Statistical Inference with the GSS data

by Peter Hontaru

Background

Problem Statement:

This document is a report from the final course project for the Inferential Statistics course, as part of the Duke University Statistics with R course in partnership with Coursera.

The project consisted of exploring a real-world dataset (a subset of the General Social Survey) in order to create a report that included statistical inference on a question of interest (ended up using three questions).

Summary:

• Although small, there were significant differences between genders on whether sexual education should be taught in schools. This is especially important for single parents, or parents of the same sex, where one’s stance and actions cannot overcompensate for the other’s
• We could not prove significant differences in the representation of each gender amongst the various social classes
• There were significant differences in total family income based on the respondent’s family income when 16 years old. This is important as the earned income should be independent of someone’s family background. Further measures should be put into place for helping out those in unfavourable groups

Note: all of the research questions are focusing on the survey data in the year 2012 to account for year-on-year variances and display the most recent view that our data could provide.

Next steps/recommendations:

• analyse changes between years (ie. 1980 vs 2012)
• some variables (ie. social class) were subjective and registered based on the respondent’s opinion (more objective methods should be considered)
• further expand on the analysis by looking at other related factors (ie. if there was a difference between total family income based on the respondent’s family income when 16 years old, can we find any further variables that can provide a more in-depth view as to why?)

Dataset

Since 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS) has been monitoring societal change and studying the growing complexity of American society. The GSS aims to gather data on contemporary American society in order to monitor and explain trends and constants in attitudes, behaviors, and attributes; to examine the structure and functioning of society in general as well as the role played by relevant subgroups; to compare the United States to other societies in order to place American society in comparative perspective and develop cross-national models of human society; and to make high-quality data easily accessible to scholars, students, policy makers, and others, with minimal cost and waiting.

Source: GSS project description - https://www.norc.org/Research/Projects/Pages/general-social-survey.aspx

Extended analysis

Full project available:

• RECOMMENDED: at the following link, in HTML format
• in the Statistical-Inference.md file of this repo (however, I recommend previewing it at the link above since it was originally designed as a html document)