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Instructions for Stage 1 of the
Semester Paper |
1) Look at the General Social Survey (GSS)
Follow the link under the "Data" tab on the class
web page. (You may use an alternative data set with special permission of the instructor)
2) Look through the various topics in the GSS codebook
On the left side of the page under "Codebook
Indexes" click on "Subject."
You should see several topics that start with
the letter "A." If you click on different letters of the alphabet, you can jump
to topics beginning with the corresponding letter.
3) Find an interesting topic
If you click on a topic another screen
will open that will show words that correspond to one or more survey-questions that
have been grouped under that topic/characteristic.
4) If you subsequently click on those works, a window will open that will provide:
a) The exact survey question (usually, but not always)
b) Which years the question was asked
c) The responses from the survey respondents
For example: If you click on "AGE," the following screen appears
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Subject |
Mnemonics |
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At birth of first child |
AGEKDBRN
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At time of interview |
AGE
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Birth Cohort |
COHORT
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This tells you that 3 survey questions were asked in one or more years that deal
with some aspect of the survey respondent's age.
If you click on the word "AGEKDBRN," a
window opens that explains that one of the survey questions was, "How old were you
when your first child was born?"
If you click on the word "AGE," a window
opens explaining that this word is associated with a survey question that asks for
the respondent's age when the interview occurred.
The last word, "COHORT," relates to the
respondent's year of birth.
The tables in each window provide a breakdown of the answers given by the respondents
and the years these questions were asked. If zeros appear under a particular survey
year, it means that this question was not asked during that particular year. For
example, the question about age at the birth of the first child under "AGEKDBRN"
was only asked in 1994, 1996, and 1998. It was not in the survey prior to 1994.
5) For the semester paper, you must choose a general topic covered in the 1998 GSS.
You must make certain that questions pertaining to the topic were actually asked
during 1998 - in other words, make certain that all of the responses are
not zeros
for that year.
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For this stage, please turn in a typed single page with your chosen
topic.
For Example:
Topic - I am interested in attitudes about traditional gender roles.
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