POS 6757
Spring 2002

Second Paper Assignment
Due April 22, 2002

Your assignment is to run a series of cross-tabulations on any three variables that you believe are logically related. This should be done in three steps. First, describe for me the reasoning that leads you to believe the three variables are related. Second, run a simple crosstabs between an independent and dependent variable. (Use the dependent variable as the row variable and calculate only column percentages.) Based on the table, report whether there is a relationship between the two variables, its direction (positive or negative), whether it is consistent or not with your hypothesis, and whether it is statistically significant. Third, run another crosstabs in which you use the third variable as a control. Tell me whether the introduction of the third variable influenced the relationship between the first two variables.

  1. Go to the SDA site at the University of California. 
  2. Select "SDA Archive."
  3. Select the "National Election Study 2000," the second listed dataset.
  4. Click the "Extra Codebook Window" bar and the codebook will open up.
  5. Go to "Group Headings" in the left panel.
  6. Search for the heading that should most logically contain the variables you are seeking. 
  7. Once you have obtained the values for the variable, go back to the first window, click on "Frequencies or Crosstabs," and press the "start" button at the bottom of the page. 
  8. Enter the values as appropriate. (Don't forget to check the statistics box--everything else should be left at default values.) 
Unfortunately, SDA does not appear to allow you to save the table in a meaningful format. You will need either to cut and paste the table for your output or to copy the figures down and enter them in a graphics program. It will be essential for you to put labels on the printout so I understand your coding system.