Due Date: 11/21/19 by 11:59pm
This assignment is designed to introduce students to the analysis of demographic and socio-economic data from the American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau to understand major concepts of the sociology of families. There are two parts to this assignment: (1) data analysis and (2) a written paper based on these analysis.
Learning Objectives
The learning objectives regarding quantitative data analysis include:
To gain exposure to working with numerical data.
To learn how to read and interpret univariate, bivariate, and multivariate tables.
Data: The data you will be using comes from the American Community Survey (ACS) from 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2008, and 2016. The repeated nature of this survey allows us to see trend data. The data includes six variables: year, race, family type, age, marital status, and poverty status.. The categories for the six variables we will be using are as follows:
Marital Sub-Dataset
Year Race Age Marital Sex
1950 Nonblack 15-24 CurMrrd=Currently Married Male
1960 Black 25-34 Widowed Female
1970 35-44 Divorced
1980 45-54 Separated
1990 55-64 NevMrrd=Never Married
2000 65+
2008
2016
FamPov Sub-Dataset
Year Family Type (FamType) Pov Race Age
1970 MrrdCpl =
Married Couple Poverty=Family income below federal poverty threshold Nonblack 15-24
1980 MaleFam = single
male head of family Near poor=Family income within 125% of poverty threshold Black 25-34
1990 FemlFam = single female
head of family Other=Neither poor nor near poor 35-44
2000 45-54
2008 55-64
2016 65+
Part 1: Data Analysis
Task 1: Present the univariate results for the five variables
Step One: Opening the data sets. Open your web browser and go to the following website: http://www.ssdan.net/datacounts/webchip/. On the left hand margin, youll see Choose Dataset. Under Collection select ACS2016trend. We will be using two sub-datasets (Marital and FamPov see descriptions above). To select them, go to Dataset. Lets start with Marital. Choose it. It will take a moment, but you have now accessed the data in WebCHIP. You will now see, in the choose Dataset box, a list of all variables in the dataset with the number of response categories.
To switch to the second subdataset, go back to Dataset and choose FamPov.
Step Two: Displaying variable frequencies. To display the frequency distributions for each variable Marital and Pov, all you need to do is click on the Compute Marginals button. Youll need to switch datasets to access the other variable. Copy and paste the frequency distributions into your appendix with the title Table 1: Frequencies.
Task 2: Look at the trends in marital status and poverty status over time (bivariate analyses).
Step One: Marital Status over time (Marital dataset) On left margin youll see the Choose Variables box. Find row and select Year. Find column and select Marital. Under Generate Table youll want to click on Percent Across. You will now see a table that displays distribution of marital status of the population in each time period over time. Copy and paste this table into your appendix with the title Table 2a: Trends in Marital Status, 1950-2016
Step Two: Poverty over time (FamPov dataset). Switch to the FamPov dataset. Repeat the directions in step one substituting poverty status (Pov) for marital status. Youll note that the data only go back as far as 1970 as this was not part of ACS in 1950/60. Copy and paste this table into your appendix with the title Table 2b: Trends in Poverty Status, 1970-2016
Task 3: Multivariate Analyses
Step One: Assess the relationship between year and marital status controlling for race (Marital Dataset). On left margin youll see the Choose Variables box. Find row and select Year. Find column and select Marital. In the Control Variable(s) box, click on race. Under Generate Table youll want to click on Percent Across. You will now see two tables that display the relationship between marital status and year, controlling for race (this means that trends in marital status are examined separately by the categories of race). (Hint: To see line bar graphs of this relationship, click Line under Generate Chart.) Copy and paste the tables into your appendix with the title, Table 3a: Trends in Marital Status Controlling for Race
Step Two: Assess the relationship between year and poverty status controlling for family type (FamPov Dataset). Change the dataset to FamPov. On left margin youll see the Choose Variables box. Find row and select Year. Find column and select Pov. In the Control Variable(s) box, click on FamType. Under Generate Table youll want to click on Percent Across. You will now see three tables that display the relationship between poverty status and year, controlling for family type (this means that trends in poverty status are examined separately by different family types). To see line bar graphs of this relationship, click Line under Generate Chart. Copy and paste the tables or graphs into your appendix with the title, Table 3b: Trends in Poverty Status Controlling for Household Type.
Task 4: Analyze the relationship between three (or more) variables of your choice.
Step One: Using any of the ACS2016trend datasets you wish, create a table representing a multivariate analysis using a different combination of variables than we have done so far. Copy and paste the tables into your appendix and give it a descriptive title starting with Table 4:.
Part 2: The Written Paper
Your paper should be ROUGHLY 3-4 double spaced pages, excluding appendix. Excellent grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure is expected. In the main body of the paper, copy and paste the questions below into your paper and then answer them directly below the question (keep the question numbers). If you cite any course material, you need only include parenthetical citations, such as (Cohen, Chapter 5) or (Class 10/18/19).
You will also need to attach an appendix with Tables 1-4 at the end of your paper (see Tasks 1-4 above).
Questions:
1. Regarding Table 1, what is your reaction to the actual percentages as compared to what you might have predicted?
2. Regarding Tables 2 and 2b, provide a written, lay interpretation of the data (i.e. written for a newspaper-reading audience) as represented by these tables, citing key percentages from the tables which support your interpretation and making any relevant comparisons: What is the overall trend in the data? What might explain these findings? If relevant, cite course material.
3. Regarding Tables 3a and 3b, provide a written, lay interpretation of the data (i.e. written for a newspaper-reading audience), citing key percentages from the tables which support your interpretation What is the overall trend in the data? How has this relationship changed over time? What do you make of these changes? If relevant, cite course material.
4. Regarding Table 4, provide a written, lay interpretation of the data (i.e. written for a newspaper-reading audience), citing key percentages from the tables which support your interpretation What is the overall trend in the data? How has this relationship changed over time? What do you make of these findings? If relevant, cite course material.
5. Given what you have seen regarding the relationship between education and family income, and how this has varied over time and between races, what have you learned
about the relevance of education? What have you learned about the relevance of race? What might explain these findings?
6. Overall, what are the limitations of an analysis of data based on crosstabs like all the tables you created for this assignment?
7. Write a curiosity question (i.e. a question youre curious about) regarding the relationship between the variables used in this assignment given what youve seen in your analysis of the data. What question (or questions!) arises from what you have seen in the data? What makes this an interesting, sociological question?
Grading Criteria:
1. Completeness. All analyses have been done fully and correctly; all questions have been answered.
2. Thoughtfulness/Depth. The degree to which the student put significant thought into the interpretation of the results; integration of course material if/where appropriate.
3. Professional writing. The paper is expected to be professionally written and formatted. Proofreading multiple times, spellcheck, etc., are always a good idea.
