SOCI 335
Report Assignment: Analyzing Inequalities
Sociological research has the potential to promote social justice. Research and data can be used to highlight how inequalities organize society and identify circumstances that reduce inequalities. For this assignment, you will imagine working for a non-profit organization attempting to secure grant funding for a program to reduce a form of inequality (ie., income and wealth inequality, gender inequality, sexuality, health and well-being, criminal justice system, etc.). You will be tasked with using data from the General Social Survey to write an applied or practice-oriented research report intended to secure grant funding to reduce inequality.
Guidelines:
The major elements of this project include:
Abstract
Think of this as a one-paragraph summary of your report. A reader should be able to read this and understand the purpose of your report, the problem being addressed, research methods, and recommendations. (hint: write this last)
Introduction/Statement of the Problem – *use existing research for support
Address all of the following questions:
What is the problem/issue?
What are the potential causes?
Who is affected and what is at stake?
Why it is worth researching?
What is your research question?
How do you plan to research the topic?
Methods
Describe the strategy of data collection, explain why the specific methodology was utilized, and discuss the techniques of data analysis (hint: look at the GSS material provided to you).
Discuss where the data is from and when it was collected
Give the total sample size
Descriiption of the dependent variable (including the level of measurement and an appropriate measure of central tendency)
Provide any descriiptive statistics or tables that you feel would help the reader understand the data and what you are investigating (i.e., describe frequencies of your variables)
If you recoded any of your variables define the new variables and explain why the grouping was theoretically appropriate.
Descriiption of the independent variable
Provide any descriiptive statistics or tables that you feel would help the reader understand the data and what you are investigating (i.e., describe frequencies of your variables)
If you recoded any of your variables define the new variables and explain why the grouping was theoretically appropriate.
Specify a hypothesis—provide a descriiption of how you expect these two variables to be related to each other in a causal relationship and why (provide your reasoning for why your independent variable might cause your dependent variable
Findings
Run frequencies for each of the variables so that you understand their distributions
Examine bivariate relationships (run cross tabs)
Determine whether each relationship is significant
Provide the results from the test and provide the technical interpretation.
Provide a substantive interpretation of the test.
Describe caveats to your conclusions, including why you might want to include other variables.
Implications/Policy Recommendations
Identify 2-4 distinct recommendations. Each recommendation must be feasible, based on strong evidence, the solution to the specific problem you have identified
List of references
References should be formatted according to ASA or APA guidelines.
Appendix – SPSS Output
