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IBM SPSS for Introductory Statistics
IBM SPSS for Introductory Statistics is designed to help students learn how to analyze and
interpret research. In easy-to-understand language, the authors show readers how to choose the
appropriate statistic based on the design, and to interpret outputs appropriately. There is such a
wide variety of options and statistics in SPSS, that knowing which ones to use and how to
interpret the outputs can be difficult. This book assists students with these challenges.

Comprehensive and user-friendly, the book prepares readers for each step in the research process:
design, entering and checking data, testing assumptions, assessing reliability and validity,
computing descriptive and inferential parametric and nonparametric statistics, and writing about
results. Dialog windows and SPSS syntax, along with the output, are provided. Several realistic
data sets, available online, are used to solve the chapter problems. This new edition includes
updated screenshots and instructions for IBM SPSS 25, as well as updated pedagogy, such as
callout boxes for each chapter indicating crucial elements of APA style and referencing outputs.

IBM SPSS for Introductory Statistics is an invaluable supplemental (or lab text) book for students.
In addition, this book and its companion, IBM SPSS for Intermediate Statistics, are useful as
guides/reminders to faculty and professionals regarding the specific steps to take to use SPSS
and/or how to use and interpret parts of SPSS with which they are unfamiliar.

George A. Morgan is Emeritus Professor of Education and Human Development at Colorado


State University. He received his Ph.D. in child development and psychology from Cornell
University. In addition to writing textbooks, he has advised many Ph.D. students in education and
related fields. He has conducted a program of research on children’s motivation to master
challenging tasks.

Karen C. Barrett is Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State
University, where she teaches research methods and statistics classes as well as classes in her
research area. She is also Professor of Community & Behavioral Health at Colorado School of
Public Health. She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of
Denver. Her research takes a functional approach to studying emotional and motivational
processes and their influence on development; family and cultural influences on emotion
regulation; and the development of social emotions such as guilt and shame.

Nancy L. Leech is Professor of Research and Evaluation Methods at the University of Colorado,
Denver. She teaches graduate level courses in research, statistics, and measurement. She received
her Ph.D. in education with an emphasis on research and statistics from Colorado State University
in 2002. Her area of research is promoting new developments and better understandings in
applied, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research.

Gene W. Gloeckner is Professor, former IRB Chair, former School of Education Director, and
one voyage Semester at Sea Dean. He received his Ph.D. and B.S. from The Ohio State
University and M.S. from Colorado State University. Much of his writing and teaching has
focused on issues in quantitative and mixed research methods. He has served as the academic
advisor for over 60 doctoral graduates.
“Written clearly and packed with illustrative examples, this book provides readers with a
comprehensive yet easy-to-follow introduction to SPSS. It covers many of the descriptive
and inferential analyses students will likely encounter in an entry-level course. Graduate
and undergraduate students alike will appreciate the practical advice that it offers
throughout. It provides clear guidance for developing research questions, selecting the
appropriate test, and interpreting the results. This book is a must-have guide for any person
who desires to learn the basics of SPSS software.”—Janelle L. Gagnon, Mount Holyoke
College, USA

“I have been using the earlier versions of this book for many years. The students loved it.
Using this book they found it stress-free to understand basic statistics. The book is easy to
read even for non-native English speakers. The real research examples really help students
to understand the most important statistical concepts. This revised edition includes
updated screenshots and instructions for the most recent SPSS version. This is the best
introductory SPSS book I have ever used or read.” —Krisztián Józsa, Professor of
Education, University of Szeged, Hungary
IBM SPSS for Introductory Statistics:
Use and Interpretation
Sixth Edition

George A. Morgan
Karen C. Barrett
Colorado State University

Nancy L. Leech
University of Colorado Denver

Gene W. Gloeckner
Colorado State University
Sixth edition published 2020
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2020 Taylor & Francis

The right of George Morgan, Nancy Leech, Gene Gloeckner and Karen Barrett to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Erlbaum Associates 2001


Fifth edition published by Routledge 2013

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data


Names: Morgan, George A. (George Arthur), 1936- author.
Title: IBM SPSS for introductory statistics : use and interpretation / George Morgan [and three
others].
Description: Sixth edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019007110| ISBN 9781138578227 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138578210 (pbk.)
| ISBN 9780429287657 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: SPSS for Windows. | SPSS (Computer file) | Social sciences--Statistical
methods--Computer programs.
Classification: LCC HA32 .S572 2020 | DDC 005.5/5--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019007110

ISBN: 978-1-138-57822-7 (hbk)


ISBN: 978-1-138-57821-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28765-7 (ebk)

Publisher’s Note
This book has been prepared from camera-ready copy provided by the authors.

Visit the companion website: www.routledge.com/cw/morgan


Contents
Preface .............................................................................................................................................ix

1 Variables, Research Problems, and Questions ........................................................................... 1


Research Problems .............................................................................................................. 1
Variables.............................................................................................................................. 1
Research Hypotheses and Questions ................................................................................... 5
A Sample Research Problem: The Modified High School and Beyond (HSB) Study ........ 7
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................... 14

2 Data Coding, Entry, and Transformation ................................................................................. 15


Plan the Study, Pilot Test, and Collect Data ..................................................................... 15
Code Data for Data Entry .................................................................................................. 17
Problem 2.1: Check the Completed Questionnaires ......................................................... 19
Problem 2.2: Define and Label the Variables ................................................................... 22
Problem 2.3: Display Your Dictionary or Codebook ........................................................ 27
Problem 2.4: Enter Data .................................................................................................... 28
Alternative Problem 2.4: Downloading and Using Data Collected Online ....................... 29
Problem 2.5: Count Math Courses Taken ......................................................................... 31
Problem 2.6: Recode and Relabel Mother’s and Father’s Education ................................ 33
Problem 2.7: Reverse Low Pleasure Items for Pleasure Scale Score ................................ 37
Problem 2.8: Compute Pleasure Scale with the Mean Function ....................................... 39
Problem 2.9: Check for Errors and Normality for the New Variables .............................. 40
Describing the Sample Demographics and Key Variables ................................................ 42
Using Figures to Help Describe the Data .......................................................................... 44
Saving the Updated HSB Data File ................................................................................... 45
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................... 46
Extra SPSS Problems ........................................................................................................ 46

3 Measurement and Descriptive Statistics .................................................................................. 47


Frequency Distributions .................................................................................................... 47
Levels of Measurement ..................................................................................................... 48
Descriptive Statistics and Plots ......................................................................................... 54
The Normal Curve ............................................................................................................. 60
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................... 63
Extra SPSS Problems ........................................................................................................ 63

4 Understanding Your Data and Checking Assumptions ........................................................... 64


Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)..................................................................................... 64
Problem 4.1: Descriptive Statistics for the Ordinal and Scale Variables .......................... 66
Problem 4.2: Boxplots for One Variable and for Multiple Variables................................ 71
Problem 4.3: Boxplots and Stem-and-Leaf Plots Split by a Dichotomous Variable ........ 75
Problem 4.4: Descriptives for Dichotomous Variables ..................................................... 79
Problem 4.5: Frequency Tables for Each Type of Variable .............................................. 81
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................... 84
Extra SPSS Problems ........................................................................................................ 85

5 Selecting and Interpreting Inferential Statistics ....................................................................... 86


General Design Classifications for Difference Questions ................................................. 86

v
vi CONTENTS

Selection of Inferential Statistics ....................................................................................... 88


The General Linear Model ................................................................................................ 93
Interpreting the Results of a Statistical Test ...................................................................... 94
An Example of How to Select and Interpret Inferential Statistics .................................. 100
Writing About Your Outputs ........................................................................................... 102
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 104
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................. 104

6 Methods to Provide Evidence for Reliability and Validity ..................................................... 106


Measurement Reliability ................................................................................................. 107
Measurement Validity ..................................................................................................... 108
Problem 6.1: Cohen’s Kappa to Assess Reliability with Nominal Data ......................... 109
Problem 6.2: Correlation and Paired t to Assess Interrater Reliability ........................... 113
Problem 6.3: Exploratory Factor Analysis to Assess Evidence for Validity ................... 116
Problem 6.4: Cronbach’s Alpha to Assess Internal Consistency Reliability................... 124
The Use of Factor Analysis and Alpha to Make Summated Scales ................................ 132
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................. 133
Extra SPSS Problems ...................................................................................................... 134

7 Cross-Tabulation, Chi-Square, and Nonparametric Measures of Association ...................... 135


Problem 7.1: Chi-Square and Phi (or Cramer’s V) .......................................................... 136
Problem 7.2: Risk Ratios and Odds Ratios ..................................................................... 142
Problem 7.3: Other Nonparametric Associational Statistics ........................................... 145
Problem 7.4: Eta .............................................................................................................. 147
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................. 149
Extra SPSS Problems ...................................................................................................... 150

8 Correlation and Regression .................................................................................................... 151


Problem 8.1: Scatterplots to Check the Assumption of Linearity ................................... 153
Problem 8.2: Bivariate Pearson and Spearman Correlations ........................................... 158
Problem 8.3: Correlation Matrix for Several Variables .................................................. 161
Problem 8.4: Bivariate or Simple Linear Regression ...................................................... 165
Problem 8.5: Multiple Regression ................................................................................... 168
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................. 174
Extra SPSS Problems ...................................................................................................... 174

9 Comparing Groups with t Tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Similar


Nonparametric Tests ............................................................................................................. 175
Problem 9.1: One-Sample t Test ..................................................................................... 177
Problem 9.2: Independent Samples t Test ....................................................................... 178
Problem 9.3: The Nonparametric Mann–Whitney U Test .............................................. 183
Problem 9.4: Paired Samples t Test................................................................................. 186
Problem 9.5: Nonparametric Wilcoxon Test for Two Related Samples ......................... 188
Problem 9.6: One-Way (or Single Factor) ANOVA ....................................................... 191
Problem 9.7: Post Hoc Multiple Comparison Tests ........................................................ 195
Problem 9.8: Nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis Test.......................................................... 202
Problem 9.9: Two-Way (or Factorial) ANOVA.............................................................. 205
Interpretation Questions .................................................................................................. 212
Extra SPSS Problems ...................................................................................................... 213
IBM SPSS FOR INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS vii

Appendices

A. Getting Started and Other Useful SPSS Procedures


Don Quick ................................................................................................................... 214
B. Writing Research Problems and Questions ...................................................................... 226
C. Answers to Odd Numbered Interpretation Questions
Jessica Gerton ...............................................................................................................231
D. Glossary
Jessica Bochert .............................................................................................................240
For Further Reading ................................................................................................................. 248
Index ........................................................................................................................................ 250
Preface
This book is designed to help students learn how to analyze and interpret research. It is intended to
be a supplemental text in an introductory (undergraduate or graduate) statistics or research methods
course in the behavioral or social sciences or education and it can be used in conjunction with any
mainstream text. We have found that this book makes IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows easy to
use so that it is not necessary to have a formal, instructional computer lab; you should be able to
learn how to use the program on your own with this book. Access to the IBM SPSS program and
some familiarity with Windows is all that is required. Although SPSS is quite easy to use, there is
such a wide variety of options and statistics that knowing which ones to use and how to interpret
the printouts can be difficult. This book is intended to help with these challenges. In addition to
serving as a supplemental or lab text, this book and its companion, IBM SPSS for Intermediate
Statistics (Leech, Barrett, & Morgan, 5th ed., 2015) are useful as reminders to faculty and
professionals of the specific steps to take to use SPSS and/or guides to using and interpreting parts
of SPSS with which they might be unfamiliar.

The Computer Program


We used IBM SPSS 25 in this book. Except for enhanced tables and graphics, there are only minor
differences among SPSS Versions 10 to 25. In October 2009, IBM bought the SPSS Corporation
and changed the name of the program used in this book to IBM SPSS Statistics. We expect future
Windows versions of this program to be similar so students should be able to use this book with
earlier and later versions of the program, which we call SPSS in the text. Our students have used
this book, or earlier editions of it, with all of the earlier versions of SPSS; both the procedures and
outputs are quite similar. We point out some of the changes at various points in the text.

In addition to various SPSS modules that may be available at your university, there are two versions
that are available for students that you can rent for 6 or 12 months online. Statistics GradPack
enables you to do all the statistics in this book plus most of those in our IBM SPSS for Intermediate
Statistics book (Leech et al., 2015) and many others (there are a few statistics that are not included,
so you may want to check before deciding to purchase).

Goals of This Book


Helping you learn how to choose the appropriate statistics, interpret the outputs, and develop skills
in writing about the meaning of the results are the main goals of this book. Thus, we have included
material on
1. How the appropriate choice of a statistic is influenced by the design of the research.
2. How to use SPSS to help the researcher answer research questions.
3. How to interpret SPSS outputs.
4. How to write about the outputs in the Results section of a paper.
This information will help you develop skills that cover the whole range of the steps in the research
process: design, data collection, data entry, data analysis, interpretation of outputs, and writing
results. The modified high school and beyond dataset (HSB) used in this book is similar to one you
might have for a thesis, dissertation, or research project. Therefore, we think it can serve as a model
for your analysis.

The Web site, www.routledge.com/cw/morgan, contains the HSB data files under the Student
Resources tab used throughout this book (hsbdata and AlternativehsbdataB). Two other datasets
(called CollegeStudentData.sav and ChapterSixData.sav) are used for the extra statistics problems
at the end of most chapters, and DataFastTrack.sav and DataRegularTrack.sav are used in

ix
x PREFACE

Appendix A for the merging of two data files. Appendix A shows how to download these files
from the website to your computer.

This book demonstrates how to produce a variety of statistics that are usually included in basic
statistics courses, plus others (e.g., reliability measures) that are useful for doing research. We try
to describe the use and interpretation of these statistics as much as possible in nontechnical, jargon-
free language. In part, to make the text more readable, we have chosen not to cite many references
in the text; however, we have provided a short bibliography, “For Further Reading,” of some of the
books and articles that our students have found useful. We assume that most students will use this
book in conjunction with a class that has a textbook; it will help you to read more about each
statistic before doing the assignments.

Overview of the Chapters


Our approach in this book is to present how to use and interpret the SPSS statistics program in the
context of proceeding as if the HSB data were the actual data from your research project. These
chapters are organized in very much the same way you might proceed if this were your project. The
goal is to use this computer program as a tool to help you answer these research questions.
(Appendix B provides some guidelines for phrasing or formatting research questions.) Chapter 2
provides an introduction to data coding, entry, basic transformations to turn the raw data into
variables, and how to check data for errors. We developed Chapter 2 because many of you may
have little experience with making “messy,” realistic data ready to analyze. In this revision, we
added information about how to use SPSS to analyze online data. Chapter 3 discusses measurement
and its relation to the appropriate use of descriptive statistics. This chapter also includes a brief
review of descriptive statistics to prepare you for Chapter 4.

Chapter 4 provides you with experience doing exploratory data analysis (EDA) and basic
descriptive statistics and figures that are appropriate for the level of measurement of the variables.
We calculate a variety of descriptive statistics, often to check certain statistical assumptions. Much
of what is done in this chapter involves preliminary analyses to get ready to answer the research
questions that you might state in a report.

Chapter 5 provides a brief overview of research designs (e.g., between groups and within subjects).
This chapter also provides flowcharts and tables useful for selecting an appropriate statistic. Also
included is an overview of how to interpret and write about the results of an inferential statistic.
This includes not only information about testing for statistical significance but also a discussion of
effect size measures and guidelines for interpreting them.

Chapter 6 provides examples of how to check your data for evidence of reliability and validity
using several statistics provided by SPSS; e.g., Cohen’s kappa and Cronbach’s alpha. The chapter
also provides an introduction to exploratory factor analysis used to reduce a large number of
variables to a more manageable number.

Chapters 7 through 9 are designed to answer the several research questions posed in Chapter 1 as
well as a number of additional questions. Solving the problems in these chapters should give you a
good idea of the basic statistics that can be computed with this computer program. Hopefully,
seeing how the research questions and design lead naturally to the choice of statistics will become
apparent after using this book. In addition, it is our hope that interpreting what you get back from
the computer will become clearer after doing these assignments, studying the outputs, answering
the interpretation questions, and doing the extra statistics problems.
IBM SPSS FOR INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS xi

Our Approach to Research Questions, Measurement, and Selection of Statistics


In Chapters 1, 3, and 5, our approach is somewhat nontraditional because we have found that
students have a great deal of difficulty with some aspects of research and statistics but not others.
Most can learn formulas and “crunch” the numbers quite easily and accurately with a calculator or
with a computer. However, many have trouble knowing what statistics to use and how to interpret
the results. They do not seem to have a “big picture” or see how research design and measurement
influence data analysis. Part of the problem is inconsistent terminology. We are reminded of Bruce
Thompson’s frequently repeated, intentionally facetious remark at his many national workshops:
“We use these different terms to confuse the graduate students.” For these reasons, we have tried
to present a semantically consistent and coherent picture of how research design leads to three basic
kinds of research questions (difference, associational, and descriptive) that, in turn, lead to three
kinds or groups of statistics with the same names. We realize that these and other attempts to
develop and utilize a consistent framework are both nontraditional and somewhat of an
oversimplification. However, we think the framework and consistency pay off in terms of student
understanding and ability to actually use statistics to help answer their research questions.
Instructors who are not persuaded that this framework is useful can skip or modify Chapters 1, 3,
and 5 and still have a book that helps their students use and interpret SPSS.

Major Changes in This Edition


The major changes in this edition are based on extensive feedback from students in our classes.
Based on this feedback, we added a new alternative 2.4 to Chapter 2, which describes how to
download data collected online and how to upload it to SPSS and transform “string data” (words,
rather than numbers) often obtained using free online platforms to numerical data that can be
analyzed using SPSS. We moved the information on how to do basic transformations of data to
Chapter 2 as well, so that the new Chapter 2 enables the reader to take all of the most commonly
needed steps to get data ready to analyze in SPSS. We also have added the relevant parts of the
inferential statistic selection chart and effect size chart from Chapter 5 to each chapter that involves
inferential statistics. We have included more information about why we make the choices we do in
each computer problem in the book. In addition, we now have only one chapter on basic (one
dependent variable) difference question inferential statistics, so that students and researchers can
find whichever analysis they need in the same chapter. We also updated the windows and text to
IBM SPSS 25, and we have attempted to correct any typos in the 5th edition and clarify some
passages. Although this edition of our IBM SPSS for Introductory Statistics was written using
version 25, the program is sufficiently similar to prior versions of this software that we feel you
should be able to use this book with earlier and later versions as well.

Instructional Features
Several user-friendly features of this book include
1. Both words and the key windows that you see when performing the statistical analyses. This
has been helpful to “visual learners.”
2. The outputs for the analyses that we have done so you can see what you will get (we have
done some editing, as shown in Appendix A, to make the outputs fit better on the pages).
3. Callout boxes on the outputs that point out parts of the output to focus on and indicate what
they mean.
4. For each output, a boxed interpretation section that will help you understand the output.
5. Chapter 5 provides specially developed flowcharts and tables to help you select an
appropriate inferential statistic and interpret statistical significance and effect sizes. This
chapter also provides an extended example of how to identify and write a research problem,
research questions, and a results paragraph.
xii PREFACE

6. For the statistics in Chapters 6–9, an example of how to write about the output and make a
table or figure for a thesis, dissertation, or research paper using the 6th edition (2010) of the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is provided.
7. Interpretation questions for each chapter that stimulate you to think about the information in
the chapter.
8. Several Extra Problems at the end of each chapter for you to run with the SPSS program.
9. Appendix A provides information about how to get started with SPSS and how to use several
commands not discussed in the chapters.
10. Appendix B provides examples of how to write research problems and research questions or
hypotheses.
11. Answers to the odd numbered interpretation questions are provided in Appendix C.
12. Datasets on the book webpage www.routledge.com/cw/morgan are available and are listed in
Appendix A. These six realistic datasets provide you with data to be used to solve the chapter
and Appendix A problems and the end of chapter Extra SPSS Problems.
13. A Resource Web site is available to students and instructors. To access the site please visit h
www.routledge.com/cw/morgan. Some of the material is password protected and available
only to instructors to aid them in teaching the course. Instructors will find the following items
available for each chapter: PowerPoint slides, Additional Activities/ Suggestions for
Instructors, and the answers to the even numbered Interpretation Questions found in the book
(the odd answers are in the book itself). Both students and instructors can access the following
material that is provided for each chapter: Chapter Study Guides, Extra SPSS Problems, and
Chapter Outlines. Students and instructors, as well as researchers who purchase copies for their
personal use, can also access the data files by visiting www.routledge.com/cw/morgan.

Major Statistical Features of This Edition


Based on our experiences using the book with students, feedback from reviewers and other users,
and the revisions in policy and best practice specified by the APA Task Force on Statistical
Inference (1999) and the 6th edition of the APA Publication Manual (2010), we have included
discussions of
1. Effect size. We discuss effect size in each interpretation section to be consistent with the
requirements of the revised APA manual. Because this program doesn’t provide effect sizes
for all the demonstrated statistics, we often have to show how to estimate or compute them by
hand.
2. Writing about outputs. We include examples of how to write about and make APA-type
tables from the information in the outputs. We have found the step from interpretation to
writing quite difficult for students so we put emphasis on writing research results.
3. Data entry and checking. Most of Chapter 2 on data entry, variable labeling, and data
checking is based on a small dataset developed for this book. What is special about this is that
the data are displayed as if they were on copies of actual questionnaires answered by
participants. We built in problematic responses that require the researcher or data entry person
to look for errors or inconsistencies and to make decisions. We hope this quite realistic task
will help students be more sensitive to issues of data checking before doing analyses.
4. Descriptive statistics and testing assumptions. In Chapter 4 we emphasize exploratory data
analysis (EDA), how to test assumptions, and data file management.
5. Assumptions. When each inferential statistic is introduced in Chapters 7–9, we have a brief
section about its assumptions and when it is appropriate to select that statistic for the problem
or question at hand.
6. All the basic descriptive and inferential statistics such as chi-square, correlation, t tests,
and one-way ANOVA covered in basic statistics books. Our companion book, Leech et al.,
(2015), IBM SPSS for Intermediate Statistics: Use and Interpretation (5th ed.), also published
by Routledge/Taylor & Francis, is on the “For Further Reading” list at the end of this book.
IBM SPSS FOR INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS xiii

We think that you will find it useful if you need more complete examples and interpretations
of complex statistics including but not limited to Cronbach’s alpha, factor analysis, multiple
regression, and factorial ANOVA that are introduced briefly in this book, as well as many
that are beyond the scope of this book.
7. Reliability and validity assessment. We present some ways of assessing reliability and
validity in Chapter 6. More emphasis on reliability, validity, and testing assumptions is
consistent with our strategy of presenting computer analyses that students would use in an
actual research project.
8. Nonparametric statistics. We include the nonparametric tests that are similar to the t tests
(Mann–Whitney and Wilcoxon) and single factor ANOVA (Kruskal–Wallis) in appropriate
chapters, as well as several nonparametric measures of association. This is consistent with the
emphasis on checking assumptions because it provides alternative procedures for the student
when key assumptions are markedly violated.
9. SPSS syntax. We show the syntax along with the outputs because a number of professors and
skilled students like seeing and prefer using syntax to produce outputs. How to include SPSS
syntax in the output and to save and reuse it is presented in Appendix A. Use of syntax to write
commands not otherwise available in SPSS is presented briefly in our companion volume,
Leech et al. (in press).

Bullets, Arrows, Bold, and Italics


To help you do the problems, we have developed some conventions. We use bullets to indicate
actions in SPSS windows that you will take. For example:

• Highlight academic track and math achievement.


• Click on the arrow to move the variables into the right-hand box.
• Click on Options to get Fig. 2.16.
• Check Mean, Std Deviation, Minimum, and Maximum.
• Click on Continue.
Note that the words in italics are variable names and words in bold are words that you will see in
the windows and utilize to produce the desired output. In the text they are spelled and capitalized
as you see them in the windows. Bold is also used to identify key terms when they are introduced,
defined, or important to understanding.

To access a window from what SPSS calls the Data View (see Chapter 2), the words you will see
in the pull down menus are given in bold with arrows between them. For example:

• Select Analyze → Descriptive Statistics → Frequencies.


(This means pull down the Analyze menu, then slide your cursor down to Descriptive Statistics and
over to Frequencies, and click.)
Occasionally, we have used underlines to emphasize critical points or commands.
We have tried hard to make this book accurate and clear so that it could be used by students and
professionals to learn to compute and interpret statistics without the benefit of a class. However,
we find that there are always some errors and places that are not totally clear. Thus, we would like
for you to help us identify any grammatical or statistical errors and to point out places that need to
be clarified. Please send suggestions to Karen.Barrett@colostate.edu.
xiv PREFACE

Acknowledgments
This IBM SPSS book is consistent with and could be used as a supplement for Gliner, Morgan, and
Leech (2017), Research Methods in Applied Settings: An Integrated Approach to Design and
Analysis (2nd ed.), which provides extended discussions of how to conduct a quantitative research
project as well as understand the key concepts. Or, this SPSS book could be a supplement for
Morgan, Gliner, and Harmon (2006), Understanding and Evaluating Research in Applied and
Clinical Settings, which is a shorter book emphasizing reading and evaluating research articles and
statistics. Information about both books can be found at www.psypress.com.

Because this book draws heavily on these two research methods texts and on earlier editions of this
book, we need to acknowledge the important contribution of three current and former colleagues.
We thank Jeff Gliner for allowing us to use material in Chapters 1, 3, and 5. Bob Harmon facilitated
much of our effort to make statistics and research methods understandable to students, clinicians,
and other professionals. We hope this book will serve as a memorial to him and the work he
supported. Orlando Griego was a co-author of the first edition of this SPSS book; it still shows the
imprint of his student-friendly writing style.

We would like to acknowledge the assistance of the many students who have used earlier versions
of this book and provided helpful suggestions for improvement. We could not have completed the
task or made it look so good without our technology consultant, Don Quick, and our word
processor, Sonia Nelson. Linda White, Catherine Lamana, and Alana Stewart, Sophie Nelson and
several other student workers were key to making figures in earlier versions. Jikyeong Kang, Bill
Sears, LaVon Blaesi, Mei-Huei Tsay, and Sheridan Green assisted with classes and the
development of materials for the DOS and earlier Windows versions of the assignments. Lisa
Vogel, Don Quick, Andrea Weinberg, Pam Cress, Joan Clay, Laura Jensen, James Lyall, Joan
Anderson, and Yasmine Andrews wrote or edited parts of earlier editions. We thank Don Quick,
Jessica Bochert, and Jessica Gerton for writing Appendices for this edition. Jeff Gliner, Jerry
Vaske, Jim zumBrunnen, Laura Goodwin, James Benedict, Barry Cohen, John Ruscio, Tim Urdan,
and Steve Knotek provided reviews and suggestions for improving the text. Bob Fetch and Ray
Yang provided helpful feedback on the readability and user friendliness of the text. Finally, the
patience of our spouses (Terry, Grant, Susan, and Hildy) and families enabled us to complete the
task without too much family strain.

The screen shots of the many SPSS windows are reprinted by courtesy of International Business
Machines Corporation, © SPSS, Inc., an IBM Company. SPSS was acquired by IBM in October
2009.
CHAPTER 1

Variables, Research Problems, and Questions


Research Problems
The research process begins with an issue or problem of interest to the researcher. This research
problem is a statement that asks about the relationships between two or more variables; however,
almost all research studies have more than two variables.1 Appendix B provides templates to help
you phrase your research problem and different types of research questions. It also provides
examples from the expanded high school and beyond (HSB) dataset that is described in this chapter
and used throughout the book.

The process of moving from a sense of curiosity, or a feeling that there is an unresolved problem
to a clearly defined, researchable problem, can be complex and long. That part of the research
process is beyond the scope of this book, but it is discussed in most books about research methods
and books about completing a dissertation or thesis.

Variables
Key elements in a research problem are the variables. A variable is defined as a characteristic of
the participants or situation in a given study that has different values. A variable must vary or have
different values in the study. For example, sex at birth can be a variable because it normally has
two values, female or male. Age is a variable that can have a large number of values. Type of
treatment/intervention (or type of curriculum) is a variable if there is more than one treatment or a
treatment and a control group. The number of days to learn something or to recover from an ailment
are common measures of the effect of a treatment and, thus, are also potential variables. Similarly,
amount of mathematics knowledge can be a variable because it can vary from none to a lot.

However, even if a characteristic has the potential to be a variable, if it has only one value in a
particular study, it is not a variable; it is a constant. Thus, ethnic group is not a variable if all
participants in the study are Asian American. Gender is not a variable if all participants in a study
are cis-female.

In quantitative research, variables are defined operationally and are commonly divided into
independent variables (active or attribute), dependent variables, and extraneous variables.
Each of these topics is dealt with briefly in the following sections.

Operational Definitions of Variables


An operational definition describes or defines a variable in terms of the operations or techniques
used to make it happen or measure it. When quantitative researchers describe the variables in their
study, they specify what they mean by demonstrating how they measured the variable.
Demographic variables like age, gender, or ethnic group are usually measured simply by asking the
participant to choose the appropriate category from a list.

1
To help you we have identified the variable names, labels, and values using italics (e.g., age and female) and have put in bold the terms
used in the SPSS screens and outputs (e.g., Data Editor). We also use bold for other key terms when they are introduced, defined, or
are important to understanding. Underlines are used to focus your attention on critical points or phrases that could be missed. Italics
are occasionally used, as is commonly the case, for emphasizing words and for the titles of books.

1
2 CHAPTER 1

Types of treatment (or curriculum) are usually operationally defined much more extensively by
describing what was done during the treatment or new curriculum. Likewise, abstract concepts like
mathematics knowledge, self-concept, or mathematics anxiety need to be defined operationally by
spelling out in some detail how they were measured in a particular study. To do this, the investigator
may provide sample questions, append the actual instrument, or provide a reference where more
information can be found.

Independent Variables
There are two types of independent variables, active and attribute. It is important to distinguish
between these types when we discuss the results of a study. As presented in more detail later, an
active independent variable is a necessary but not sufficient condition to make cause and effect
conclusions.

Active or manipulated independent variables. An active independent variable is a variable, such


as a workshop, new curriculum, or other intervention, at least one level of which is given to a group
of participants, within a specified period of time during the study.

For example, a researcher might investigate a new kind of therapy compared to the traditional
treatment. A second example might be to study the effect of a new teaching method, such as
cooperative learning, compared to independent learning. In these two examples, the variable of
interest is something that is given to the participants. Thus, active independent variables are given
to the participants in the study but are not necessarily given or manipulated by the experimenter.
They may be given by a clinic, school, or someone other than the investigator, but from the
participants’ point of view, the situation is manipulated. To be considered an active independent
variable, the treatment should be given after the study is planned so that there could be a pretest.
Other writers have similar but, perhaps, slightly different definitions of active independent
variables. Randomized experimental and quasi-experimental studies have an active independent
variable.

Attribute or measured independent variables. An independent variable that cannot be


manipulated, yet is a major focus of the study, can be called an attribute independent variable. In
other words, the values of the independent variable are preexisting attributes of the persons or their
ongoing environment that are not systematically changed during the study. For example, level of
parental education, socioeconomic status, age, ethnic group, IQ, and self-esteem are attribute
variables that could be used as attribute independent variables. Studies with only attribute
independent variables are called nonexperimental studies.

Unlike authors of some research methods books, we do not restrict the term independent variable
to those variables that are manipulated or active. We define an independent variable more broadly
to include any predictors, antecedents, or presumed causes or influences under investigation in the
study. Attributes of the participants as well as active independent variables fit within this definition.
For the social sciences and education, attribute independent variables are especially important.
Type of disability or level of disability may be the major focus of a study. Disability certainly
qualifies as a variable because it can take on different values even though they are not given by the
researcher during the study. For example, cerebral palsy is different from Down syndrome, which
is different from spina bifida, yet all are disabilities. Also, there are different levels of the same
disability. People already have defining characteristics or attributes that place them into one of two
or more categories. The different disabilities are characteristics of the participants before we begin
our study. Thus, we might also be interested in studying how variables that are not given or
14 CHAPTER 1

interaction between a father’s education and math grades with respect to math achievement?”
Answers to this set of three questions are based on factorial ANOVA, introduced briefly in
Chapter 9.

This introduction to the research problem and questions raised by the HSB dataset should help
make the assignments meaningful, and it should provide a guide and some examples for your own
research.

Interpretation Questions
1.1. Compare the terms active independent variable and attribute independent variable. What
are the similarities and differences?

1.2. What kind of independent variable (active or attribute) is necessary to infer cause? Can one
always infer cause from this type of independent variable? If so, why? If not, when can
one infer cause and when might causal inferences be more questionable?

1.3. What is the difference between the independent variable and the dependent variable?

1.4. Compare and contrast associational, difference, and descriptive types of research
questions.

1.5. Write a research question and a corresponding hypothesis regarding variables of interest
to you but not in the HSB dataset. Is it an associational, difference, or descriptive question?

1.6. Using one or more of the following HSB variables, religion, mosaic pattern test, and
visualization score:
(a) Write an associational question.
(b) Write a difference question.
(c) Write a descriptive question.
Another random document with
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some degree of corruption was inevitable in all political
organisations, he held that they should be regarded by the voter in
exactly the same light as bidders for a contract. Government should
simply be handed over to the organisation making, all things
considered, the lowest bid, which in New York city, Mr. Thompson
thought, would usually be Tammany Hall. The argument is so
thoroughly feudal in its conception of politics that one finds it difficult
to believe in the author’s entire sincerity, although this is flatly
asseverated throughout the book. Moral objections similar to those
employed against the doctrine of the inviolability of a “ten per cent
rake-off” thoroughly dispose of any rational claim it may make to
attention. Political experience is also against it. Reform movements
particularly in municipalities may be laughed at as “spasms,” but
these movements, which are usually based largely on charges of
corruption, occur so frequently as to discredit the belief that purely
prudential considerations on the part of corruptionists will restrain
effectively the excesses of their demands. Supine acceptance by the
electorate of the “lowest bidder” theory would speedily result in the
submission of none but extortionately high bids. In the long run
“millions for defence but not one cent for tribute” is a sentiment quite
as justifiable economically as ethically.
To recapitulate the preceding argument,—the structure of society,
no matter how completely evolved and generally beneficial to the
highest human interests, is nevertheless such that when brought into
contact with natural human egoism it offers access at many points to
the onslaughts of corruption. The evil consequences may be
extreme, or only severe, or in time they may be completely
overcome. History furnishes examples of all three eventualities. It
also bears witness to the fact that many gross and threatening forms
of corruption that were once prevalent have been eliminated from the
life of civilised nations. Those which remain to afflict us are the
object of vigorous corrective measures which are constantly being
extended and strengthened. Corrupt practices are found to be limited
in some cases to certain branches or spheres of government with
consequences of varying degrees of danger to the national life. Or
they may be limited in amount or percentage by various prudential
considerations on the part of political leaders who, however, are far
from being sufficiently restrained in this way as social welfare
requires. While corruption thus appears to be a persistent problem of
social and political life it is far from being a hopeless one. In the
words of Professor Henry C. Adams,[39] its solution “is a continuous
task, like the cleansing of the streets of a great city, or the renewing
of a right purpose within the human heart.”

FOOTNOTES:
[24] It would, of course, be absurd to assume that every victor
in such contests is free from all taint of corruption. A very large
and powerful state may, although extremely corrupt, succeed in
overcoming a small and weak state which is relatively free from
corruption. Something akin to this occurred when Finnish
autonomy was suppressed by Russia in 1902. On the other hand
it is evident that in such a struggle the honesty of the small state
would be in its favour while the corruption of the great state would
be a source of weakness.
[25] Although most of the references to historic forms of
corruption presented in the following pages are taken from the
comparatively recent annals of nations which are still living, it is
worth noting that the subject could also be illustrated abundantly
from ancient history. Even prior to the Christian era Rome
suffered from various kinds of political corruption that exist in very
similar forms at the present day. Readers of the Old Testament
find, particularly in the books of Isaiah and Micah, denunciations
of social evils not unlike those published in contemporary
magazines.
[26] Herbert Spencer shows “that from propitiatory presents,
voluntary and exceptional to begin with but becoming as political
power strengthens less voluntary and more general, there
eventually grow up universal and involuntary contributions—
established tribute; and that with the rise of a currency this
passes into taxation” (“Principles of Sociology,” vol. ii, pt. iv, ch. iv,
p. 371), and further that “In our own history the case of Bacon
exemplifies not a special and late practice, but an old and usual
one” (p. 372). Bribe giving may, therefore, be regarded as a lineal
descendant of an old practice once regarded as legitimate, but
now fallen under the ban. Given a social state in which public
dues are open, regular, and fixed in amount, and in which bribery
is distinctly reprobated, as contrasted with a social state in which
present giving is common and tolerated or defended by public
opinion, the higher moral standard of the former would seem
beyond question.
[27] Op. cit., pp. 44-45.
[28] “The Diary of Samuel Pepys,” edited by Henry B. Wheatley,
vol. i, p. 207, entry of date of August 16, 1660.
[29] Op. cit., vol. vii, p. 49, entry dated July 30, 1667.
[30] “Samuel Pepys and the World He Lived In,” by Henry B.
Wheatley, p. 62.
[31] Op. cit., pp. 161-162, note.
[32] Ibid., p. 15.
[33] Ibid., p. 42.
[34] Ibid., p. 16.
[35] “The Shame of the Cities,” p. 152.
[36] “Japan, Its History, Arts, and Literature,” by Captain F.
Brinkley, vol. iv, p. 250 et seq.
[37] New York Times, March 9, 1900.
[38] “Politics in a Democracy,” New York, 1893.
[39] “Public Debts,” p. 358
CORRUPTION IN THE PROFESSIONS,
JOURNALISM, AND THE HIGHER EDUCATION
IV
CORRUPTION IN THE PROFESSIONS, JOURNALISM, AND

THE HIGHER EDUCATION

The wisdom of some quasi-philosophic counsellors of ambitious


youth expresses itself in the aphorism that in this world there are as
many doors labelled “pull” as there are labelled “push.” Without
admitting the equality in ratio of the two kinds of avenues to material
well being, it is undeniable that a great many of our social
relationships are very commonly exploited by interests of a more or
less directly personal character. Church membership, for example,
may be maintained chiefly as a stepping stone to business,
professional, or social success. Business men are overrun with
solicitations for aid to church and charitable purposes under
circumstances which suggest the discrete advertisement of their
delinquency in case they do not contribute “according to their
means,” and the probable loss of custom in consequence. The
charitable organisations themselves are imposed upon by unworthy
applicants for relief who display a pertinacity and ingenuity
calculated to destroy all faith in any trait of human nature except
universal parasitism. Of course one should not look a gift horse in
the mouth, but in the case of many presentations from inferiors to
superiors or from favour-seekers to men of influence the motives of
the givers, and also at times of the recipients, are certainly not
beyond suspicion. The ethics of the petty tipping system are dubious
at best. Labourers “soldier on their jobs”; clerks appropriate office
supplies as “perquisites”; there are “tricks in all trades.” To avoid
conflicts in the kitchen good housewives frequently send bad
servants away with excellent “characters.” During hard time winters
newspapers maintain free soup stations and publish the harrowing
details of the poverty which they are relieving in such a sensational
fashion that even the most guileless reader finds himself wondering
whether any motive connected with self-advertisement or circulation
reinforces the charitable sentiments of the journalist. On the other
hand many a queer and clever scheme is devised to secure
newspaper notoriety for some presumably deserving person or
cause. The ways of authors with critics, and of critics with authors for
that matter, are said at times to stand in need of criticism
themselves. “Dead easy” professors and “snap” courses (of which,
be it said with grief and contrition, every institution seems to have a
few samples) are exploited by college students whose mental efforts
in other directions are hopelessly inhibited by chronic brain fag. In
short every person charged with administrative duties in connection
with any social organisation, be it a business house, a club, a
church, a school, a charity, or what not, is familiar ad nauseam with
the fact that tacit or overt efforts are constantly being made both by
outsiders and insiders to procure suspensions of the rules or other
unwarranted privileges and favours.
It would, however, be an unnecessarily harsh judgment to
condemn all actions of the foregoing character as corrupt. If criticism
is to be attempted it must be based on a full knowledge of motives in
given cases, and these are not always apparent. Then, too, customs
have grown up under the influence of which men act without
analyzing the real nature of their conduct. Reflection would show,
however, that, with the exception of conscious evil intent, the
elements of corruption are present not only in the cases cited above,
but in many others which are constantly being encountered in the
course of the day’s experiences. It is certainly an error to assume
that all the grafters are engaged in “big” business or “big” politics. Let
us not excuse in the slightest degree the misdeeds of great
corporations, but, on the other hand, let us not forget that conduct of
a precisely similar ethical colour is sometimes indulged in by
labourers, clerks, small retailers, farmers, and others. The fact that
corrupt or “near” corrupt practices are more common than people are
ordinarily inclined to believe is significant in another way. There is
always a direct relationship between the characteristic petty offences
of a people and its characteristic major crimes. Thus in a country
given over to brawling, crimes of violence will be numerous. Chicane
largely prevalent in every day affairs will certainly breed an
atmosphere favourable to the perpetration of gigantic frauds. For this
reason the minor forms of corruption which occur in the daily life of a
people are worthy of much more attention than they ordinarily
receive.
Let us turn now from the petty and dubious manifestations of a
corrupt spirit to those larger and more directly threatening practices
which have become subject to public criticism and in some cases to
repressive legislation. The field thus ventured upon is so extensive
and its features are so involved that no progress can be made in its
discussion without classification. Yet any scheme of classification
that may be attempted must encounter great difficulties. Individual
judgments vary widely regarding the importance or degree of danger
to the public interest of various anti-social developments. Along
certain lines corrupt practices have been exploited by journalistic
enterprise with great pertinacity, while other suspicious areas are still
largely neglected. As a consequence of the very difficulties which
embarrass it, however, there is a certain justification even for a
confessedly imperfect classification. A service of considerable
importance may be rendered merely by bringing together in the form
of an outline all or nearly all the more threatening forms of corruption
in such a way that some of their salient characteristics and
interrelations are more clearly developed. Without therefore claiming
finality for the following arrangement it would seem desirable to
distinguish roughly two great fields of corrupt practices: first,
corruption in professional life generally; and second, corruption in
business and politics. The divisions and subdivisions of these two
groups will be indicated later. Corruption in professional life will be
discussed with some detail in the present study.[40] Business and
political corruption, the interrelations of which are very numerous and
close, will form the subject of the following paper.
Corruption in professional life may be held to involve virtually all of
our social leadership outside of business and politics. Apart from the
specific services rendered by the various professions their principal
practitioners are instinctively looked up to by the community for
guidance. In a broad sense all professional men are teachers.
Corruption in the professions is thus equivalent to the defilement of
the sources of public instruction. Yet precisely on this ground very
sweeping and bitter accusations are made. Law, journalism, and the
higher education are more frequently attacked, but medicine,
philanthropy, and theology also come in for criticism. To cite specific
instances:—editors are accused of wholesale misrepresentation and
suppression of news in behalf of sinister interests; college
professors, assumed to be subtly bribed by munificent endowments,
are reproached as the crafty inventors of philosophic excuses for
menacing public evils; lawyers are denounced as servile hirelings
who “justify the wicked for reward” and who accept crooked
corporation or political work without demur; ministers, philanthropic
workers, and other leaders of thought are said to be purchased by
large contributions, gifts of parks, playgrounds, hospitals, and so on.
[41] There are many modern Micahs who go about saying of our
people that “the heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests
thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money.”
Corruption of the sources of public instruction is manifestly replete
with the potency of evil. If a nation’s “men of light and leading” fail in
their function the case is hopeless indeed. Moreover the regulation
of the various sources of public instruction is a task the complexity of
which far excels that of any problem presented by the other forms of
corruption. No insuperable technical difficulty is involved, for
example, in prescribing the standard of pure milk, the proper safety
devices for theatres, the best method of fencing dangerous
machinery in mills, the adequate safeguarding of the interests of
policy holders in life insurance companies. But who will tell us with
authority exactly what is news and what isn’t; who will define
explicitly the standard of orthodoxy for university instruction in
economics and political science; who will provide ministers of the
gospel with a social creed drawn up with the precision and free from
the dogmatic differences of their theological creeds? It is not strange,
therefore, that although there has been much vague talk of “tainted
money,” proposals for the legal definition and regulation of its alleged
pernicious consequences have been wanting. We already have
extended and complicated legal systems of inspection and regulation
of many of the material goods of life, while but little has been done or
even concretely outlined in the direction of state supervision of ideal
goods and services.
Great as are the technical difficulties in the way of the latter policy,
the real reason for its lack of advocates would seem to lie in the
partial efficiency of the various ancient and highly socialised codes of
professional ethics. Competition in the economic world has not been
similarly safeguarded from within. With the breakdown of the guild
system and the sudden changes introduced by the industrial
revolution business found itself upon an uncharted sea. Laisser faire,
laisser aller seemed perfectly obvious in this spacious time of
untouched world markets, but latterly distances have dwindled,
density has increased, and collisions with social norms have become
increasingly frequent. Too often and too easily competition has been
pushed beyond the limits of social safety. In the economic struggle
the “twentieth mean man” has been able to wield compulsory power
over his nineteen decent competitors and to force them on pain of
bankruptcy to adopt his own lower standards. The professional
“mean men,” on the other hand, knew from the start that they were
derogating from the ethics of their fellow practitioners, and in many
cases were brought quickly to book for it. Here rather than in any
differences of personal integrity must be found the reason for the
higher moral reputation enjoyed by professional as compared with
business men. It is impossible to believe that of the brothers of the
family the black sheep always went into business and the good boys
into medicine or the ministry. Finally we may expect the general
immunity of the professions from state regulation to continue just so
long as they develop progressively their own police systems. In this
connection it is significant that that one of them which has been most
frequently and severely accused of abetting corruption in economic
and political fields, namely the law, is precisely the one which has
shown the most concern recently in the reformation of its code of
ethics.[42] Obviously such sanitary processes may be materially
hastened by the pressure from without of a forceful and honest
popular feeling in opposition to abuses which have grown up in
professional practice.
The greatest immediate influence upon public opinion is exerted,
of course, by journalism. The question of its corruption or
corruptibility is, therefore, one of prime importance. Accusations
against the press on this score are common enough, but few of them
are so sweeping as the following attributed to the late John Swinton,
formerly of the New York Sun and Tribune.[43] At a banquet of the
New York Press Association in 1895, in response to a toast on “The
Independent Press” he is reported to have said:
“There is no such thing in America as an independent press unless
it is in the country towns. You know it, and I know it. There is not one
of you who dare express an honest opinion. If you express it, you
know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid $150
per week for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am
connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for doing
similar things. If I should permit honest opinions to be printed in one
issue of my paper, like Othello, before twenty-four hours my
occupation would be gone. The man who would be so foolish as to
write honest opinions would be out on the street hunting for another
job. The business of the New York journalist is to distort the truth, to lie
outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell
his country and race for his daily bread; or for what is about the same
thing, his salary. You know this, and I know it; and what foolery to be
toasting an ‘independent press.’ We are tools, and the vassals of rich
men behind the scenes. We are jumping jacks. They pull the string
and we dance. Our time, our talents, our lives, our possibilities, all are
the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”
It is hardly probable that any one not himself accustomed to
drafting headlines could have so far exaggerated a situation, even
under post-prandial influences, as did the author of the above
paragraph. Whatever may be the measure of the sinning of any
newspaper, certainly no single sheet has ever been the corrupt
apologist for all anti-social interests. A paper which at any one time
should attempt to stand for unsanitary tenement houses, for child
labour, for quack medicines, for “embalmed” beef, for “tainted
money” colleges, for monopoly tactics in beating down small
competitors, for life insurance frauds, for the spoils system, the
stealing of elections, and franchise grabbing,—or for any
considerable number of these,—would certainly lose its influence
with extreme suddenness. Newspapers are of all kinds, of course.
They differ even more in character than do individuals. As the focal
points of every interest in a community the interests of a newspaper
are much more diverse than those of the individual, and, as in the
case of the individual, these interests are shot through and through
with the noble and the base. Few people who are unfamiliar with the
practical making of newspapers realise what a constant and bitter
struggle is being waged in many cases to keep them free from
selfish and dishonest influences. In other instances, of course, the
partial triumph of the counting-room is palpable. Advertising columns
still carry, although with much less frequency than formerly, the
insertions of get-rich-quick schemes, of bucket-shops, of salary-loan
sharks, of quack doctors, quack medicines, and clairvoyants. Of
course these are frankly presented as paid matter, and every reader
of intelligence understands that they are inspired by the directly
selfish motives of the advertiser. When one thinks of the poor, the
ignorant, and the sick, who are exploited through such agencies,
however, the despicable character of the abuse is manifest. In some
papers, also, the reader finds abundant evidence of the activities of
press and publicity bureaus working in the interest of certain forms of
business. Morally this abuse is much worse than the foregoing, for it
throws off the form of advertising and clothes itself as news or
editorial opinion.
Large advertisers, particularly since the development of daily full
page announcements by department stores, also insist at times, and
not always ineffectually, upon exerting influence over news and
editorial columns. A pitch of absurdity seldom realised in this
connection was exemplified by the silence or approval with which the
press of one of our largest cities, a single paper honourably
excepted, treated the clearly mistaken philanthropy of a certain
wealthy merchant who had established many distributing stations for
sterilised, rather than Pasteurised milk. The paralysing effect of box
office influence upon sincere and vigorous dramatic criticism is
another deplorable instance of the same sort.
Finally there are papers which, however free they may keep
themselves from outside interests, nevertheless represent the
immediate political or economic ambitions of their owners. It is easy
to exaggerate this abuse not only with regard to its present extent
absolutely considered, but also with reference to its contemporary
development as compared with the press of the past. In its earlier
periods journalism was almost universally the tool of party. During
the civil war,—the epoch of great editorial personalities,—political
ambitions constantly invaded the sanctum with the result that the
gross unfairness and bitter partisanship engendered by the times
were doubly and trebly emphasised in the columns of the press. The
new journalism which began its career about 1875 not only prints
more news but prints it more fairly than the old school. Of course
most of our papers are still the recognised organs of some party, but
they are far from being servile and characterless advocates of every
party policy. Moreover there is a considerable number of politically
independent papers, some of which are avowedly so, while others
are really so although they may still wear lightly some party emblem.
Fearless, continued criticism of public abuses is more and more
coming to be recognised as good policy both for a paper and for the
commonweal.
Unfortunately there is another side to this record of improvement
and achievement. Perhaps the most important single difference
between the old personal journalism and the journalism of to-day is
the large capitalistic character of the latter. When the mechanical
outfit of a city paper could be supplied with a comparatively small
sum of money, the personality of the editor was all important,
although, as we have seen, even this favouring economic condition
did not by any means produce uncorrupted journalism. At the
present time large capital is necessary not only to provide the
equipment, but also to meet the heavy losses of the few inevitable
lean years at the outset. In most cases the money is contributed by
one man or by a comparatively small number of men whose other
business interests are likely to be very harmonious if not already
consolidated. In consequence there is a common, and withal very
human, tendency on the part of the paper thus established and
owned to deal favourably under all circumstances with the financial
interest or group of interests back of it. This is the typical journalistic
danger of the present period, just as the political bee in the editor’s
bonnet was the typical evil of the old personal journalism. Legislation
requiring newspapers to print the names of their principal owners,
and to deposit full lists of stockholders in some state office of record
where they could be made available to all comers, ought to limit
considerably the possibility of capitalistic manipulation of the press.
By revealing facts regarding financial control which at best can only
be suspected at the present time, publicity of this character would
enable readers to make the necessary allowances for any undue
form of counting-room control which might manifest itself in the
editorial or news columns of a given paper. In spite of this and other
shortcomings, however, most observers agree that the American
press as a whole is more independent to-day than ever before.
In considering abuses which affect our journalism one should not
forget certain conditions which set a limit to the corrupt manipulation
of the greatest single agency of public instruction. A modern
newspaper is a large capitalistic enterprise, of course, but its
business is peculiar in that it must sell its product to tens of
thousands of people every day at the price of a cent or two per copy.
However plutocratic a paper may be at one end it always represents
the extreme of democracy at the other. Our press is occasionally
prostituted by large moneyed interests, but it is in much more
constant danger of that directly opposite form of corruption, namely
demagogy. Reform of the press depends ultimately upon the reform
of its readers. Even on the latter side, however, we have to note an
increasing and very gratifying readiness on the part of our papers to
tell the American people the truth about themselves and about
foreign peoples regardless of all our old time prejudices and
antipathies.[44]
Reverting to the plutocratic influences affecting the press,
however, we have seen that in the nature of things no single
newspaper can become the tool of all the anti-social interests. It can
defend effectively only the few which for one reason or another are
approved by the managers of its policy. Usually a newspaper which
is thus silent or mildly unctuous on certain abuses endeavours to
rehabilitate itself by the condemnation, sometimes in a sensational
and even hysterical fashion, of other abuses, thus conducting, so to
speak, a vigorous department of moral foreign affairs. As a result the
position taken by the press as a whole on most points is strongly
favourable to the public interest. On this ground one may find a
philosophic justification for the sentiment so compactly phrased by
Mr. George William Curtis to the effect that “no abuse of a free press
can be so great as the evil of its suppression.”[45]
Even in dealing with those subjects concerning which a given
paper is not honest with its readers great care must be exercised. So
far as possible it must conceal the evidences of selfish interest and
present its case on grounds of public policy. Now arguments based
on such grounds are always worthy at least of consideration. A very
large part of political discussion, not only journalistic but of other
kinds, is “inspired” in this fashion, and it not infrequently happens
that what may be in accord with the self interest of individuals and
groups is also in accord with public interest. If this is not the case a
competing paper ought to be able to expose pretty effectively the
false assertions of its wily contemporary. In dealing with national
questions which are discussed by newspapers in every part of the
country this function of mutual criticism is in general well performed.
Cases occur, however, especially in connection with municipal
issues, where practically every paper of wide local circulation is
either silenced or actively engaged in the support of a crooked deal.
Under such circumstances a fight in defence of public interest is
almost hopeless. The more nearly the press of a given district
approaches this condition of corrupt paralysis, however, the brighter
are the opportunities for an opposition paper. In journalism as
everywhere in the world of social phenomena the inviolable law
prevails that a function cannot be abused without corresponding
harm to the agency which allows itself to be perverted. If it should
ever happen,—although at the present time the prospect seems
remote enough,—that a thoroughgoing control embracing the daily
papers of the whole country should be established in defence of
consolidated interests, it is certain that some new agency of publicity
would spring up in the interest of the people as a whole. In the end
the daily papers themselves would be the worst sufferers from a
general perversion of their activities. As a matter of fact a new and
powerful journalistic organ has already developed an influence not
incomparable with that of the daily press. The wonderful growth of
the low priced monthly and weekly magazines during the decade just
past has been explained on various grounds:—the cheapening of
paper and of illustrations, the second-class mailing privilege, the
effectiveness of such media for advertisement, and so on. No doubt
these factors go far toward explaining the great expansion of
magazine circulation, but in spite of much journalistic prejudice to the
contrary circulation and influence are not necessarily correlative. And
the influence, as distinct from the circulation, of the magazines has
been due very largely to the boldness and effectiveness with which
they assailed many public abuses with regard to which for one
reason or another the daily press was silent or even favourable. Of
course the detached situation of the magazines made it easy and
even profitable for them to pursue policies which might have cost the
newspapers dear. In any event a new way was found for the
effective journalistic presentation of the public interest.
In discussing the alleged corruption of the learned professions as
a whole reference was made to the powerful influence of
professional codes of ethics. One must recognise the journalistic
instinct and journalistic traditions as strong factors of similar
character. Even where editorial and reportorial staffs have given way,
for purely bread and butter reasons, to what they knew were the
selfish suggestions of controlling financial interests these same
interests must sometimes have wondered at the lukewarmness of
their paper’s support, and also, perhaps, at the enthusiasm which it
manifested for some good cause indifferent to them. Moreover
professional standards are rising in this field as well as elsewhere.
No one has given clearer or more forcible expression to the highest
of these newer ideals of journalism than Mr. George Harvey of the
North American Review, whose words, by the way, present the
extreme of contrast to those quoted earlier from Mr. Swinton. After
pointing out that the great editorial leaders of the past generation,—
Greeley, Raymond, Dana, Bennett,—were shackled by their own
political ambitions, Mr. Harvey asks:
“What, then, shall we conclude? That an editor shall bar acceptance
of public position under any circumstances? Yes, absolutely, and any
thought or hope of such preferment, else his avowed purpose is not
his true one, his policy is one of deceit in pursuance of an
unannounced end; his guidance is untrustworthy, his calling that of a
teacher false to his disciples for personal advantage, his conduct a
gross betrayal not only of public confidence, but also of the faith of
every true journalist jealous of a profession which should be of the
noblest and the farthest removed from base uses in the interests of
selfish men.” ...
“He [the journalist] is, above all, a teacher who, through daily
appeals to the reason and moral sense of his constituency, should
become a real leader.... Above capital, above labour, above wealth,
above poverty, above class, and above people, subservient to none,
quick to perceive and relentless in resisting encroachments by any,
the master journalist should stand as the guardian of all, the vigilant
watchman on the tower ever ready to sound the alarm of danger, from
whatever source, to the liberties and the laws of this great union of
free individuals.”[46]

Discussion of the “tainted money” charge so far as it affects our


universities and colleges can not, of course, be presented with
complete objectivity by the present writer. Nothing can be promised
beyond an earnest effort to attain detachment and impartiality. On
the other hand, a decade spent in the active teaching of the principal
debatable subjects in three institutions of widely different character
may furnish a basis of experience of some value.[47]
First of all there must be no blinking of the importance of the
subject. “It is manifest,” wrote the acute Hobbes, “that the Instruction
of the people, dependeth wholly, on the right teaching of Youth in the
Universities.” Quaint as is the language in which he defends this
proposition the argument which it contains is applicable with few
changes to modern conditions.
“They whom necessity, or couvetousnesse keepeth attent on their
trades, and labour; and they, on the other side, whom superfluity, or
sloth carrieth after their sensuall pleasures, (which two sorts of men
take up the greatest part of Man-kind,) being diverted from the deep
meditation, which the learning of truth, not onely in the matter of
Natural Justice, but also of all other Sciences necessarily requireth,
receive the Notions of their duty, chiefly from Divines in the Pulpit, and
partly from such of their Neighbours, or familiar acquaintance, as
having the Faculty of discoursing readily, and plausibly, seem wiser
and better learned in cases of Law, and Conscience, than themselves.
And the Divines, and such others as make shew of Learning, derive
their knowledge from the Universities, and from the Schooles of Law,
or from the Books, which by men eminent in those Schooles, and
Universities have been published.”[48]
In spite of the development of other intermediate agencies of
public instruction since the seventeenth century, and particularly of
the press and our elementary school system, the influence of
universities and colleges was never greater than it is at present, and
it is an influence which is constantly increasing in strength. The
number of universities and colleges is larger, their work is more
efficient, their curricula are broader, the number of college bred men
in the community is greater, and their leadership therein more
perceptible than ever before. Professors are enlisting in industrial,
scientific, and social activities outside academic walls in a way
undreamed of so long as the old monastic ideals held sway. By
extension lectures and still more by books and articles they are
reaching larger and larger masses of the people. Newspapers
formulate current public opinion, but to the writer, at least, it seems
plainly apparent that the best thought of the universities and colleges
to-day is the thought that in all likelihood will profoundly influence
both press and public opinion in the near future. Academic observers
of the sound money struggle of 1896, for example, must have smiled
frequently to themselves at the arguments employed during the
campaign. There was not one of them which had not been the
commonplace of economic seminars for years. The newspapers and
the abler political leaders on both sides simply filled their quivers with
arrows drawn from academic arsenals. Extreme cleverness was
shown by many journalists and campaign orators in popularising this
material, in adapting it to local conditions, and in placing it broadcast
before the people, but of original argumentation on their part there
was scarcely a scintilla. It is significant also that the battle of the
ballots was decided in favour of the contention which commanded
the majority of scientific supporters. Subsequent political issues,
great and small, have developed very similar phenomena, although
of course it would be absurd to assert that in all cases the dominant
opinion of the literati prevailed at the ballot. There are also certain
academic ideals of the day with which practical politics and business
are demonstrably and crassly at variance. Not until the fate of many
future battles is decided can we estimate the full strength of the
university influence on such pending questions. Victory would seem
assured in a sufficient number of cases, however, to make it clear
that just as the wholesomeness of the public opinion of to-day is
conditioned by the independence of the press, so the
wholesomeness of the public opinion of to-morrow will be
determined largely by the independence of our colleges and
universities.
As compared with the press, universities possess certain great
advantages which justify the public in demanding from them higher
standards of accuracy and impartiality. The professor enjoys some
measure of leisure; the editor is always under the lash of production
on the stroke of the event. It is also a very considerable advantage
that the editorial “we” and the anonymity of the newspaper are
foreign to college practice. There is, of course, a pretty well
recognised body of opinion on methods and ideals common to the
faculties of our learned institutions, but in the separate fields of
departmental work any opinion that may be expressed is primarily
the opinion of the professor expressing it. His connection with a
given institution is, indeed, a guaranty of greater or less weight as to
his general scholarly ability, and he will, of course, be mindful of this
in all that he says or writes. But beyond this his personal reputation
is directly involved. Those who make a newspaper suffer collectively
and more or less anonymously for any truckling to corrupt interests.
The college president or teacher guilty of an offence of the same sort
must suffer in his own person the contempt of his colleagues, his
students, and the public generally.
Newspapers, moreover, are usually managed by private
corporations frankly seeking profit as one of their ends. Universities
and colleges, on the other hand, are much more free from the
directly economic motive. There are, however, certain large
qualifications to the advantages which institutions of learning thus
enjoy. Every university and college is constantly perceiving new
means of increasing its usefulness and persistently seeking to
secure them. The demands made in behalf of such purposes may
seem excessive at times, but it is clear that an educational institution
which does not appreciate the vital importance of the work it is doing,
and consequently the importance of expanding that work, is simply
not worth its salt. In a great many cases the readiest means of
securing the necessary funds is by appeal to rich men for large gifts
and endowments. As the number of munificent Mæcenases is
always limited and the number of needy institutions always very
considerable, a competitive struggle ensues, different in most of its
incidents from the directly profit seeking struggles of the business
world, but essentially competitive none the less. In the campaign of a
university or college for expansion a large body of students makes a
good showing; hence too often low entrance requirements weakly
enforced and low standards of promotion. At times even the springs
of discipline are relaxed lest numbers should be reduced by a
salutary expulsion or two. Courses are divided and subdivided
beyond the real needs of an institution and salaries are reduced in
order to secure a sufficient number of teachers to give the large
number of courses advertised with great fulness in the catalogue. A
large part of crooked collegiate athletics is due to an indurated belief
in the advertising efficacy of gridiron victories as a means of
attracting first, students, and then endowments. So far as charges of
corruption against our higher educational institutions are at all
justified they are justified chiefly by the practices just described.
Fairness requires the statement, however, that a marked change of
heart is now taking place. Public criticism has placed athletic graft in
the pillory to such an extent that enlightened self-interest, if no better
motive, should bring about its speedy abolition by responsible
college managements. Many sincere efforts have been made by
members of faculties singly and through organisations covering
certain fields of study to raise and properly enforce entrance and
promotion standards. Finally in the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching there has been developed an agency of
unparalleled efficiency for detecting and exposing low standards. A
college may continue to publish fake requirements, to crowd its class
rooms with students who belong to high schools, to pad its courses,
to underpay and overwork its instructing staff, but if it does these
things it cannot, even if otherwise qualified, secure pensions for its
professors, and in any event its derelictions will be advertised
broadcast in the reports of the Foundation with a precision and a
conviction beyond all hope of rebuttal. Let cynics smile at a process
which they may describe as bribing the colleges to be good by
pensioning their superannuates, but unquestionably the work of the
Foundation has resulted in a new uprightness, a new firmness of
standards, a higher efficiency that bodes well for the future of
American education. Parents may give material encouragement to
this movement by reading the publications of the Carnegie
Foundation, as well as college catalogues and advertisements,
before they determine upon an institution for the education of their
children.
Although the conditions just described are the principal evil results
of the competitive struggle for college and university expansion, the
accusations of corruption against institutions of learning have usually
dealt with their teaching of the doctrines of economics, sociology,
and political science. Endowments must be secured; as a rule they
can be had only from the very rich; among the very rich are
numbered most of the “malefactors of great wealth”;—ergo university
and college teaching on such subjects must be made pleasing or at
least void of all offence to plutocratic interests.
There is a certain disproportion between the means and the ends
considered by the foregoing argument which is worth notice. To
found or endow a college or university requires a great deal of
money. Any institution worthy of either name is made up of
numerous departments,—languages, literature, the natural sciences,
history, and the social sciences,—of which only the last named are
concerned with the moot questions of the day. If one cherished the
Machiavellian notion of corrupting academic opinion to his economic
interest he would be obliged, therefore, to support an excessively
large number of departments the work of which would be absolutely
indifferent to him. Endowment of the social sciences alone would be
rather too patent. That they are not over-endowed at the present

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