Spring 2004 (Roos, Soc. 311)


Assignment 4: Hypothesis construction, take 2 (due Thursday, March 11th)

This assignment is designed to give you another chance at Assignment 1. It should also give you some time to think seriously about your final project, now that you have a better idea of what this whole research business is all about.

For the final project, you will be expected to choose a set of at least three variables. You will develop a hypothesis about the relationship between your independent and dependent variables and you will test your hypothesis using the elaboration paradigm (via data analysis of the General Social Survey). The application of the elaboration paradigm will thus be the bare bones of your data analysis. I will ask you to supplement this analysis with library research, other analyses, and other data presentation techniques you will learn later in the semester.

For Assignment 4, choose the three variables from the General Social Survey that you hope to use for your final project. You may use the same two variables you used in Assignment 1 (adding on an appropriate "test variable"), or you can choose three totally different variables. As you did for Assignment 1, use the web to access the General Social Survey codebook. MAKE SURE ALL YOUR VARIABLES HAVE DATA FOR 2002 (you may choose an earlier year if all your variables aren't available in 2002). Include the printed pages showing your three variables (for 2002) from the GSS website with your write-up. As in Ass. 1, use your cursor to copy the frequencies for your three variables to a Word file for printing. Don't print from the GSS site, because it will print ALL the GSS variables.

As in Assignment 1, select an independent and dependent variable and develop a hypothesis that describes your expectation about how these two variables are related. [Remember, learn from your mistakes in Assignment 1: BE SPECIFIC.] Include a brief statement about how you came up with your theory and hypothesis--why do you have the expectation you do? Then, follow through the research process to conceptualize and operationalize your variables. Recall that you are operationalizing your concepts using the GSS variables.

Now that you're familiar with creating tables, make up hypothetical data and present them in an original, bivariate table, showing the relationship you expect between your independent and dependent variables. Describe these hypothetical results, and then describe how you would reformulate your theory. In your reformulation, refer to the third variable you have chosen as the "test variable" (you will include this variable in the data analysis for your final project). DO NOT INCLUDE THE TEST VARIABLE IN YOUR TABLE AT THIS POINT; YOUR TABLE SHOULD SHOW ONLY THE HYPOTHETICAL DATA FOR THE ORIGINAL, BIVARIATE RELATIONSHIP.

On this assignment, you should start thinking carefully about how you want to collapse your variables for presentation in your final tables; that is, try to have substantively compelling reasons for why you collapse the variables the way you do.

That's it. If you spend enough time and do a good job on this assignment, you will be well on your way toward your final project. Consult the illustrative answer for Assignment 1--it should help you develop your own theory and hypothesis (BUT DON'T USE MY WORDS). Finally, be succinct: the written part of your assignment should be 2-3 pages max.

YOUR PAPERS MUST BE TYPEWRITTEN (12 font).