Charts, Graphs, and Tables Final Research Paper

In this assignment, you’ll write a paper analyzing the survey data we have collected for class and reporting your findings. The paper should be about 5 pages of text (double-spaced), and additionally include graphs/tables (see below). The goals of this project are to bring together what we have been learning in the class so far, and to find out what factors affect social capital among IU students. Our Excel workshop slides show you how to make all the necessary graphs and tables.
Your essay should include the following components:
1. An introduction, in which you explain the concept of social capital, and describe at least two independent variables (IVs) from the survey that you believe affect social capital. Explain how you believe these variables affect social capital (whether they will lead to more or less social capital, and why). For example, you might look at Facebook use and sex as independent variables, and number of friends or number of club memberships as a dependent variable (DV). 2. A research methods section, in which you explain the contents of survey (the kinds of topics we asked about) and how the survey was conducted. 3. A results section, in which you present: a. Descriptive statistics for each of the three variables you choose (mean, median, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation). Note that if you are analyzing categorical variables, you might want to report slightly different descriptive statistics, e.g. the mode instead of the mean.

b. A frequency histogram, showing the distribution of your social capital measure. Describe the distribution – is it normal? Skewed? c. Using a graph or a table, show and describe the relationship between the first independent variable and your social capital measure d. Using a graph or a table, show and describe the relationship between the second independent variable and your social capital measure e. Using a graph or a table, show and describe the relationship between both independent variables and your social capital measure. i. To do this, you will need to make a pivot table in Excel, with the first IV in the rows, the second IV in the columns, and the DV in the values cells. You should report the mean of your DV. ii. Does including the second variable change your interpretation of how the first variable affects social capital? For example, you might see if the effect of your first variable differs for men and women, for people who do and do not work, or for people who live on or off campus. 4. A discussion/conclusion section, in which you: a. Describe the overall conclusions of your study b. Compare your findings to Putnam’s argument: did we learn something new that isn’t in Putnam’s book? c. Discuss any limitations of the study, or ways to improve the study in the future