ESH 2A Project – Working with Official Statistics
Instructions: Please type/paste your answers into this document. Numerical answers should be rounded to one decimal point, for example, 44.5. Where answers require a written answer please note the word limit for each question. The noted number of words is the maximum you are allowed. This will be marked out of 44 and then halved to give your overall grade.
Question 1 – Calculate the percentage of individuals who were born in the following countries. Do this for both the 1881 and 1911 censuses of Govan.
a) Ireland (1 mark)
b) Russia (1 mark)
c) Scotland (1 mark)
d) England (1 mark)
Now create a comparative bar chart for 1881 and 1911 showing the number of Scots-born, Irish-born, Russian-born and English-born residents of Govan. (2 marks)
Question 2 – What might account for the changes evident between 1881 and 1911? (100 words) (3 marks)
Question 3 – What percentage of residents of Govan in a) 1881 and b) 1911 were born within the parish of Govan? (2 marks)
Question 4 – Calculate the average size of households for the a) 1881 and b) 1911 censuses of Govan (2 marks). What trend do you see occurring and why might this have happened? (80 words) (2 marks)
Question 5 – How do the average household sizes compare to the national average documented in the official census reports for a) 1881 and b) 1911? (2 marks) (See Appendix A, p.20, Table 9, & Appendix B, p. 6 (c))
Question 6 – In the attached Excel file for the census of Govan 1911, column D notes the number of rooms with windows in each household. What is the average number of windows per household? (1 mark). Calculate the national average using the total figures given under ‘Inhabited Houses’ on page c (6) of Appendix B (1 mark)
Question 7 – The 1911 census contained information about marriages and children. Why might this information have been included? (30 words, 2 marks)
Question 8 – The Registrar General’s Report for 1911 contains detailed information about child mortality (Appendix E), pp. 56-59. Calculate a) the percentage of infant deaths from Whooping Cough amongst all deaths of those aged under 1 year of age in Glasgow; and b) as a percentage of all deaths that year in Glasgow. (2 marks)
Question 9 – Using Appendix E again, p. 56, calculate the percentage of total deaths for Glasgow that occurred in children under the age of 1 year. (1 mark)
Question 10 – Using the 1911 Govan census workbook, calculate the averages for a) Children Born Alive and b) Children Still Living. (2 marks) What factors might account for the differences between these figures? (60 words, 3 marks).
Question 11 – According to the census report of 1911, what family factors were assumed to play a part in the likelihood of child survival, and what statistics are used to support that determination? Why might this determination be flawed? (100 words, 3 marks) (See Appendix C, p. xxxvii-xxxviii).
Question 12 - Looking at the employment of female adults in both censuses. What do the noted occupations say about both married and single women’s labour and the census? (80 words) (3 marks)
Question 13 – According to the official census reports for Scotland 1881 and 1911, the percentage of the population falling into these age groups was as follows:
|
Age Group
|
Percentage (Scotland 1881)
|
Percentage (Scotland 1911)
|
|
0-14
|
36.6
|
32.3
|
|
15-24
|
19.3
|
18.5
|
|
25-44
|
25.0
|
28.2
|
|
45-59
|
11.4
|
12.9
|
|
60-74
|
6.2
|
6.6
|
|
75+
|
1.5
|
1.5
|
Break down the populations of the Govan 1881 and 1911 sample into the same age groups in the following table (2 marks):
|
Age Group
|
Percentage (Govan 1881)
|
Percentage (Govan 1911)
|
|
0-14
|
|
|
|
15-24
|
|
|
|
25-44
|
|
|
|
45-59
|
|
|
|
60-74
|
|
|
|
75+
|
|
|
Question 14 –Consider any differences and explain (80 words) why there may be differences between the national and Govan averages (3 marks).
Question 15 – Examine the excerpt (appendix D, p.27) from the Registrar General’s report on Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland for 1881. Children (0-15 years of age) make up what percentage of all deaths in Scotland that year? (1 mark)
Question 16 – Do the same for the 1911 figures (appendix E, page lxiii [13]) (1 mark).
Question 17 – The average age at death figures for men and women from the Registrar General report for 1911, state that for men and women, this was 39.2 years of age (appendix E, p. xx). Why must historians be cautious with such averages? (2 marks, 50 words)