1. CROSSTABULATIONS
Problem Set #10

2. Crosstabulation
Remember: the standard convention is that the INDEPENDENT Variable is the COLUMN Variable and the DEPENDENT Variable is the ROW Variable.
So in this table, PARTY ID is the column variable and Presidential Approval is the Row variable.
In your worksheet, you will place tallies/ID#s in cells but in your finished table, the cell entries are case counts/absolute frequencies (probably the converted in Column Percentages.
“Independent” is a legitimate value of the ordinal variable PARTY ID and likewise “moderate” (IDEOLOGY), “mixed” (HEALTH INSURANCE), “neutral” (HAVE SAY), etc. Don’t drop these values from a crosstabulation (or scattergram); they help assess the evidence for the hypothesis.
Whether “No Opinion/Don’t Know” is a legitimate value of PRES APPROVAL is more open to question.
If you recode a variable (e.g., PRES APPROVAL, ABORTION OPINION), you must tell your reader how you did this. (Measurement must be public.)
To assess an association between variables, you must look at the whole crosstabulation, not just particular cells (frequencies).

3. Association is Between Variables, Not Values

5. Problem Set #10: Column Percentages