 in the United Sates, 44.6 in Sri Lanka, 53.9 in the Russian Federation, 1.4 in the South Africa, and 2.5 in the Philippines.

A. What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?

B. Are the variables nominal, ordinal or scale?

C. Which graph would be most appropriate to depict the data? Explain why.

D. If you wanted to track the suicide rates for three of these countries over 50 years, what type of graph might you use to show these data?

Explanation / Answer

A. Independent variable: Country

Dependent variable: Rate of suicide per 100,000 men

B. Independent variable country is nominal as it stores categorical values.

Dependent variable: Rate of suicide per 100,000 men is scale variable as it stores numerical values with arithmetic applications.

C. Bar graph can be used for easy comparison across countries (X axis). Difference in height of graph is more evident from a bar graph.

D. Over a period of 50 years, a line chart is appropriate, with each country having a line of different colour. This will make it easier for comparing time trends across countries.

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