ABSTRACT
Asyourecallfromthepreviouschapter,nominaldataare"naming data."Forexample,thefostercareadolescentswhomweconsideredin Chapter1wereaskedtonametheirrace,and12saidAfricanAmerican while46saidWhite.Calculatingthecorrespondingpercentagesiseasy: dividethenumberofindividualsthatweareinterestedinbythetotalnumber,multiplyby100,andaddapercentsign.Here'showtodoitforthe AfricanAmericanadolescents,keepinginmindthatthereare12African Americans(thepart)outofatotalof58adolescents(thewhole):
part=g=(.207)(100)=20.7=21% whole58
FortheWhites,thepercentageiscalculatedasfollows: part46 - =- =(.793)(100)=79.3=79% whole58
Whatdothesepercentagestellus?Simplythatforevery100participants,roughly21areAfricanAmericanand79areWhite.Ofcourse,there wereonly58participants,sowhyareweusingpercentagestoconverttoa baseof100?Becauseitallowsustocomparegroupsofunequalsize.For example,accordingtotheUnitedStatesCensus,23%offostercareadolescentsinthenationareAfricanAmerican,60%areWhite,10%areHispanic,5%areclassifiedas"other,"and2%areofunknownethnicity. Thus,bycomparingpercentages,wecanseethatinthefostercarehomeof interestthereisasmallerpercentageofAfricanAmericans(21%)thanin homesnationally(23%).Also,thereisalargerpercentageofWhites (79%)inthehomeofinterestthaninhomesnationally(60%).
