EXERCISES AND PROJECTS

Using the accompanying table, which gives values for a hypothetical violent crime index, shift the base from 1982 to 2002 and recalculate values for each of the years in the table.

Assume that we wish to construct an index of community integration involving the following indicators:

1. Whether a person owns a home
2. Whether a person is married
3. Whether a person has children in community schools
4. Whether a person belongs to community organizations
5. Whether a person has lived in the community for more than 10 years

In this index, indicators a, b, and c are to be weighted equally, d is to be given triple weight, and e is to be given double weight. A person receives a 1 if he or she answers yes to the question and a 0 otherwise.

1. What is the minimum value a person can achieve on the index? _______________
2. What is the maximum value a person can achieve on the index?___________________
3. What score would a person receive who is single, owns a home, has no children, belongs to several community organizations, and has lived in the community for 5 years? ______________
4. What score would a person receive who is married, rents an apartment, has two children in community schools, has lived in the community for 12 years, and belongs to no community organizations? ____________
5. What score would a person receive who is married, owns a home, has a child in community schools, belongs to one community organization, and has lived in the community for 2 years? _________________

Write a set of five items to measure a concept of your choice. These items should be such that they are likely to constitute a Guttman scale. In other words, the items should be increasingly difficult or restrictive so that a respondent who “passes” an item will also be very likely to “pass” all scale items that are “easier.”

What concept are you trying to measure?

List the items in order of increasing difficulty or restrictiveness.

1. (Least difficult) __________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________________
4. _______________________________________________________________________
5. (Most difficult) ___________________________________________________________

Devise at least six items that could be used to measure the concept of “job satisfaction.” Show how the responses to these items would be scored and how they could be combined into an index.

Write 10 items that could be used in a Likert scale to measure attitudes toward the concept of regional government (as opposed to traditional city and county government). Be sure the items are clear, grammatically correct, and appear to measure the same dimension. Provide an appropriate set of 5-point alternatives for each question.

In a study of political participation, you ask a sample of 100 persons the following four questions:

Item 1: Have you ever run for public office?

Item 2: In the past year have you attended political rallies or meetings?

Item 3: In the most recent election did you ever persuade others to vote a certain way?

Item 4: Did you vote in the last election?

Responses to these items produced the following results:

Step 1. Compute the coefficient of reproducibility for these data.

Step 2. What does the coefficient of reproducibility tell you about the four items?

Step 3. Which of the four items would you eliminate in order to increase the coefficient of reproducibility?

Step 4. If you eliminated this item, what would the new coefficient of reproducibility be?