Week 1 assignment
Assignment: Variables, Measurement, and SPSS
Quantitative research consists of testing and understanding
relationships between variables. Researchers construct these variables as
measureable expressions of social phenomena. Modern statistics provides you
with a host of resources to answer questions, but each statistical test has a
set of assumptions regarding the measurement of the variables. It is therefore
important to understand how variables are measured because their measurement
will influence the type of analytic tools available to you.
SPSS is a statistical software program that allows you to
enter these variables into a spreadsheet format and record the measurements
from a sample. Additionally, SPSS allows you to perform statistical analysis.
Before launching into your analyses, though, it is important to understand how
the variables are measured. That understanding will help you interpret the SPSS
output.
In this week’s Discussion, you considered topics with social
change implications. For this Assignment, you will examine data to analyze
independent and dependent variables, determine how they are measured, and
decipher whether a social change question can be answered and the implications
for such change.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Review the Learning Resources as well as the SPSS resources
found in this week’s Learning Resources.
Review, download, and install the SPSS software on your
computer using the IBM SPSS Version 23 Installation and Registration document
for PC or for MAC in this week’s Learning Resources.
Using the SPSS software, open the Afrobarometer dataset or
the High School Longitudinal Study dataset (whichever you choose) found in this
week’s Learning Resources and then choose two variables that interest you.
For this Assignment:
Write a 1- to 2-page summary and include the following:
A description of what the each of the variables measure.
A description of the unit of analysis.
A description and explanation of the levels of measurement
for each variable (i.e., nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio).
Explain how you might conceive these variables to be used to
answer a social change question. What might be the implications for social
change?
Support your summary using appropriate scholarly citations
and references. Use proper APA format.
By Day 7
Submit your Assignment 1: Variables, Measurement, and SPSS.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading,
do the following:
Please save your Assignment using the naming convention
“WK1Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
Click the Week 1 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading
Criteria for the Assignment.
Click the Week 1 Assignment link. You will also be able to
“View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My
Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK1Assgn+last name+first
initial.(extension)” and click Open.
If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the
checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
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