Income Based on Number of Children

 
1. Give a brief, clear description of your chosen outcome variable (Ideal number of children). This description must include a verbatim quote of the question as it was asked on the General Social Survey, a description of how people answered it (what answers were possible?) and what you think those answers mean. (2 points)
2. Discuss the explanatory variable that you have chosen (Total family income) , including a quote of the second question as it was asked on the General Social Survey and a description of how people answered it, as for the outcome variable. (2 points)
3. Write about your theory for WHY your explanatory variable should explain differences in answers people gave to your outcome variable. As part of this explanation you should discuss the article(s) you located using JSTOR, and cite the articles in your text as discussed in class. Every cited article must have a bibliographic reference at the end of the text section of your report.(3 points)
4. Evaluate the empirical pattern that you find in the crosstabulation you obtained from the General Social Survey data. Are the columns of answers to your outcome question different for different categories of your explanation? Describe how answers to your outcome variable differed for people giving different answers to your explanatory variable. (2 points)
5. Include a reference in the text to your table constructed from those results, and include the table itself on a separate page at the end of the essay*. (3 points)
6. Compare the pattern you have found to what you have learned about this supposed relationship from your JSTOR-cited articles. Present your conclusions about how well your explanation works in predicting the differences among people you studied. Were you right? What else might be at work in this situation?