Question:

A researcher has taken a selection of variables from the BSA dataset to use for some bivariate analysis. The variables are shown below:

? People like me have no say in the government

? MPs soon lose touch with people

? The parties are only interested in votes

? It doesn’t matter which party is in power

? Does the respondent think of him/herself as belonging to a social class? (values are 1=yes, middle class; 2=yes, working class; 3= yes, other; 4=no)

(NB The first four variables all have the same values: 1=agree strongly, 2=agree, 3=neither agree nor disagree, 4=disagree, 5=disagree strongly, 8=don’t know, 9=not answered).

Which of the variables above might you use as the independent variable in this analysis?