GSS CODEBOOK 2016 HOW TO
GSS CODEBOOK 2016 FULL

Suppose our sample of data does under-represent city dwellers – that will only have consequences for any analyses we perform on other variables if city dwellers behave differently from non-city dwellers. Know the distribution of those characteristics in the larger population.Know which characteristics of cases are important to/related to the variables used in subsequent analyses.Weighting data to make it more representative of the larger population only works if you: In this way, weighting can be thought of as rebalancing the sample data such than any analysis that takes place better reflects what we would expect to see if we could analyze the entire population. Weights would be computed based on sample and population proportions in all four of those categories. This would require you to know how many people in the population were female college graduates, male college graduates, female non-college graduates, and male non-college graduates. For example, you might want to weight on both gender and whether or not someone is a college graduate. Weighting can be based on more than one variable. In this example, each city dweller needs to count twice in any analysis we perform while each non-city dweller needs to count as only three-quarters of a respondent. If all other respondents are simply classified as non-city dwellers, their weight would be 60/80 = 0.75.

In our hypothetical example, the weight for city dwellers would be 40/20 = 2. W e i g h t = P e r c e n t a g e i n P o p u l a t i o n P e r c e n t a g e i n S a m p l e Weights are calculated by comparing the proportion of cases in your sample that have a particular trait to the proportion in the population that has that trait. Correcting this through weighting requires that you allow each city dweller to have a larger impact on the analysis. In this hypothetical example, city dwellers are under-represented, which means their impact on any analysis you perform will be under-estimated. However, if you do know that percentage, you can use that information to weight your data. If you do not know in advance what percentage of people live in cities, then you have no way to decide whether city dwellers are under- or over-represented in your sample. If city dwellers behave differently than others, then when you draw conclusions for the population as a whole, those conclusions will be off target. For example, if 40% of voters live in cities, but only 20% of your survey respondents do, then your sample under-represents city dwellers. If the sample of data is not representative, however, the ability to make such inferences is reduced. Thus, researchers want to make inferences about the larger population based on the sample of data they have in their hands. When a researcher collects data on 1,000 voters in an upcoming election, they hope to do analysis they can use to describe all voters – not just the 1,000 they surveyed. This is because researchers are typically interested in drawing conclusions about the entire population in question and not just the sample of data they have to analyze. Whether your sample is cities in China, businesses in Western Europe, or registered voters in the United States, you want the sample to accurately reflect the characteristics of the respective population. When researchers collect a sample of data for analysis, they strive to collect a sample that is representative of the larger population from which it was drawn. The Student Guide and How-to Guide can be shared with students by email using the “Share” button, can be embedded into your Learning Management System or Virtual Learning Environment, or can be downloaded and printed to use in the classroom.

GSS CODEBOOK 2016 HOW TO

There is also a step-by-step How-to Guide for SPSS which shows how to carry out the analysis in SPSS using the data provided, ending with an exercise that the student can do on their own. The data file is accompanied by a Student Guide that explains the method and includes a worked example. This dataset and the accompanying guides can be used in a lab or can form the basis of an exam question or homework exercise.

GSS CODEBOOK 2016 FULL

Full details about the dataset and a link to the original dataset can be found on the “Dataset Info” tab. The dataset is a subset of data derived from the 2016 General Social Survey (GSS), and the example examines the reported working status of GSS respondents. This dataset is designed for teaching the idea of weighting data before performing an analysis using it.

Gss codebook 2016