Sociology 340

Quantitative Analysis Assignment, Part 2

Directions: After watching the brief video for Quantitative Analysis 2, complete the questions located
below. Please enter your answers, directly into this document. When you have finished, please upload
this document to the correct portal in our class’s Blackboard site.

Objective: The objective of this assignment is to improve your skills related to quantitative reasoning
and understanding research.

Part A: Read the abstracts from academic journal articles located below and then answer the questions
that follow.

1. Abstract: This research focuses on the relationship between marriage and women's self-
employment earnings in the US. The basic proposition is that marriage poses an additional
constraint on women entrepreneurs. By acknowledging the overlap of gender, family, and
business we are able to observe the relationship between the institution of marriage and
women's self-employment earnings. This research used the Integrated Public Use
Microdata System's 2009 American Community Survey. Marriage and children had a
negative association with women's self-employment earnings.
a. What is the group of people examined in the study (i.e., the population of interest)?
b. What is the dependent variable in this study?
c. What is the primary independent variable in this study?
d. What is the authors’ main hypothesis?
e. What dataset is used to address the research question?
f. Do they find evidence to support their hypothesis? Explain.

2. Abstract: Research suggests that transgender people face high levels of discrimination in
society, which may contribute to their disproportionate risk for poor health. However, little
is known about whether gender nonconformity, as a visible marker of one's stigmatized
status as a transgender individual, heightens trans people's experiences with discrimination
and, in turn, their health. Using data from the largest survey of transgender adults in the
United States, the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (N = 4,115), we examine the
associations among gender nonconformity, transphobic discrimination, and three health-
harming behaviors (attempted suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, and smoking). The results
suggest that gender nonconforming trans people face more discrimination and, in turn, are
more likely to engage in health-harming behaviors than trans people who are gender
conforming. Our findings highlight the important role of gender nonconformity in the social
experiences and well-being of transgender people.
a. What is the group of people examined in the study (i.e., the population of interest)?
b. What are the dependent variables of this study (there are 3)?
 c. What are the independent variables of this study (there are 2)?
d. What is the authors’ main hypothesis?
e. What is the dataset used to address the research question?
f. Do they find evidence to support their hypothesis? Explain.

Part B:
Table 1. Coworker Support by Gender.

Coworker Support Gender Total

Women Men
Low 115 230 345
(11.1%) (28.5%) (18.7%)

Medium 350 345 695

(33.8%) (42.7%) (37.7%)

High 570 233 803

(55.1%) (28.8%) (43.6%)

Total 1,035 808 1843

(100%) (100%) (100%)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

1. What is the independent variable?

2. What is the dependent variable?

3. Create a hypothesis using the independent and dependent variables you identified above.

4. How many women were surveyed? Men?

5. Who is more likely to report higher coworker support? Men or women?

6. Who is more likely to report lower coworker support? Men or women?

7. What percentage of people overall report high coworker support?

8. What basic pattern does this table show? Does the basic pattern support your hypothesis?