For our next assignment, we will be using the General Social Survey 1972-2006 data file.  This very large data set is described in an article from NY Times.  To access the data we can use the Survey Data and Analysis program at the University of California, Berkeley.  Just click on SDA.to open the software.  Click on "Analysis" and "Frequencies or Crosstabulations" for this assignment. This is described on page 20 of the Babbie book.

Your task is to produce a multiple bivariate table with one column variable and five row variables one of which must be year and one of which must be one of the PRES variables. .  The percentages should be row percentages.  You should write a paragraph summarizing the results in which you correctly describe some of the percentages.  The finished product should look like this Sample Assignment.   You should prepare the table in a word processor, save it in *.doc or *.rtf format, and submit it to SAKAI or turn it in on paper as instructed

You may use any variables you wish for your column variable.  You can search for variables with the SEARCH facility.  If you do not have any idea, I suggest you use one of the ones selected by the New York Times for the column variable.  These include premarital sex, trust in others, frequency of prayer, marijuana legalization, exciting life, fear at night, the afterlife, spanking children, confidence in institutions (just select one institution), happiness, abortion (pick one item), gun permits, happiness of marriage, newspaper readership, x-rated movies, homosexual teachers, social class memberhsip.  You should NOT use women & politics because we used that for the sample assignment.

Your row variables may include variables such as age, sex, religion, political party, year of interview, region of residence, education, marital status, etc.  HOWEVER, this data set has not been prepared for this purpose, so many variables need to be RECODED first.   To do this, click on "create variables" and "recoding rules".  It shows how to recode AGE for this purpose.   You need to check each of your row variables to see if it needs recoding.   This gives you the flexibility to recode them as YOU wish rather than relying on someone else's choices.  However, once you create a recoded variable it is available for others to use, so I may be able to create some and leave them there for you.  If I do, I'll add their names to these instructions here:

Then you need to do a cross tabulation for EACH of your row variables.   You may wish to print these out for your convenience or you can work on the screen.  You take the results for all the variables and type them into one big table for your assignment.

When you choose "year" as a variable, you should get the same results the New York Times got.  If your variable was asked in more than five years, you may just select key years rather than doing them all.

A number of students have asked if they need to include the results for the total sample in their tables for the multiple bivariate assignment.  The answer is YES. 

Where do you get these?  If you look at the bottom of any of your cross-tabulation tables you will see them.  These may vary slightly from table to table, however, because of missing data.  Another way to get them, for the whole sample, is to type the name of the column variable in your table in the ROW box on SDA with nothing in the column box.  This will get you the frequencies.