Computer Lab Assignment #3

This assignment requires you to use the 1998 GSS data set to find out if there is relationship between religious fundamentalism and confidence in the church among young people, age 18-24. You will use GAMMA and SOMER’S D to assess the degree of association between religious fundamentalism and confidence in the church.

The two key variables you are using are:

BIBLE1 (measure of religious fundamentalism):

Which of these statements comes closest to describing your feelings about the Bible?

1. The Bible is the actual word of God and it is to be taken literally, word for word.
2. The Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything should be taken literally, word for word.
3. The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.
4. This does not apply to me

1. Don’t know

1. Missing

1. Missing

CONCHURH (measure of confidence in the church):

How much confidence do you have in churches and religious organizations?

1. Complete confidence
2. A great deal of confidence
3. Some confidence
4. Very little confidence
5. No confidence at all

1. Can’t choose

0 Missing

9 Missing

You will use the variable AGE (respondents’ age) to select the respondents who are 18-24 years old.

1. Use a SELECT IF statement to select the respondents between 18-24 years old.
2. Run a FREQUENCIES for BIBLE1 to get an idea of the frequency distribution for this variable.
3. Create a proxy variable BIBLEX that reverses the key of this variable so that low values of fundamentalism are coded as 1 and high values of fundamentalism are coded as 3. Also, assign all other values to be missing.
4. Run a FREQUENCIES for BIBLEX to verify that the proxy variable is created correctly.
5. Run a FREQUENCIES for CONCHURH to get an idea of the frequency distribution for this variable.
6. Create a proxy variable CONCHURX that collapses the five main values into just three values. Also, reverse the key of this new variable so that low values of confidence in the church are coded 1 and high values of confidence in the church are coded 3. Also, assign all other values to be missing.
7. Run a FREQUENCIES for CONCHURX to verify that the proxy variable is created correctly.
8. Now run a CROSSTABS to create a 3 x 3 crosstabulation of CONCHURX by BIBLEX. Use the STATISTICS=ALL subcommand to get the needed statistics.

Once you have completed the computer run, provide the following:

1. Calculate χ ² and verify the computer output. Interpret χ ² . What do you conclude?
2. Interpret GAMMA. Also demonstrate what it means that GAMMA is a "symmetrical measure." Can you reject the null hypothesis of no relationship between religious fundamentalism and confidence in the church? Why? What type of relationship, if any, exists between religious fundamentalism and confidence in the church?
   
3. Interpret SOMER’S D. Also demonstrate what it means that SOMER’S D is a "asymmetrical measure." Can you reject the null hypothesis of no relationship between religious fundamentalism and confidence in the church? Why? What type of relationship, if any, exists between religious fundamentalism and confidence in the church?

Price: $20.59

Solution: The downloadable solution consists of 12 pages, 859 words and 7 charts.
Deliverable: Word Document