FOR: Kim Woods - Research Paper

Assignment 1: I RECEIVED AN A ON THIS ASSIGNMENT USE THE TEXT IN RED TO PUT INTO THE RESEARCH PAPER --- USE EXACT WORDING – YOU DO NOT NEED TO REWRITE – ITS ALL MY ORIGINAL WORK

Obviously the pie charts and cross tabs are already given to you in another section – only use them once

(A) My Purpose (research question) (5 pts)

My research question is: Does a person's overall happiness in their marriage affect their thought on if divorce is the best option? To achieve this goal, I investigate how a person's overall happiness in their marriage (enter here what your Independent Variables measure) divorce is the best option (enter here what your Dependent Variable measures)

(B) All About GSS 2012 data (5 pts)

1. Who are the participants? The target population in the GSS is adults (18+) living in households in the United States.

2. What population does the sample represent? Each sample represents all adults in the United States.

3. Who is funding the research? The National Science Foundation

4. When was the data collected? September 29, 2012

5. How was my data collected? By face to face interviews

(C) Variables (you have expected to have only one DV and a minimum of one IV. (10 pts)

My IV(s): if you have multiple IVs, provide information for EACH IV using the format below.

IV Variable name in SPSS: Hapmar

IV Question (as asked to the respondent verbatim) “Taking things all together, how would you describe your marriage? Would you say that your marriage is very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?”

IV Answer categories:

0 = "IAP"

1 = "VERY HAPPY"

2 = "PRETTY HAPPY"

3 = "NOT TOO HAPPY"

8 = "DK"

9 = "NA"

IV Level of Measurement Ordinal Measure

My DV: only ONE DV is required for your final portfolio

DV variable name in SPSS: Divbest

DV Question (as asked to the respondent verbatim) “Do you agree or disagree… Divorce is usually the best solution when a couple can’t seem to work out their marriage problems”.

DV Answer categories:

0= “IAP”

1= ‘’STRONGLY AGREE’’

2= “AGREE”

3= “NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE”

4= “DISAGREE”

5= “STRONGLY DISAGREE”

8= “CAN’T CHOOSE”

9= “NA” DV Level of Measurement: Ordinal Measure ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

(D) Frequency Tables (10 pts)

Run frequencies for each variable listed above. Summarize your findings in a paragraph or two below. Cite numbers in the frequency tables to support your conclusion. Be sure to insert your tables over into this document.

My first chart provides statistics of those surveyed with the question of if divorce is the best solution if there are marital problems.  Out of the 1,974 people surveyed, 91 of them, which is 7.2%, strongly agree.  There were 561 people, or 44.3%, who said they agree, and 336 people or 26.6% did not agree, and 90 people, or 7.1 %strongly disagreed.   The remaining number, of those surveyed, were inapplicable or could not choose.  As further indicated, the means, or average was 2.82, while the median was 2.00 and the mode was 2.

The second chart provides statistics of those surveyed that have happiness in their marriage.  Out of the 1,974 people surveyed, 589 of them, which is 65.7%, indicated they were very happy.  There were 282 people, or 31.4%, who said they were pretty happy and 26 people, or 2.9%, who answered that they were not happy.   The remaining number, of those surveyed, were inapplicable.  As further indicated in the chart, the means, or average was 1.37, while the median was 1.00 and the mode was 1.

DIVORCE AS BEST SOLUTION TO MARITAL PROBLEMS
	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	STRONGLY AGREE	91	4.6	7.2	7.2
	AGREE	561	28.4	44.3	51.5
	NEITHER AGREE NOR DISAGREE	187	9.5	14.8	66.3
	DISAGREE	336	17.0	26.6	92.9
	STRONGLY DISAGREE	90	4.6	7.1	100.0
	Total	1265	64.1	100.0
Missing	IAP	672	34.0
	CAN'T CHOOSE	29	1.5
	NA	8	.4
	Total	709	35.9
Total	1974	100.0

HAPPINESS OF MARRIAGE
	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	VERY HAPPY	589	29.8	65.7	65.7
	PRETTY HAPPY	282	14.3	31.4	97.1
	NOT TOO HAPPY	26	1.3	2.9	100.0
	Total	897	45.4	100.0
Missing	IAP	1074	54.4
	NA	3	.2
	Total	1077	54.6
Total	1974	100.0

(E) Graphs and Charts (10 pts)

Run the appropriate graphs/charts for each of your variables listed above. Summarize your findings briefly in a paragraph or two. Cite numbers in the graph/charts to support your conclusion. Include a title on each of your charts and other pertinent labels you feel necessary.

As per the Graph we conclude that the majority of the sampled population agreed that divorce is usually the best solution when a couple just cannot seem to work out their marital problems, which is depicted since the graph reached a 550 + count mark. Whereas on the other side, we have the sample of the population who ‘Strongly Disagree’ and ‘Strongly Agree’ seems to be lower compared to other categories and they are at par at 90 count, as per the graph above.

The above figure clearly depicts how taking things all together would be described in marriage, as the majority of the sampled population seems to be very happy, as shown by the graph almost hitting the 600 mark. In other words, people who seem to be not happy are negligible.

(F) Choose two of the following techniques (10 pts)

Choose two of the following statistical techniques to investigate the issue/topic you are considering in more depth. Summarize your findings and copy/paste all relevant output data here in this file.

· Option 1: Running measures of central tendency and dispersion

Descriptive Statistics for Statement that Divorce is the Best in solving marriage problems
	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Variance	Skewness
	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Std. Error
Divorce as best solution to marital problems	1265	2.82	1.118	1.250	.354	.069
Valid N (listwise)	1265

From the above analysis, there were 1,265 valid respondents. Of the valid respondents, the mean, or average, is 2.82 which falls between agree and neither agree nor disagree. The standard deviation is 1.118 which tells us that 68% of our responses were between 1.7 and 3.94. This tells us that the minority of valid respondents (less than 32%) responded with strongly agree or strongly disagree. The skew statistic was .354. This means that the data is positively skewed meaning the mean is above the median and there are more responses with larger data values. Since .354 is small in nature (ie less than .5) we know the data skew is not strong.

Descriptive Statistics showing happiness in marriage Statistics
	N	Range	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation	Variance	Skewness
	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Std. Error
Happiness of marriage	897	2	1	3	1.37	.540	.292	1.073	.082
Valid N (listwise)	897

From the above analysis, there were 897 valid respondents. Of the valid respondents, the mean, or average, is 1.37 which falls between very happy and pretty happy. The standard deviation is .54 which tells us that 68% of our responses were 1.91 and below. The skew statistic was 1.073. This means that the data is positively skewed meaning the mean is above the median and there are more responses with larger data values. Since 1.073 is large in nature (ie greater than 1) we know the data skew is strong.

· Option 2: Recoding

[Insert the followings items: SPSS syntax for the recoding process; the frequency table for the original variable; and the frequency table for the recoded variable]

For my first recoding of divbest, I recoded strongly agree and agree as 1; strongly disagree and disagree as 2; neither agree nor disagree as 3 and my remaining of IAP, can’t choose and NA as 0.

For my second recoding of hapmar, I recoded very happy and pretty happy as 1; not so happy as 2; and my remaining IAP and NA as 0.

IV Answer categories:

0 = "IAP"

1 = "VERY HAPPY"

2 = "PRETTY HAPPY"

3 = "NOT TOO HAPPY"

8 = "NA"

(G) Crosstab Table(s) (10 pts)

Outline a research hypothesis regarding your variables. List below: (if you have two IVs, you need to have two sets of hypotheses using the following format)

Research hypothesis: a person's overall happiness in their marriage affects their thought on if divorce is the best option.

Null hypothesis: a person's overall happiness in their marriage does not affect their thought on if divorce is the best option.

Create a crosstab table with the variables that you have chosen. If you have two IVs, you need to have two separate crosstabs. Be sure that column percentages are included in the table. Please provide a detailed overview of your bivariate analysis,

Your DV, divorce is the best option, will go into the ROW.

Your IV, person's overall happiness in their marriage , will go into the COLUMN.

[Paste crosstab table(s) here]

Present your findings here in a paragraph or two. As part of it, address whether your research hypothesis is correct. Compute the epsilon and explain.

My research hypothesis was that a person's overall happiness in their marriage affects their thought on if divorce is the best option.

Divbest v. Hapmar

With respect to the DV: divbest and the crosstabs calculated, I find that the people who strongly agree, who are happy, that divorce is the best option when a couple is having marital problems is 4.6% and those that strongly agree, who are not happy, is .4. However, the people who agree, calculated by taking the 24.4% and subtracting the 1.1%, leaving us with 23.3%; the people who disagree, calculated by taking 16.9% and subtracting the 1.1%; and Those that agree that divorce is the best solution to marital problems were least likely than any other category to indicate that they are very happy in their marriage (58.8%) followed by those that neither agree nor disagree (60.9%). Therefore, these statistics would not warrant further statistical analysis.