Purpose of Study As a policy researcher, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has asked you to explore a new dataset called the General Social Survey.? The CBO would like you t

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Assignment 2: Descriptive Analysis

STEPS FOR DESCRIPTIVE DATA ANALYSIS

OVERVIEW: This assignment is designed to give you real world experiencing running a data

analysis project on a research question of interest to a stakeholder. The data for this lab can be

found by clicking the “class data” link found on the canvas home page.

WHAT TO DO: Before you begin this assignment you must watch this week’s videos.

Conduct descriptive data analysis on the demographic variables listed below. This descriptive

analysis will include frequency tables from week 1 and central tendencies and variability from

week 2 video lectures.

WHAT TO SUBMIT: Upload a word document containing your write up and pasted graphs

from SPSS at the end of your document. For full points make sure your write up follows the

example provided at the end of the steps.

WHERE TO SUBMIT: Canvas under Week 2 SPSS Lab submission.

______________________________________________________________________________

ANALYSIS STEPS

Purpose of Study

As a policy researcher, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has asked you to explore a new

dataset called the General Social Survey. The CBO would like you to conduct a preliminary

statistical analysis to describe the sample characteristics in the dataset and write a report for the

CBO. They believe this dataset is representative of the American people and can be used to help

leaders make important social and social policy decisions.

Research Questions and Hypothesis

1. What are the demographic characteristics in the GSS dataset?

2. There is no hypothesis for this assignment.

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Measures (Variables)

AGE, MARITAL, DEGREE, BORN, RACE1

Analysis Strategy

Using the dataset provided you will conduct a demographic analysis as follows:

First, run frequencies on your demographic variables age [AGE], marital status [MARITAL],

highest degree [DEGREE], where born [BORN], and respondents race [RACE1] for the

respondents who took the GSS survey.

Second, run descriptives. This would include central tendency (mean, median or mode) and

where appropriate standard deviation. Note in the future you can run frequencies, central

tendency and variability all at the same time.

Third, paste your tables at the end of your assignment in the appendices.

Results

Using the results from your analysis above (step one and two) write a summary of your findings

as described in the “What to submit” section. Here you will report the results of your findings

using the correct scientific notation. You can find an example of this notation in the report

format outline below. The results section will be short and concise. You will expand on the

findings in your discussion.

Discussion

Review your results. What are the implications of your research findings. What information did

your study reveal and how does it help to understand the population you are generalizing to?

What did you find interesting?

Remember, this information will go to the congressional budget office so make sure it is well

written and complete.

WHAT TO SUBMIT AND RESEARCH REPORT FORMAT

Report Outline (Headings in Bold) Title Page: Provide a creative title for your report, Your Name, Course Number and Name, Professor’s Name and Date.

Purpose: In this section clearly describe why this study is necessary. Clear statement of where the data came from (The GSS), how data was collected, (ie surveys, interviews) and total number of respondents in your analysis. State the research questions and if applicable state the null hypothesis. I have provided some of this information in the lab assignment instructions. (1 paragraph)

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Measures: This section describes how you will measure each of the hypothesis. If applicable to this lab correctly state the hypothesis and what variables are associated with the hypothesis. Next describe how each of the variables are operationalized (nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio) and the response categories. (1 paragraph)

Analysis Strategy: In this section describe the logical sequence of statistical steps that you used to answer the hypothesis. Here you need to correct statistical methods for the correct variable(s). (3-4 sentences in this first lab) Results: In this section report the findings of each of your statistical analysis using the correct technical format. Here are examples of the correct technical reporting method for this week’s analysis: (2-3 paragraphs)

Example for how to report your frequency results Three hundred and fourteen respondents completed the survey instrument, 179 males (59%) and 134 females (43%). The respondents’ ages ranged from 17-50, with a mean of 21 years (M=21). The majority of respondents were Anglo-American (76.4%), followed by Hispanic-Americans (13.69%), African Americans (50.9%), Asian-Americans (1.9%), and Native-Americans (1.59%). (Example from Leach & Braithwiate, 1996, p. 204, as cited in Morgan, Reichert & Harrison, (2001)). Example for how to report your central tendency and if applicable variability In this study, for the cross-sectional sample, children are defined as those 19 years or younger. The average age of children during the three cross-sectional waves was 15.2 years (SD=2.15) at baseline, 14.9 years (SD=2.06) during intervention, and 14.7 years (SD=2.22) at follow-up. Of the sample, 51% at baseline, 46% during intervention, and 45% at follow up were girls. (Example from: Rimal & Flora, 1998, p. 617, as cited in Morgan, Reichert & Harrison, (2001)).

Discussion: In this section summarize your findings, the implication of your findings in connection to the research question, critical thinking around the importance and meaning of your findings and connect your findings back to the research question guiding the study. (1-2 paragraphs)

Appendices: Copy and paste relevant tables and graphs produced by the analysis into the appendices. These tables and graphs should match what is reported in the results section.

WHERE TO SUBMIT: Canvas under Week 2 SPSS Lab.

______________________________________________________________________________

Checklist: Your assignment should contain the following

1) Completed write up of your assignment.

2) Pasted tables and graphs from SPSS at the end of your document.

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3) Upload assignment on Canvas under Week 2 SPSS Lab by the due date.