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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Sociology

2008

Statistics

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Marriage And Divorce: Changes And Their Driving Forces, Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers May 2008

Marriage And Divorce: Changes And Their Driving Forces, Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers

Betsey A Stevenson

We document key facts about marriage and divorce, comparing trends through the past 150 years and outcomes across demographic groups and countries. While divorce rates have risen over the past 150 years, they have been falling for the past quarter century. Marriage rates have also been falling, but more strikingly, the importance of marriage at different points in the life cycle has changed, reflecting rising age at first marriage, rising divorce followed by high remarriage rates, and a combination of increased longevity with a declining age gap between husbands and wives. Cohabitation has also become increasingly important, emerging as a …


Pedagogical Notes On Statistics And Human Rights, Fernando De Maio Dec 2007

Pedagogical Notes On Statistics And Human Rights, Fernando De Maio

Fernando De Maio

The notion of measuring human rights can be used with students beginning their studies of statistical analysis to foster a sense of creativity and encourage critical thinking. This article outlines ideas for four lessons which incorporate statistical analysis of human rights, from graphing the right to health using illness concentration curves to using ordinary least squares regression to examine differences in the human rights reporting of Amnesty International and the US State Department. Classroom discussion of measuring human rights can be used to stimulate an awareness of the need to examine statistics as products of socio-political forces.