The Survey method in Social Research sociology
ASSIGNMENT

In this assessment your task is to undertake and report on a simple analysis of wave 3 of Understanding Society in order to assess factors related to a measure of
health, happiness or wellbeing. Your analysis and report should take the form described below.

Please see the Blackboard Site (under Assessment) for further details of submission requirements.
The overall word limit is 2000 words. You must include an accurate word count on the front page of your essay. Failure to do so will lead to an automatic 2 mark
deduction. Your word count should include all text in the essay but does not include any Tables/Figures (including titles) or the bibliography.

Assignment Brief – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
1. Before you start
You will need a copy of the correct dataset – do this early so that you can be sure that you have what you will need. The dataset you should use is called
sost20012assessment.sav you should complete the Data Access quiz on the assessment page on blackboard in order to complete the necessary licence and download the
data. This is an ethical obligation. Students who do not obtain the data in the correct manner may receive a 5 mark deduction.
You should also access a copy of the accompanying document which is called AssessmentDataInfo.docx . This document provides essential information for making sense of
the data including information on the sample, questions asked and weighting.
Read the full assignment brief before starting work.
Analysis needs to be done in SPSS. This is available on cluster machines.

2. Work out what your research question should be
Your research question should explore factors related to health or wellbeing. You should decide for yourself (within the limits afforded by the data) which aspect of
health or wellbeing you wish to focus on and clearly explain this in your report.
The dataset contains a wide range of wellbeing variables as well as a wide range of variables that we might expect to be related to physical and mental health,
including but not limited to:
• Employment and financial security (economic activity, satisfaction with household income etc.) • Personality (extraversion, openness etc)
• Living arrangements (living with parents / children / spouse, tenure etc)
• Local environment (feel part of community, want to move, urban or rural etc.) • Social networks and support (number of close friends, able to visit family etc)
• Socio-economic and demographic markers (ethnicity, country of birth, sex, age etc)

You will need to identify a research question which can be explored by looking at the relationship between 3 variables – one dependent and two exploratory variables.

You should use existing literature, the data document and the data themselves to come up with a suitable research question and hypothesis. The literature should be
used in order to help you generate a plausible and justifiable research question. It is not necessary to read extensively as the focus of your effort should be the
analysis.
The module discussion forum contains some suggested readings if you are looking for a place to start.
3. Conduct your analysis
The analysis and the report must follow the guidelines provided below. Please pay careful attention to cover all the requirements specified for the SPSS analysis and
for the structure and content of the report. NB: all the techniques needed for the data analysis for this assignment were covered in the SPSS practical classes –
please consult the relevant practical hand-outs where required for reminders.
3.1: Your analysis should be appropriately weighted (we weighted analysis for the first time in the week 7 practical). When weights are applied this should be noted
in your report.
3.2: You should produce and present frequency tables for each variable to illustrate the distribution of each variable. You should identify in your report any
features which are of interest or importance. (This was covered in week 7).
3.3: Make at least one modification to your data in order to make it more suitable for your analysis. This modification should either be a recode, compute or filter.
For example you may choose to recode a detailed variable into a new variable with fewer categories in order to create an easier to understand variable. You might
choose to simplify a variable after you have demonstrated how it is related to the other variables. For example, you could choose to use a more detailed version of a
variable for one and two way tables and a less detailed version in the three way table. You should be explain any changes you have made and justify these in your
report. (Modifying data was covered in week 9). Strong candidates will also include the syntax they used to make the modification as an appendix.
3.3: Produce two two-way tables demonstrating whether there appears to be a relationship between the dependent variable and each of the explanatory variables. You
should add appropriate percentages to enable comparisons to be made between the groups defined by your explanatory variable. (This was covered in week 8).
3.4: You should produce one stacked bar chart to demonstrate the relationship between your dependent variable and one of the explanatory variables. (week 8)
3.5: You should conduct chisquared tests for your two way tables. This should be interpreted in the report. (week 10)
3.6: You should produce one three way table demonstrating whether the relationship between the dependent and explanatory changes when you control for the other
explanatory variable (week 8). You may need to recode one or more of your variables to prevent this from becoming unwieldy. This should also be supported with a chi-
squared test. You should interpret your findings.
Each element of the analysis will be marked individually. If any element is omitted it is not possible to give marks for that element. It is essential to follow the
instructions above carefully and be sure to include all of the components to the best of your ability in order to avoid dropping marks.
4. Writing your report
Your report should have the following components:

INTRODUCTION (30% of the marks)
4.1: A statement of your research question and an account of why you have chosen to explore it (this should reference the reading that you have done to establish the
suitability of the question). If you have any hypotheses you should state these.
4.2: A description of the dataset you are using (this should make use of the assessment data guide, stronger candidates will also drawn on the documentation for
Understanding Society).
4.3: A description of the variables you are using for your dependent and explanatory variables. You should include your frequency tables for each variable and any
observations you make about these.
4.4: Any observations about the strength and weaknesses of the variables and dataset for exploring your choice of research question.
Your introduction should be concise as most marks are allocated for data analysis.

DATA MANIPULATION (5% of the marks)
4.5: Briefly explain any modifications you have made to the data and why this was appropriate.

DATA ANALYSIS (60% of the marks)
4.6: Present and interpret your two-way cross-tabulations showing the relationship between your dependent variable and each of your explanatory variables. You should
comment the tables,
providing interpretations of the percentages seen as precisely as possible. You should also present and interpret the chi square tests and include the stacked bar
chart. Stronger candidates will include confidence intervals for percentages discussed.
4.7: Present and interpret your three-way table and associated chi square test. Ensure that all your tables and the graph are numbered and have clear titles and
include the appropriate percentages. Include a conclusion where you summarize your main findings, commenting on whether they are as you expected (did the findings
support your hypotheses?) .
LIMITATIONS AND QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY (5%)
4.8: Finally, identify and briefly discuss two limitations of the analysis you have presented. This may take the form of identifying questions that the analysis has
raised, but which you have not been able to answer due to the restrictions placed on you for the assessment.

TIPS FOR REPORT WRITING
Reports should have a clear structure – sensible use of numbered sub-headings will help achieve this.
Avoid simply pasting in tables and graphs without accompanying comment. A reader will want you to draw out the important elements of your tables (e.g. referring to
some of the percentages from the cross-tabulations to support your points) and to discuss your results in relation to any hypotheses.
Tables and figures included in the report should be numbered (Table 1… Figure 1 etc) be given clear titles, and be referred to in the text. Good formulation and
presentation of tables is important and presentation will affect marks.
Tables presented with only the raw counts are of little value – inclusion of appropriate percentages will help you and the reader interpret the table.
Avoid over-complex tables with too many rows and columns (resulting in lots of empty or near empty cells). Some recoding of variables can help here. A table that goes
off the end of the page/over two pages is a bad table, as is a table that a tired marker needs to use a magnifying glass to read.
Always aim to support your analysis with intelligent discussion. So for relationships you are reporting, are they what you expected? Do they support any of your
hypotheses?
Writing this report may require more table formatting than you are used to. It is possible to edit tables in SPSS and in Word. Students who have written reports in
Google Docs in previous years have struggled to format tables into a readable format. You should therefore aim to complete your tables in good time so that you do not
discover that your choice of software is not up to the job at the last minute and are able to make use of Word in a cluster if necessary.
Please post any questions (and answers) on the assessment forum on Blackboard. As discussion builds, this will become a much faster place to find answers than email.