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Internet Privacy Poll (OPTIONAL)
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IMPORTANT NOTE: This problem is optional, and will not count towards your grade. We have
created this problem to give you extra practice with the topics covered in this unit.

Internet privacy poll (OPTIONAL)

Internet privacy has gained widespread attention in recent years. To measure the degree to which people are
concerned about hot-button issues like Internet privacy, social scientists conduct polls in which they interview a
large number of people about the topic. In this assignment, we will analyze data from a July 2013 Pew Internet
and American Life Project poll on Internet anonymity and privacy, which involved interviews across the United
States. While the full polling data can be found here, we will use a more limited version of the results, available in
AnonymityPoll.csv. The dataset has the following fields (all Internet use-related fields were only collected from
interviewees who either use the Internet or have a smartphone):
Internet.Use: A binary variable indicating if the interviewee uses the Internet, at least occasionally (equals 1 if
the interviewee uses the Internet, and equals 0 if the interviewee does not use the Internet).
Smartphone: A binary variable indicating if the interviewee has a smartphone (equals 1 if they do have a
smartphone, and equals 0 if they don't have a smartphone).
Sex: Male or Female.
Age: Age in years.
State: State of residence of the interviewee.
Region: Census region of the interviewee (Midwest, Northeast, South, or West).
Conservativeness: Self-described level of conservativeness of interviewee, from 1 (very liberal) to 5 (very
conservative).
Info.On.Internet: Number of the following items this interviewee believes to be available on the Internet for
others to see: (1) Their email address; (2) Their home address; (3) Their home phone number; (4) Their cell
phone number; (5) The employer/company they work for; (6) Their political party or political affiliation; (7)
Things they've written that have their name on it; (8) A photo of them; (9) A video of them; (10) Which groups or
organizations they belong to; and (11) Their birth date.
Worry.About.Info: A binary variable indicating if the interviewee worries about how much information is
available about them on the Internet (equals 1 if they worry, and equals 0 if they don't worry).
Privacy.Importance: A score from 0 (privacy is not too important) to 100 (privacy is very important), which
combines the degree to which they find privacy important in the following: (1) The websites they browse; (2)
Knowledge of the place they are located when they use the Internet; (3) The content and files they download;
(4) The times of day they are online; (5) The applications or programs they use; (6) The searches they perform;
(7) The content of their email; (8) The people they exchange email with; and (9) The content of their online
chats or hangouts with others.
Anonymity.Possible: A binary variable indicating if the interviewee thinks it's possible to use the Internet
anonymously, meaning in such a way that online activities can't be traced back to them (equals 1 if he/she
believes you can, and equals 0 if he/she believes you can't).
Tried.Masking.Identity: A binary variable indicating if the interviewee has ever tried to mask his/her identity
when using the Internet (equals 1 if he/she has tried to mask his/her identity, and equals 0 if he/she has not
tried to mask his/her identity).
Privacy.Laws.Effective: A binary variable indicating if the interviewee believes United States law provides
reasonable privacy protection for Internet users (equals 1 if he/she believes it does, and equals 0 if he/she
believes it doesn't).

Problem 1.1 - Loading and Summarizing the Dataset

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Using read.csv(), load the dataset from AnonymityPoll.csv into a data frame called poll and summarize it with the
summary() and str() functions.
How many people participated in the poll?
Answer: 1002 Calculator
Explanation Previous Next
The number of people who took the poll is equal to the number of rows of the data frame, and can be obtained
with nrow(poll) or from the output of str(poll).

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Problem 1.2 - Loading and Summarizing the Dataset

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Let's look at the breakdown of the number of people with smartphones using the table() and summary()
commands on the Smartphone variable. (HINT: These three numbers should sum to 1002.)
How many interviewees responded that they use a smartphone?
Answer: 487
How many interviewees responded that they don't use a smartphone?
Answer: 472
How many interviewees did not respond to the question, resulting in a missing value, or NA, in the summary()
output?
Answer: 43
Explanation
From the output of table(poll$Smartphone), we can read that 487 interviewees use a smartphone and 472 do not.
From the summary(poll$Smartphone) output, we see that another 43 had missing values. As a sanity check,
487+472+43=1002, the total number of interviewees.

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Problem 1.3 - Loading and Summarizing the Dataset

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By using the table() function on two variables, we can tell how they are related. To use the table() function on two
variables, just put the two variable names inside the parentheses, separated by a comma (don't forget to add
poll$ before each variable name). In the output, the possible values of the first variable will be listed in the left,
and the possible values of the second variable will be listed on the top. Each entry of the table counts the number
of observations in the data set that have the value of the first value in that row, and the value of the second
variable in that column. For example, suppose we want to create a table of the variables "Sex" and "Region". We
would type
table(poll$Sex, poll$Region)
in our R Console, and we would get as output
Midwest Northeast South West
Female 123 90 176 116
Male 116 76 183 122 Calculator
This table tells us that we have 123 people in our dataset who are female and from the Midwest, 116 people in our
dataset who are male and from the Midwest, 90 people in our dataset who are female and from the Northeast,
etc.
You might find it helpful to use the table() function to answer the following questions:
Which of the following are states in the Midwest census region? (Select all that apply.)
Colorado
Kansas


Kentucky
Missouri


Ohio


Pennsylvania

Which was the state in the South census region with the largest number of interviewees?
Select an option Answer: Texas
Explanation
From table(poll$State, poll$Region), we can identify the census region of a particular state by looking at the
region associated with all its interviewees. We can read that Colorado is in the West region, Kentucky is in the
South region, Pennsylvania is in the Northeast region, but the other three states are all in the Midwest region.
From the same chart we can read that Texas is the state in the South region with the largest number of
interviewees, 72.
Another way to approach these problems would have been to subset the data frame and then use table on the
limited data frame. For instance, to find which states are in the Midwest region we could have used:
MidwestInterviewees = subset(poll, Region=="Midwest")
table(MidwestInterviewees$State)
and to find the number of interviewees from each South region state we could have used:
SouthInterviewees = subset(poll, Region=="South")
table(SouthInterviewees$State)

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Problem 2.1 - Internet and Smartphone Users

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As mentioned in the introduction to this problem, many of the response variables (Info.On.Internet,
Worry.About.Info, Privacy.Importance, Anonymity.Possible, and Tried.Masking.Identity) were not collected if an
interviewee does not use the Internet or a smartphone, meaning the variables will have missing values for these
interviewees.
How many interviewees reported not having used the Internet and not having used a smartphone?
Answer: 186
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How many interviewees reported having used the Internet and having used a smartphone?
How many interviewees reported having used the Internet and having used a smartphone?
Answer: 470
How many interviewees reported having used the Internet but not having used a smartphone?
Answer: 285
How many interviewees reported having used a smartphone but not having used the Internet?
Answer: 17
Explanation
These four values can be read from table(poll$Internet.Use, poll$Smartphone)

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Problem 2.2 - Internet and Smartphone Users

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How many interviewees have a missing value for their Internet use?
Answer: 1
How many interviewees have a missing value for their smartphone use?
Answer: 43
Explanation
The number of missing values can be read from summary(poll)

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Problem 2.3 - Internet and Smartphone Users

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Use the subset function to obtain a data frame called "limited", which is limited to interviewees who reported
Internet use or who reported smartphone use. In lecture, we used the & symbol to use two criteria to make a
subset of the data. To only take observations that have a certain value in one variable or the other, the | character
can be used in place of the & symbol. This is also called a logical "or" operation.
How many interviewees are in the new data frame?
Answer: 792
Explanation
The new data frame can be constructed with:
limited = subset(poll, Internet.Use == 1 | Smartphone == 1)
The number of rows can be computed with nrow(limited).
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Important: For all remaining questions in this assignment please use the limited data frame you created in
Problem 2.3.

Problem 3.1 - Summarizing Opinions about Internet Privacy

0 points possible (ungraded)
Which variables have missing values in the limited data frame? (Select all that apply.)
Internet.Use
Smartphone


Sex
Age


State
Region
Conservativeness


Info.On.Internet
Worry.About.Info


Privacy.Importance


Anonymity.Possible


Tried.Masking.Identity


Privacy.Laws.Effective


Explanation
You can read the number of missing values for each variable from summary(limited)

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Problem 3.2 - Summarizing Opinions about Internet Privacy
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What is the average number of pieces of personal information on the Internet, according to the Info.On.Internet
variable?
Answer: 3.795
Explanation
This can be obtained with mean(limited$Info.On.Internet) or summary(limited$Info.On.Internet)

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Problem 3.3 - Summarizing Opinions about Internet Privacy

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How many interviewees reported a value of 0 for Info.On.Internet?
Answer: 105
How many interviewees reported the maximum value of 11 for Info.On.Internet?
Answer: 8
Explanation
These can be read from table(limited$Info.On.Internet)

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Problem 3.4 - Summarizing Opinions about Internet Privacy

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What proportion of interviewees who answered the Worry.About.Info question worry about how much information
is available about them on the Internet? Note that to compute this proportion you will be dividing by the number
of people who answered the Worry.About.Info question, not the total number of people in the data frame.
Answer: 0.4886
Explanation
From table(limited$Worry.About.Info), we see that 386 of interviewees worry about their info, and 404 do not.
Therefore, there were 386+404=790 people who answered the question, and the proportion of them who worry
about their info is 386/790=0.4886. Note that we did not divide by 792 (the total number of people in the data
frame) to compute this proportion.
An easier way to compute this value is from the summary(limited) output. The mean value of a variable that has
values 1 and 0 will be the proportion of the values that are a 1.

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Problem 3.5 - Summarizing Opinions about Internet Privacy
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What proportion of interviewees who answered the Anonymity.Possible question think it is possible to be
completely anonymous on the Internet?
Answer: 0.3692
Explanation
From table(limited$Anonymity.Possible), 278 respondents said anonymity is possible and 475 said it is not.
Therefore, the desired proportion is 278/(278+475)=0.3692. This can also be read from
summary(limited$Anonymity.Possible).

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Problem 3.6 - Summarizing Opinions about Internet Privacy

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What proportion of interviewees who answered the Tried.Masking.Identity question have tried masking their
identity on the Internet?
Answer: 0.1632653
Explanation
This can be computed with the command table(limited$Tried.Masking.Identity). The output tells us that of all the
respondents who answered the Tried.Masking.Identity question, 128 out of (128+656) have tried masking their
identity on the internet.

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Problem 3.7 - Summarizing Opinions about Internet Privacy

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What proportion of interviewees who answered the Privacy.Laws.Effective question find United States privacy
laws effective?
Answer: 0.2558459
Explanation
We can find this number with the command table(limited$Privacy.Laws.Effective). The output tells us that 186 out
of (186+541) people who answered the Privacy.Laws.Effective question find US privacy laws effective.

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Problem 4.1 - Relating Demographics to Polling Results

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Often, we are interested in whether certain characteristics of interviewees (e.g. their age or political opinions) Calculator
ff t th i i i th t i f th ll (i thi ii i ) I thi ti ill i ti t
affect their opinions on the topic of the poll (in this case, opinions on privacy). In this section, we will investigate
the relationship between the characteristics Age and Smartphone and outcome variables Info.On.Internet and
Tried.Masking.Identity, again using the limited data frame we built in an earlier section of this problem.
Build a histogram of the age of interviewees. What is the best represented age group in the population?
People aged about 20 years old
People aged about 40 years old
People aged about 60 years old


People aged about 80 years old

Explanation
From hist(limited$Age), we see the histogram peaks at around 60 years old.

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Problem 4.2 - Relating Demographics to Polling Results

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Both Age and Info.On.Internet are variables that take on many values, so a good way to observe their relationship
is through a graph. We learned in lecture that we can plot Age against Info.On.Internet with the command
plot(limited$Age, limited$Info.On.Internet). However, because Info.On.Internet takes on a small number of values,
multiple points will be plotted in exactly the same location on this graph, making the distribution hard to see.
What is the largest number of interviewees that have exactly the same value in their Age variable AND the same
value in their Info.On.Internet variable? In other words, if interviewees are separated into "buckets" by their Age
and Info.On.Internet, what is the size of the largest bucket? (HINT: Use the table function to compare the number
of observations with different values of Age and Info.On.Internet.)
Answer: 6
Explanation
By reviewing the output of table(limited$Age, limited$Info.On.Internet), we can see that there are 6 interviewees
with age 53 and Info.On.Internet value 0, with age 60 and Info.On.Internet value 0, and with age 60 and
Info.On.Internet value 1.
A more efficient way to have obtained the maximum number would have been to run max(table(limited$Age,
limited$Info.On.Internet))

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Problem 4.3 - Relating Demographics to Polling Results

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To avoid points covering each other up, we can use the jitter() function on the values we pass to the plot function.
Experimenting with the command jitter(c(1, 2, 3)), what appears to be the functionality of the jitter command?
jitter randomly reorders the values passed to it, and two runs will yield the same result
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 jitter randomly reorders the values passed to it, and two runs will yield different results
jitter adds or subtracts a small amount of random noise to the values passed to it, and two runs will yield
the same result
jitter adds or subtracts a small amount of random noise to the values passed to it, and two runs will yield
different results


Explanation
By running the command jitter(c(1, 2, 3)) multiple times, we can see that the jitter function randomly adds or
subtracts a small value from each number, and two runs will yield different results.

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Problem 4.4 - Relating Demographics to Polling Results

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Now, plot Age against Info.On.Internet with plot(jitter(limited$Age), jitter(limited$Info.On.Internet)). What
relationship to you observe between Age and Info.On.Internet?
Older age seems strongly associated with a larger value for Info.On.Internet
Older age seems moderately associated with a larger value for Info.On.Internet
Older age does not seem associated with a change in the value of Info.On.Internet
Older age seems moderately associated with a smaller value for Info.On.Internet


Older age seems strongly associated with a smaller value for Info.On.Internet

Explanation
For younger people aged 18-30, the average value of Info.On.Internet appears to be roughly 5, while most
peopled aged 60 and older have a value less than 5. Therefore, older age appears to be associated with a smaller
value of Info.On.Internet, but from the spread of dots on the image, it's clear the association is not particularly
strong.

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Problem 4.5 - Relating Demographics to Polling Results

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Use the tapply() function to obtain the summary of the Info.On.Internet value, broken down by whether an
interviewee is a smartphone user.
What is the average Info.On.Internet value for smartphone users?
Answer: 4.368
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 What is the average Info.On.Internet value for non-smartphone users?
Answer: 2.923
Explanation
The proper application of tapply here is:
tapply(limited$Info.On.Internet, limited$Smartphone, summary)
We can read the average for non-smartphone users from the summary output labeled with and the average for
smartphone users from the summary output labeled with .

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Problem 4.6 - Relating Demographics to Polling Results

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Similarly use tapply to break down the Tried.Masking.Identity variable for smartphone and non-smartphoneAll Rights
users.Reserved
What proportion of smartphone users who answered the Tried.Masking.Identity question have tried masking their
identity when using the Internet?
edX Answer: 0.1925
About
Affiliates
What proportion of non-smartphone users who answered the Tried.Masking.Identity question have tried masking
edX their identity when using the Internet?
for Business
Open edX
Careers Answer: 0.1174
News
Explanation
Legal
We can get the breakdown for smartphone and non-smartphone users with:
tapply(limited$Tried.Masking.Identity, limited$Smartphone, table)
TermsAmong
of smartphone users, 93 tried masking their identity and 390 did not, resulting in proportion
93/(93+390)=0.&1Honor
Service Codenon-smartphone users, 33 tried masking their identity and 248 did not, resulting in
925. Among
Privacy Policy 33/(33+248)=0.1174.
proportion
This couldPolicy
Accessibility have also been read from tapply(limited$Tried.Masking.Identity, limited$Smartphone, summary).
Trademark Policy
Next week, we will begin to more formally characterize how an outcome variable like Info.On.Internet can be
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predicted with a variable like Age or Smartphone.
Cookie Policy
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
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Topic: Unit 1 / Unit 1, Homework: Internet Privacy Poll

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