Stats rant ahead, keep the line moving please...
I just sorted out Assignment 1 to the point that I have 1 (one) question left to clarify with my TA tomorrow. I had glanced at Assignment 2 earlier, and thought it looked quite doable. But now that I’ve had a chance to read it through, I don’t think I can use my existing data set for ittttt! I need two continuous or interval variables, and I only have one continuous, two categorical, a few dichotomous and several nominal. And I do not have time to source and clean up another data set. I’ll ask my TA if she can think of any way to recode any variable to make it *look* like an interval, just the purpose of this assignment.
For example - I have a 7-item categorical variable for “Class of Weapon” (unarmed, toy weapon, blunt object, sharp object etc.) but they’re not spaced at intervals or ranked in any way. But maybe she’ll let me pretend they are for now...
I have until Monday night, but I have SO MUCH other stuff to do that I just want to get this off my desk as soon as possible.
ETA: AHAHA, it’s getting late and I just realize that technically, I could use the entire date range of 2021 as a continuous variable, as well as the ages of attackers, which I already have. That could get all kinds of X-files-esque. “Hey, Scully, did you know there’s a statistically significant correlation between how old a violent criminal is, and how close to full moon dates they commit crimes?”
ETA again: WHOO! Permission to treat a categorical variable as a ranked variable with directionality! This means I can complete Assn 1 MUCH more simply, and get cracking on Assn 2. I may even complete them both tonight...??
