Spring, 2002 (Roos, Soc. 311)

Assignment 3: Elaboration Exercise (due Monday, February 25th)

Because we will talk about this assignment in class on February 25th, late assignments will not be accepted.

Presented below are data from the General Social Survey describing a sample of men and women in the U.S. The variables are (1) sex, (2) whether or not the respondent was currently married, and (3) whether the respondent agreed with the following statement: "A working mother can establish just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work."

Your assignment is to use the raw data presented below to test fully the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis: Marriage reduces support for women working outside the home.

To test this hypothesis using the elaboration model, follow these steps (show all your work and don't forget to title and label each table):

1. Which of the variables is the independent variable? the dependent variable? the test variable?

2. Is the test variable antecedent or intervening?

3. Make a bivariate percentage table showing the "original relationship" (round your percentages to the nearest 1/10th of a decimal place).

4. Make the two other bivariate tables (rounding as above).

5. Make the trivariate percentage table illustrating the elaboration of the original relationship (rounding as above).

6. Summarize in several paragraphs the results of your analyses, indicating how they reflect on the original hypothesis. Focus in your discussion on the original and trivariate tables (it's best to consult the "other two" bivariate tables to understand what is going on, but there is no need to interpret them).

7. Which elaboration model best describes your findings? Explain your answer.

ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE TYPED (12 Font)