POLS 2220 Political Science Research Method Lab 7

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POLS 2220 Political Science Research Method Lab 7

• Junfeng Wang
• 2/27/08

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Lab contents

• Unit of analysis
• Control variable
• Hypotheses
• Contingency tables
• Graphs

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Unit of analysis

• Unit of analysis depends on your research
  purpose.

Customer perception
Questions DV? IDV?
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Unit of analysis

• Research question how employees perceptions
  toward a new ATM service will affect customers
  perceptions on the new service.
• Within each bank branch, it seems there is not
  much relationship between employee perception and
  customer perception. What is the unit of
  analysis?
• When you look at all branches and treat each
  branch as ONE point, it does show a positive
  relationship between employee perception and
  customer perception. What is the unit of
  analysis?
• Question Ecological fallacy?
• Question You are hired as an consultant to find
  out why employees perceptions toward the new ATM
  service differ so much. What will be your unit of
  analysis?

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DV, IDV, and CV

• In the bank example, why the conclusions are so
  different within individual branch and among all
  branches?
• The key is LOCATION!
• We should make branch location as our control
  variable (CV).
• IDV "What do I change?" DV "What do I
  observe?" CV "What do I keep the same?
• In this example, IDV tells you to change employee
  perceptions. DV tells you whether customers
  perceptions change because of the change in
  employee perceptions. Control variable tells you
  what is happening within an individual branch
  (after keep the location the same).

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Form hypotheses

• DV Should marijuana be made legal?
• IDV Does R have children?
• CV Family income
• DV Attitude toward gays
• IDV Lives in South
• CV Education
• DV Poor government help or people help
  themselves
• IDV Party identification
• CV Education

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Should marijuana be made legal?
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Should marijuana be made legal?
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Should marijuana be made legal?
Marijuana should be made legal
P.332
P.002
P.000
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Attitude toward gays
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Attitude toward gays
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Attitude toward gays
P.016
P.001
Think being gay is wrong
P.030
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(No Transcript)
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Poor government help or people help themselves
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Poor government help or people help themselves
Government should help more
P.01
P.001
P.000