Fall, 2005 (Roos, Soc. 311)


Assignment 3: Elaboration Exercise (due Thursday, October 6th)

Because we will talk about this assignment in class on October 6th, LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!!

Continuing on our political theme, presented below are data describing a sample of men and women in the U.S. who voted in the 2000 election. The variables are (1) education, (2) level of religious fundamentalism, and (3) whether the respondent voted for Gore or Bush in the 2000 election.

Your assignment is to use the elaboration model to test fully the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis: Religious fundamentalists were more likely than religious liberals to vote for Bush in 2000

Religious Fundamentalism
Education level
Voted for Gore or Bush?
N
Fundamentalist Less than high school Gore 41
Fundamentalist Less than high school Bush 23
Fundamentalist At least high school grad Gore 151
Fundamentalist At least high school grad Bush 237
Moderate Less than high school Gore 31
Moderate Less than high school Bush 26
Moderate At least high school grad Gore 241
Moderate At least high school grad Bush 331
Liberal Less than high school Gore 11
Liberal Less than high school Bush 14
Liberal At least high school grad Gore 242
Liberal At least high school grad Bush 201

 

To test this hypothesis using the elaboration model, follow these steps (show all your work and don't forget to title and label each table):

1. Which of the variables is the independent variable? the dependent variable? the test variable?

2. Is the test variable antecedent or intervening?

3. Make a bivariate percentage table showing the "original relationship" (round your percentages to the nearest 1/10th of a decimal place).

4. Make the trivariate percentage table illustrating the elaboration of the original relationship (rounding as above).

5. Summarize in several paragraphs the results of your analyses, indicating how they reflect on the original hypothesis. Focus in your discussion on the original and trivariate tables (you can also make the "other two" bivariate tables to understand what is going on, but there is no need to interpret them). Which elaboration model best describes your findings? Explain your answer.


ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE TYPED, including tables (12 Font)