Reference no: EM132363527
Discussion: The Logic of Inference: The Science of Uncertainty
Describing and explaining social phenomena is a complex task. Box's quote speaks to the point that it is a near impossible undertaking to fully explain such systems-physical or social-using a set of models. Yet even though these models contain some error, the models nevertheless assist with illuminating how the world works and advancing social change.
The competent quantitative researcher understands the balance between making statements related to theoretical understanding of relationships and recognizing that our social systems are of such complexity that we will always have some error. The key, for the rigorous researcher, is recognizing and mitigating the error as much as possible.
As a graduate student and consumer of research, you must recognize the error that might be present within your research and the research of others.
To prepare for this Discussion:
• Use the Walden Library Course Guide and Assignment Help found in this week's Learning Resources to search for and select a quantitative article that interests you and that has social change implications.
• As you read the article, reflect on George Box's quote in the introduction for this Discussion.
• For additional support, review the Skill Builder: Independent and Dependent Variables, which you can find by navigating back to your Blackboard Course Home Page. From there, locate the Skill Builder link in the left navigation pane.
Post a very brief description (1-3 sentences) of the article you found and address the following:
1. Describe how you think the research in the article is useful (e.g., what population is it helping? What problem is it solving?).
2. Using Y=f(X) +E notation, identify the independent and dependent variables.
3. How might the research models presented be wrong? What types of error might be present in the reported research?
Assignment: Variables, Measurement, and SPSS
Quantitative research consists of testing and understanding relationships between variables. Researchers construct these variables as measureable expressions of social phenomena. Modern statistics provides you with a host of resources to answer questions, but each statistical test has a set of assumptions regarding the measurement of the variables. It is therefore important to understand how variables are measured because their measurement will influence the type of analytic tools available to you.
SPSS is a statistical software program that allows you to enter these variables into a spreadsheet format and record the measurements from a sample. Additionally, SPSS allows you to perform statistical analysis. Before launching into your analyses, though, it is important to understand how the variables are measured. That understanding will help you interpret the SPSS output.
In this week's Discussion, you considered topics with social change implications. For this Assignment, you will examine data to analyze independent and dependent variables, determine how they are measured, and decipher whether a social change question can be answered and the implications for such change.
To prepare for this Assignment:
• Review the Learning Resources as well as the SPSS resources found in this week's Learning Resources.
• Review, download, and install the SPSS software on your computer using the IBM SPSS Installation and Registration document for PC or for MAC in this week's Learning Resources.
• Using the SPSS software, open the Afrobarometer dataset or the High School Longitudinal Study dataset (whichever you choose) found in this week's Learning Resources and then choose two variables that interest you.
For this Assignment:
Write a 1- to 2-page summary and include the following:
• A description of what the each of the variables measure.
• A description of the unit of analysis.
• A description and explanation of the levels of measurement for each variable (i.e., nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio).
• Explain how you might conceive these variables to be used to answer a social change question. What might be the implications for social change?
Support your summary using appropriate scholarly citations and references. Use proper APA format.
Information related to above question is enclosed below:
Attachment:- Assignment.rar