1.    Select a concept that you care about and that you may want to do your final research paper on- and perhaps you even want to work on

this issue in your future career! Now, find two dependent variables (DV) that are attempts to measure that concept. One must be interval

and one must be ordinal. One must be interval and one must be ordinal (got it?). Remember the first day when you identified the big

problems facing the world? Hopefully, there are some questions in the ANES survey that connect to your areas of interest. It is time for

you to be the scholar! This assignment will help you for your final paper. If you do your final paper well, this will be evidence that you

can conduct independent research, conduct data analysis, and work with SPSS. Good luck.
Name the two variables, how they are coded, and describe their dispersion. Describe how these variables are good measures of the concept

you care about.
(Example: Concept: Equality, Measure:

2.    Think critically about what independent variables may affect your dependent variables and why. Conduct a brief literature review.

What do other scholars argue affects your dependent variable?
List TWO academic journal articles that conduct quantitative analysis on the concept of your interest using standard APA citation

guidelines.
How do they measure it?
Where do they collect their data?
What is their research method?

3.    YOUR TURN! HYPOTHESIS
Craft two hypotheses on your DVs of interest. Then, select potential intervening variables that may affect your relationship between your

IV and DV. YOU CANNOT HAVE AN INTERVAL VARIABLE AS AN INTERVENING VRIABLE
Revise and write down the two hypotheses and indicate: the independent variable, the intervening variable, and the dependent variable in

each one.

4.    Presenting data well is key to good research. Thus, often you need to recode variables in order to make the information digestible.

Also, this helps you refine your research. SPECIFY the relationships you want to investigate. For example, if you think age affects

attitudes towards illegal immigrants, can you refine your hypothesis so that it is not all AGES but rather a specific Age that you think is

critical for your hypothesis? Such as those over and under 50? Simplify and specify!!!! Most independent and intervening variables should

have no more than 4 categories, preferably 3 or less. You want to test a SPECIFIC relationship. So, narrow it down!
Recode your variables into new variables that are more specific.

5.    DATA: ORDINAL DEPENDENT VARIABLE HYPOTHESIS: Run a cross tabs analysis for your hypothesis with ordinal dependent variable. One

time with the intervening variable, one time without. Be sure to place your independent and dependent variables on the correct axis and to

include appropriate percentages.

6.    TEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE. Run at least three tests that measure association between the independent and dependent variable (Lambda,

Chi-Square, Kendall’s tau-b, Kendall’s tau-c, and/or Somer’s D depending on your variables).
What do you find? Is the relationship significant? Interpret your results.

Extra Credit: Run the tests with an intervening variable and interpret the relationship.

7.    INTERVAL DEPENDENT VARIABLE HYPOTHESIS: Run a compare means analysis for your dependent variable that is interval, including your

intervening variable. For the dependent interval variable, create a LINE GRAPH to demonstrate a relationship with the independent and

intervening variable represented.

8.    TEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE. Run a independent sample T-Test.
What do you find? Is the relationship significant? Interpret your results.

9.    ANALYSIS: What do your cross-tabs and compare means tests results suggest? Interpret your findings in connection to your

hypothesis. WHY do you think this relationship is (or is not significant)? What does this tell us about the general US population? What are

other potential measures of your concept? What are other potential explanatory variables?

10.    Conclusion: So what?