Week 7 Lab Assignment (W7L1) Read my comment on your W6L1. Depending on how you did on W6L1, do one ...
Week 7 Lab Assignment (W7L1) Read my comment on your W6L1. Depending on how you did on W6L1, do one of the following: If I commented on your W6L1 by saying that your research question is fine and you got a 10 on it, resubmit your research question with a statement that you got a 10 on W6L1. If you got less than 10 on W6L1, read my comment on W6L1 and revise your research question. Submit the list of your variables (both the independent and dependent variables) and your revised research question. If you did not do W6L1, select your variables (both the independent and dependent variables) and create your research question. Make sure to read the instructions for w6L1. (To submit your research question, use the link listed at the bottom of this page.) (W7L2) (a) List your research question. (b) Create your hypothesis about the independent and dependent variables along with a justification. ----------------------------------------------In doing this assignment, please keep in mind that you are dealing with survey data. That is, the GSS data were collected by asking people various questions. Each question is a variable. The unit of analysis is a person (i.e., a respondent). Many of the survey questions examined the respondents’ attitudes and opinions. The variables listed in the table of dependent variable options are all attitudinal variables. That is, these variables measured the respondent’s attitudes toward or opinions about various topics (such as death penalty, police use of force, etc.). The table of independent variable options contains various socio-demographic variables (such as age, race, income, education, etc.).In your hypothesis, given your research question, you specify how the independent variable affects the dependent variable. You can phrase it as an “If, then” statement if that makes it clearer for you. For example, consider the following research question: “What is the effect of gender on people’s opinion about the death penalty?” This research question does not specify how gender affects people’s opinion.Your hypothesis is a tentative statement about how the independent variable affects the dependent variable, based on the knowledge you have. So, the research question can be stated as a hypothesis in the following way: If people are male, they will have more support for the death penalty. Or, Men support the death penalty more strongly than women. The hypothesis states if the attribute (or category) of the independent variable changes from one (e.g., man) to the other (e.g., woman), what would happen to the dependent variable (e.g., less support).If your independent variable has a lot of attributes (or categories), such as RELIG (religious affiliation), select a few attributes (or categories). For example, if you are interested in examining if religion affects person’s opinion, focus your hypothesis on just Protestants and Catholics, and create a hypothesis. Alternatively, you can recode the variable so that the number of attributes (or categories) become smaller (e.g., Christians vs non-Christians). If you want to recode your independent variable, ask me how to do it.Once you have finished stating your hypothesis, develop a Justification for the hypothesis based on the knowledge you have about the topic. For example, for our sample hypothesis, the following statement may be used as a justification. In the United States, women are socialized to be more compassionate than men. For example, females may think that rehabilitating a criminal is the best approach, while males may believe that retribution (punishment) is the best approach.You may refer to the findings that other researchers had for your justification.In the United States, women are socialized to be more compassionate than men. For example, females may think that rehabilitating a criminal is the best approach, while males may believe that retribution (punishment) is the best approach. As the article by Lambert, Jiang, Elechi, Baker, and Jin (2014) shows, female college students in the United States have lower support for the death penalty than male students. It is reasonable to assume that these gender differences exist in the overall United States population.DEPENDENT VARIABLE OPTIONS Variable name inGSS Question on the survey What the variable measured Attributes (or categories) associated with the variable COURTS In general, do you think the courts in this area deal too harshly or not harshly enough with criminals? Respondent’s opinion about the courts’ treatment of criminals (1) Too harsh(2) Not harsh enough (3) About right CAPPUN Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder? Respondent’s opinion about the death penalty (1) Favor(2) Oppose POLHITOK Are there any situations you can imagine in which you would approve of a policeman striking an adult male citizen? Respondent’s opinion about the police use of force (1) Approve(2) Not approve POLABUSE Would you approve of a policeman striking a citizen who had said vulgar and obscene things to the policeman? Respondent’s opinion about the police use of force against verbally abusive citizens (1) Approve(2) Not approve POLMURDR Would you approve of a policeman striking a citizen who was being questioned as a suspect in a murder case? Respondent’s opinion about the police use of force against murder suspects (1) Approve(2) Not approve POLESCAP Would you approve of a policeman striking a citizen who was attempting to escape from custody? Respondent’s opinion about the police use of force against citizens attempting to escape (1) Approve(2) Not approve POLATTAK Would you approve of a policeman striking a citizen who was attacking the policeman with his fists? Respondent’s opinion about the police use of force against citizens attacking the policeman (1) Approve(2) Not approve FEAR Is there any area right around here--that is, within a mile--where you would be afraid to walk alone at night? Respondent’s sense of security in the neighborhood (1) Afraid(2) Not afraid GUNLAW Would you favor or oppose a law which would require a person toobtain a police permit before he or she could buy a gun? Respondent’s opinion about a gun law that requires police permission to buy a gun (1) Favor(2) Oppose INDEPENDENT VARIABLE OPTIONS Variable name in GSS Question in the survey What the variable measured Attributes (or categories) associated with the variable RACE What race do you consider yourself? Respondent’s race (1) White(2) Black(3) Other SEX Gender of respondent Respondent’s gender (1) Male(2) Female RELIG*** What is your religious preference? Respondent’s religious affiliation (1) Protestant(2) Catholic(3) Jewish(4) None(5) Other(6) Buddhism(7) Hinduism(8) Other Eastern(9) Moslem/Islam(10) Orthodox-Christian(11) Christian(12) Native American(13) Inter-nondenominational MARITAL Are you currently--married, widowed, divorced, separated, or haveyou never been married? Respondent’s marital status (1) Married(2) Widowed(3) Divorced(4) Separated(5) Never Married CLASS If you were asked to use one of four names for your socialclass, which would you say you belong in: the lower class, theworking class, the middle class, or the upper class? Respondent’s subjective social class placement (1) Lower class(2) Working class(3) Middle class(4) Upper class(5) No class DEGREE Respondent’s highest degree The highest degree earned by the respondent (0) Less than high school(1) High school(2) Junior college(3) Bachelor(4) Graduate PARTYID*** Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what? Respondent’s political party (0) Strong Democrat(1) Not Str Democrat(2) Ind, near Dem(3) Independent(4) Ind, near Rep(5) Not Str Republican(6) Strong Republican(7) Other Party POLVIEWS*** We hear a lot of talk these days about liberals and conservatives. I'm going to show you a seven-point scale on which the political views that people might hold are arranged from extremely liberal - point 1 - to extremely conservative - point 7. Where would you place yourself on this scale? Respondent’s political orientation (1) Extremely liberal(2) Liberal(3) Slightly liberal(4) Moderate(5) Slightly Conservative(6) Conservative(7) Extremely conservative AGE*** Respondent’s age Respondent’s age (18 )~ (88)(89) 89 or older ***This variable requires recoding before analysis. If you choose this, contact the instructor and learn how to recode the variable. w7L1 Read my comment on your W6L1. Depending on how you did on W6L1, do one of the following: If I commented on your W6L1 by saying that your research question is fine and you got a 10 on it, resubmit your research question with a statement that you got a 10 on W6L1. If you got less than 10 on W6L1, read my comment on W6L1 and revise your research question. Submit the list of your variables (both the independent and dependent variables) and your revised research question. If you did not do W6L1, select your variables (both the independent and dependent variables) and create your research question. Make sure to read the instructions for w6L1. w7L2 (a) List your research question.(b) Create your hypothesis about the independent and dependent variables along with justification.
