Questions and activities

We will be looking at what factors (let's use age, polviews, reborn, sex, religion) might influence public opinion about favoring death penalty for murder (cappun).

1.Draw a model of this regression analysis using boxes and arrows diagram.

a.HINT: You need to make clear which are the independent and dependent variables, and what the direction of influence is.

2.Replicate the SPSS output provided below.

a.Run Logistic regression (Analyze>Regression>Binary Logistic) using the following variables from the GSS 2016: cappun, age, polviews, reborn, sex, religion. The interface is very similar to the linear regression one, but with "covariates" instead of "independent variables".

b.HINT: Before running the logistic regression, you will need to recode the following variables (best to use "Transform>Recode into different variables" so you don't lose the original data):

i.Dependent Variable (cappun) so that 1 = Favor and 0 = Oppose. E.g. new variable called cappun2. The "Old-->New" box should look like this: 2-->0; 1-->copy; ELSE-->SYSMIS. After creating new variable, make sure to create new "values" on Variable View, e.g. 0 = "Oppose", 1 = "Favor".

ii.Independent Variables: Recode "Reborn" variable so that 1 = Reborn experience and 0 = No reborn experience (rest system missing). Make sure to label new variable values!

iv.Do two things with the Religion variable: a) recode to move any religions not in the results below to "other"; b) identify this recoded variable as categorical when running the logistic regression. Label new variable values!

3.Provide the full logistic regression analysis of the SPSS output. Specifically, look at the "Variables in the Equation" table andinterpretthe EXP (B) coefficient (odds) for the significant results. NOTE: The coding for the variable is presented in the SPSS Variable View in the "Values" column. Click on any variable you need information about. The variables' coding will help you to interpret the odds correctly.

a.HINT: Put another way: Are Conservatives more likely to favor the death penalty? Are Men more likely to favor the death penalty? The Exp(B) for polviews and sex tell you whether they are more likely (>1) or less likely (<1), respectively.

4.Calculate the probability of favoring death penalty for murder for a catholic man, moderate in political views and without "born again" experience. HINT: Examples calculations used for this and Q5 are provided below. There are also examples in the slides and videos; however these are for older GSS data, and so have different results.

5.Calculate the probability of favoring death penalty for murder for a non-believer woman with a "born again" experience and extremely liberal in her political views.

REPLICATE THE FOLLOWING FOR QUESTION 2! THEN YOU CAN USE THE RESULTS FOR QUESTIONS 3-5

NOTE: ONLY KEY RESULTS ARE INCLUDED

Logistic Regression