Data Analysis

1. Familiarize yourself with the GSS data. Read about the GSS data here: https://gss.norc.org/, and learn about the GSS Data Explorer here:
https://gssdataexplorer.norc.org/ (you will go over the GSS Data Explorer tool during section).
2. Formulate a research question. Think of a research question that can be answered using GSS data and that involves the relationship between two
variables. Consider the sociological relevance of your research question, and frame it using general concepts such that you could connect your interest to a
broader research field.
3. Download the data. Use the GSS Data Explorer to download the data with the relevant variables and import them to Excel.
4. Analyze the data. Carry out a cross-tabulation of the two variables that are relevant to your question and conduct a Chi-square test to assess the
relationship between them.
5. Write up your findings. See next section.
Your write-up
Submit a 2-3 page (single-spaced) paper that includes the following:
1. Motivation (two paragraphs). State your research question and explain why it is a sociologically important question.
2. Data descriiption (three paragraphs). Briefly describe the GSS data, the years you are focusing on, the population groups you are interested in studying, and
the characteristics of your sample.
3. Hypotheses (two paragraphs). Specify your null and alternative hypotheses. Briefly discuss why you think the alternative hypothesis should be true.
4. Data analysis (one table and three paragraphs). Include the table that you obtained from GSS and that summarizes your data and allows you to conduct
the cross-tabular analysis and Chi-square test. Discuss the frequency distributions of your variables before you discuss the Chi-square test. Then briefly
describe what a Chi-square test accomplishes and discuss the results of the Chi-square test that GSS outputs.
5. Conclusion (two paragraphs). Summarize your findings and how they help you answer your initial question.
6. Limitations (two paragraphs). The analysis you conducted is correlational in its nature, and as such, you cannot make any causal claims about the
relationship that you characterized. Discuss which other unmeasured factors/variables could be missing in the story your are telling, and how the story would
change if you accounted for these factors.
7. Appendix (one page that does count toward the 2-3 page requirement). Show the calculations and intermediate steps that allowed you to carry out the Chisquare test.