Statistics Report: Child Labour in the Dominican Republic (SPSS)

This statistics assignment requires students to analyze child labour in the Dominican Republic using an SPSS dataset. The task involves creating a report of approximately 1,000 words, divided into introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions sections. Students must describe the sample, including area of residence and wealth quintiles, and analyze various aspects of child labour, such as age, working hours, location of work, reasons for work, and earnings. They are instructed to generate descriptive statistics, create graphs (including bar charts, pie charts, and scatter diagrams), and interpret the findings. The analysis focuses on identifying patterns, relationships, and key indicators related to child labour, with a focus on hazardous working conditions and children's perspectives on their work. The assignment uses data from a survey conducted in 2009-2010 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic.

Statistics
Assignment
 Use the data provided in the SPSS files.
 Use SPSS for graphs and calculations, and present the relevant output for the
results section in the final report.
 Type report in Microsoft Word. Font size: 12pt. Line spacing: 1.5.
(a) Write a short report about child labour in the Dominican Republic, based on your
SPSS output (guide 1,000 words).
The report must be divided into the following sections:
 introduction
 methods
 results
 discussion
 conclusions
Page 1 of 5

This assignment focuses on child labour in the Dominican Republic.
There is one SPSS file: Asm1.sav
Source: Dynamics of child labour in the Dominican Republic. 2009-2010.
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.
Available online:
http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=19235
The text below has been taken from the following report: International Labour
Organization and the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic (2011)
Dynamics of child labor in the Dominican Republic.
Available online (Spanish):
http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/searchProduct.do?
userType=3&selectedMediaTypes=31&selectedSortById=4&selectedThemes=91&se
lectedPublicOrIntranet=1&selectedCountries=223
 The National Child Labour Survey was conducted through a partnership
between the National Statistics Office (NSO) of the Dominican Republic,
United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF), and the International Programme
on the elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) /International Labour Organization
(ILO).
 This survey was conducted over five weeks between late 2009 and early 2010.
 The study population consisted of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years of
age and their families.
 The survey consists of a questionnaire divided into four modules. Information is
collected about dwelling characteristics and household members, the
characteristics of women 12 to 49 years, the characteristics of children and
adolescents aged 0 to 17 years old, and information that would establish the
characteristics associated with the employment status of children and
adolescents from 5 to 17 years.
 The central purpose of the household questionnaire was to collect information
on the main demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the households.
The child labour questionnaire covered topics such as economic activities of
children and health and safety related to work. The purpose of the survey on
child labour was to generate a set of up-to-date indicators on the employment
status of children and adolescents to serve as a framework for the design of
public policies for prevention and eradication of this social problem, especially
in its worst forms.
Page 2 of 5

 The sampling frame corresponded to the sampling frame used in the National
Household Income and Expenditure Survey (ENlGH 2007), in which a two-
stage sample selection process was used. However, for the urban area or
Metropolitan Region Ozama, a three-stage sample selection process was used.
 A sample of 716 primary sampling units (PSUs). The research was conducted
on the basis of a sample of 10,024 households selected at random.
 Four strata’s were considered in the sampling design.
 The target population consists of households residing in collective dwellings
throughout the territory of the Dominican Republic. The child labour module
was applied to all those aged 5-17 years. The child labour questions of the
questionnaire were answered by the child or adolescent.
 The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews (by 60 interviewers)
Each team consisted of a supervisor and four interviewers.
 The data that you are analysing is from the individual survey of 5-17 year-olds
(n = 8,540 fully completed interviews out of a total of 9,119 scheduled
interviews). The response rate was 93.7%.
 Children and adolescents engaged in economic output are those engaged in any
activity for at least one hour during the reference period. In the case of this
survey, the reference period corresponds to the last seven days at the time of the
interview.
 The minimum age for employment in the Dominican Republic is 14 years. The
provision of domestic services in private households, paid or not, for the
purposes of measuring child labour statistics, is included in the accounts of
those engaged in economic production.
 The ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and
Immediate Action for the Elimination, Article 3, paragraph "d" describes what
is meant by hazardous child labour, in effect, means as such "any activity or
occupation that, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is
likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children."
 Under ‘Resolution on dangerous and unhealthy’ the Minister of Labour of the
Dominican Republic, the following are considered as such when performed by
people under 18 years: work long hours or at night, work involving exposure to
physical abuse, psychological or sexual abuse, the work done underground,
under water, at dangerous heights, involve heavy loads and work in an
unhealthy environment (noise, substances harmful to health, etc. . ).
 In 2009, the Dominican Republic had an estimated population of 9.6 million.
Page 3 of 5

Description of Sample
(1) Describe area of residence and wealth quintiles of the sample.
(2) Describe Age in Years (mean and standard deviation).
Work
(3) Describe the age at which the sample started work (mean, standard deviation,
min, max and frequencies). What percentage of working children began work
before the age of 14 years?
(4) Calculate descriptive statistics for the age at which working children started work
by area of residence (min, max, mean, standard deviation and quartiles)? Draw
box plots comparing the age children started working by area of residence.
(5) What proportion of the sample worked in the last 7 days? Draw a clustered bar
chart to show how this differs by wealth quintile.
(6) Draw a simple bar chart to show the location of the working children’s main job.
(7) Draw a clustered bar chart to show the location of their main job by age category
(ages 5-13 and 14-17)*.
(8) Draw a pie chart to show why the children and adolescents work.
(9) In relation to school, when do the working children mostly work? What
percentage of children work at night?
(10) Draw a scatter diagram to show the relationship between how much money the
children and adolescents were paid last time and how many hours in total they
spent selling food on Sunday.
(11) What do the children and adolescents usually do with the money they earn and
how do they spend the money they keep?
(12) What proportion of the sample are exposed to dangerous/unhealthy working
conditions?*
(13) What proportion of the sample said that they are very happy at work?
*Requires the creation of a new variable.
Page 4 of 5

List of relevant variables in Asm1.sav
 Area of residence (hzona)
 Wealth quintiles (wlthind5)
 Age in Years (p501)
 Age first worked (p525)
 worked in the last 7 days (p503)
 Where was your main job? (p509)
 Why work (p526)
 The work is mainly carried out … (p523)
 Schedule of work performed (p522)
 How much paid for the last time (p512)
 Hours in total: selling food Sunday (p504a1b)
 What do they usually do with the money they earn (p520)
 How do you spend the money you keep (p521)
 p535a, p535b, p535c, p535d, , p535e, p535f, p535g, p535h, p535i, p535j, p535k,
p535l, p535m, p535n, p535o, p535p, p535q, p535r, p535s, p535x
 Wellness at work (p527)
Use patterns in the pie chart and in at least one clustered bar chart
Useful Links:
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/ChildlabourstatisticsSIMPOC/Documentsandpublications/
lang--en/index.htm
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/ChildlabourstatisticsSIMPOC/lang--en/
Page 5 of 5