SOCY7339: Analysis of Social Attitudes Towards Death and Dying

This report provides a statistical analysis of social attitudes toward death and dying in Australia, exploring the influence of factors such as age, gender, political leaning, religious affiliation, and education. The study utilizes measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode) and frequency distributions to analyze survey data, including responses to statements regarding the death penalty, end-of-life decisions, abortion, and government policies. The report presents row-wise and column-wise percentages to examine relationships between variables, such as gender and agreement with the death penalty. Furthermore, it includes frequency distributions, histograms, and correlation analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of the data. Key findings reveal diverse perspectives on the death penalty, with a majority disagreeing with its reintroduction. The report also highlights positive sentiments towards terminally ill patients' rights and abortion, emphasizing the need for further debate on sensitive topics like the death penalty. Correlations between political leanings, income, and year of birth are also discussed, providing a nuanced understanding of attitudes in Australia.

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Social Attitudes on Death and Dying
Students Name:
Course ID:
Date:

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1. Social attitudes on death and dying
It is vital to address the issue of death and dying in Australia since one’s attitudes toward it
are shaped by many things (Balducci, 2012). They include religion, accidents, cultural
beliefs, war experiences and one’s spiritual beliefs. On the other hand, it is influenced by
the contributions which medicine makes to one’s health (Poultney, Berridge & Malkin,
2014). Currently, Australians live longer due to advancement in medicine and public health
thereby increasing life expectanc (Bloomer, et al., 2016)y. Changes in mobility and
employment have changed the structures of the Australian community as social isolation is
more common (Meier et al., 2016). Though families may no longer live near each other,
there is a growing sense of an individual as a health consumer thereby contributing to heath
decisions and practices (Sinclair, 2011). Hence, these influences shape the way people
think with regards to death and dying and how one organizes care at the end of life.
2.
a. Age, measured by year of birth most appropriate measure of central tendency is the mean
since its data is continuous in nature.
b. Gender, measured as “male” or “female” most appropriate measure of central tendency is
the mod since it is categorical in nature.
c. Political leaning most appropriate measure of central tendency is both the median and the
mode since its data is ordinal.
d. Religious affiliation most appropriate measure of central tendency is both the median and
mode since its data is ordinal.
e. Educational achievement most appropriate measure of central tendency is the mode since
it is categorical in nature.
3. Age: Young people generally have little though of death due to their abundance of life and
health bought about by youthfulness compared to the old people.
Gender: Attitude towards death and dying may or may not vary significantly with gender,
with women having somewhat less optimistic opinion.

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Political leaning: The political landscape varies among different countries and nationalities.
Political difference in detrimental attitude and constructive outlook is vital in framing of
policies.
Religious affiliation: Different religious practices have different views with regards to death
and dying. Such religious practices are bound to impact on how the dead are treated and what
factors need to be considered to sentence one to death.
Educational achievement: Education play a vital aspect in judging one’s sentence to death as
a high level of education is preferred to come up with a sound judgment.
4. Measures of central tendency and dispersion
Mean = ∑x/n
Mean = (49+24+95+65+72+67+18+20+53+34)/10 = 49.7
Median = ((n+1)/2)th
Ascending arrangement of data: 18, 20, 24, 34, 49, 53, 65, 67, 72, 95
= (49+53)/2
= 51
Standard deviation = √ 1
N ∑
i=1
N
( xi−μ ) 2
xi xi−μ (xi−μ)2
49 -0.7 0
24 -25.7 660
95 45.3 2052
65 15.3 234
72 22.3 497
67 17.3 299
18 -31.7 1005
20 -29.7 882

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53 3.3 11
34 -15.7 246
∑
i=1
N
( xi−μ )2
5888
1
N ∑
i=1
N
( xi−μ )2
589
√ 1
N ∑
i=1
N
( xi−μ ) 2
24
5. Measures of central tendency and the frequency distribution
a. Mean
Number of people Frequency xf
1 197 197
2 532 1064
3 348 1044
4 203 812
5 42 210
6 13 78
∑f = 1335
∑xf =
3405
Mean 2.55
b. Median
Number of people Frequenc
y
Cumulative
Frequency
1 197 197
2 532 729
3 348 1077

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4 203 1280
5 42 1322
6 13 1335
N = 1335 (odd)
N/2 = 1335/2 = 667.5th observation
The observation is in 2. Hence, the median is 2.
c. Mode
Mode: The observation with highest frequency 2 with a frequency of 532.
6. Table 1 and Table 2 contain the row-wise and column-wise percentages.
Table 1: Row Wise Percentage of Data
Agreement with the Death Statement: The death
Penalty should be reintroduced for murder. Are you male or female?
Female Male Total
Strongly Agree 39.68% 60.32% 100.00%
Agree 47.30% 52.70% 100.00%
Neither Agree nor Disagree 55.34% 44.66% 100.00%
Disagree 54.19% 45.81% 100.00%
Strongly Disagree 57.76% 42.24% 100.00%
Total 50.89% 49.11% 100.00%
Table 2: Column Wise Percentage of Data
Agreement with the Death Statement: The death
Penalty should be reintroduced for murder. Are you male or female?
Female Male Total

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Strongly Agree 14.94% 23.53% 19.16%
Agree 20.31% 23.45% 21.85%
Neither Agree nor Disagree 18.97% 15.87% 17.45%
Disagree 20.76% 18.19% 19.50%
Strongly Disagree 25.02% 18.96% 22.04%
Total 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
a) Dependent Variable is the agreement with the death statement: the death penalty should
be reintroduced for murder.
b) Table 1 and 2 show the row-wise and the column-wise percentage.
c) Majority of the respondents (P= 22.04%) strongly disagree with the death statement that
death penalty should be reintroduced for murder. According to the results, women gave
more opinion on the death statement that death penalty should be reintroduced for murder
(P = 50.89%).
d) Row-wise, the percentages denote the gender distribution proportion in each process and
the gender wise proportion of agreement with the death statement. Using the percentages,
researchers can observe the patterns across columns and rows.
7. Variable label: C6
Storage type: integer
Display format: %8.0g
8. Frequency distributions of E6_1, E6_6, E3, & E8_1

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Table 3: Frequency Distribution of E6_1
Table 3 shows that majority of the respondent strongly disagreed (p = 23.1%) with the statement
that death penalty being introduced for murder. On the other hand, 20.9% of the respondents
agreed with the statement. From the responses, it can be seen that there is a wide range of views
with regards to the statement with the responses being close between each other.
Table 4: Frequency Distribution of E6_6
From table 4, majority of the respondents strongly agreed (p = 43.5%) that terminally ill patients
should be able to end their own lives with medical assistance. Conversely, only 34% were in
agreement with the statement compared to 9.5% who did not agree with the statement with
13.1% being not sure.
Table 5: Frequency Distribution of E3

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It is evident that majority of the respondents feel that women should be able to obtain an abortion
readily when they can (p = 65%) while a few are of the opinion that abortion should not be
allowed under any circumstances (p = 3.6%). 25.9% agree that abortion should be allowed only
in special circumstances while 5.5% did not know how they felt with regards to abortion in
Australia.
Table 6: Frequency Distribution of E8_1
From table 6, most of the respondents feel that Australia should aim to maintain order in the
nation for the next ten years (p = 34.2%) while a few are of the opinion that freedom of speech
should be protected (p = 17.6%). 29% of the respondents opted for the people to be given more
say in important government decisions while 19.2% desired for protection on the freedom of
speech.
9. Mean median and range of B8_1 & D10

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The mean of B8_1 is 5.11, while the median is 5. Consequently, the range 10. On the other hand,
the mean of D10 is 4.66 with a median of 5 and a range of 10.
10. Histogram for D10 & C1_2
Histogram C1_2
0 . 2 . 4 . 6 . 8
D e n s i t y
0 2 4 6 8 10
Again using a scale from 0 to 10, please show how much you like or dislike the p
From the histogram of C1_2, it is evident that the data is normally distributed since the
histogram is bell shaped or symmetrical. The chart can also be seen to be positively skewed.
Hence it can be deduced that majority of the respondents did in fact like the party leader Malcom
Turnbull. On the other hand, it is evident that the mode of the data lies at the scale of 5. Thus,
most of the respondents did not know much about Malcolm Turnbull.
Histogram D10

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0 . 2 . 4 . 6 . 8
D e n s i ty
0 2 4 6 8 10
On the whole, how satisfied are you with the present state of the economy in Aus
Conversely, the data for D10 is also normally distributed since the histogram is bell shaped or
symmetrical. The chart can be seen to be negatively skewed. Hence, majority of the respondents
were not satisfied with the present state of the economy in Australia. On the other hand, the
mode lies at 5.
11. The percentage of respondents who felt that “Health and Medicare” was extremely an
important election issue for them personally was 69.8%.
12. The most appropriate measure of central tendency for the distributions is the mode. This is
because the measure is well suited in capturing the most frequently occurring value in the data
set.
Confidence in: Mode
The legal system Not very much confidence (p = 1216)
The public service Not very much confidence (p = 1230)
The Federal Government in Canberra Not very much confidence (p = 1249)
It is evident that only the legal system enjoys the highest level of public confidence compared
with the rest.

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13. Most respondent agree with the statement the government should increase opportunities
for women in business and industry (p = 1,312) compared to terminally ill patients should be
able to end their own lives with medical assistance (p= 1,096) and the smoking of marijuana
should not be a criminal offence (p = 1,079).
The least agreement goes with the statement that the government should increase
opportunities for women in business and industry (p = 387) compare to terminally ill patients
should be able to end their own lives with medical assistance (p= 1,111) and the smoking of
marijuana should not be a criminal offence (p = 1,496).
The views about death penalty distribution of the responses does not warrant a normal
distribution while the views about the terminally ill patients being able to choose medical
assistance to end their life follows a normal distribution with majority of the respondents
being inclined to agree with the statement. The normal distribution chart is the best statistic
since it does not only show the distribution but also shows the inclination of the respondents.
On the other hand, the views about the death penalty has the most diversity of feeling
compared to the views about terminally ill patients being able to choose medical assistance to
end their life.
14.
Table 7: Tabulation of E6_6
From table 7 above, it is evident that majority of the respondents agree with the statement that ill
patients should be able to end their own lives with medical assistance with those strongly
agreeing being 42% while those who just agree being 36%.

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15. The statement terminally ill patients should be able to end their own lives with medical
assistance is the dependent variable while the choice of agreement is the independent variable.
16.
Table 8: Correlations
a) People placement of themselves in politics with regards to the liberal party (B8_1) and the
gross annual income before tax or other deductions (h17) are negatively correlated. This
implies that a higher placement of people in the political scene with regards to the liberal
party is associated with people with little gross annual income before tax or other deductions.
b) The year of birth (H2) and the gross annual income before tax or other deductions (H17) are
positively correlated. Hence, the gross annual income before tax or other deductions increases
as the date of year of birth increases.
c) The negative and positive correlations in (a) and (b) were numerically greater than 0.3 and
considered just strong.
17. People have a great sense with regards to death and dying in Australia. However, they have
expressed their different views in what some of the circumstances attribute one to be eligible
for death. A huge factor that comes into play is suffering and the repercussion of continuing to
live in pain and suffering. Abortion and terminally ill patients’ rights to end their own lives
with medical assistance has been given a lot of positive sentiments since it does not only end
pain, but also lightens the family’s financial burden in medical care and saves lives especially
in abortion where the mother’s life might be in danger. However, greater debate needs to
ensure especially in the death penalty due to the various views expressed by the respondents