Question: For the same data used in Problem, generate five different groupings in which subareas are joined in pairs. Calculate the variance of the variable of interest for each grouping. Do your results confirm the existence of the problem of modifiable units?

Problem: For the census of the United States (www.census.gov) or Canada (www.statisticscanada.ca), or an equivalent source, generate the value of a variable for a region containing at least 30 subareas. For example, you could look at some characteristic of the population for the counties within a state or province.

b. Group contiguous subareas in pairs so that there are 15 or more zones; calculate the mean and variance for the variable of interest across the newly constructed zones.