1. Klemesrud, 1974
Klemesrud, Judy. "Most Women Want Status Improved, Poll Finds." New York Times October 3, 1974: 48.
Questions
- What is the source of the data used by the author? When was it collected? (See especially the 1st column.)
- Try to find the poll data used by the author in paragraph 2 of the article using Roper Center.
- Do you think poll data on the same topic would be available from the 1960s? 1980s? 1990s? 2000-2022? Why or why not?
2. DiMaggio, Evans, and Bryson, 1996
DiMaggio, Paul, John Evans, and Bethany Bryson. "Have Americans' Social Attitudes Become More Polarized?" American Journal of Sociology 102, no. 3 (1996): 690-755.
Questions
- What data did the authors use? (See especially pp. 690, 691, 699.)
- What reason(s) did they give for choosing to use these data? (See especially p. 699.)
- Is one likely to be able to find more recent data in order to update this research? What makes you think so?
- Quickly browse pp. 692-708. Do you currently have the statistical skills needed to be able to update their study?
3. Okin, 1989
Okin, Susan Moller. Justice, Gender, and the Family. New York: Basic Books, 1989.
Mentioned in Okin's note:
- Blumstein, Philip and Pepper Schwartz. American Couples: Money, Work, Sex. New York: Morrow, 1983.
- Gerson, Kathleen. Hard Choices: How Women Decide About Work, Career, and Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
- Nye, F. Ivan, et al. Role Structure and Analysis of the Family. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1976.
Question
- Read through the excerpts from Okin in the box above.
- List ways that one might try to find (a) earlier and (b) more recent data on a similar topic.
4. Another compendium
Questions
- We are curious about how land is used in the U.S., in particular, how much is forested. Use the Statistical Abstract of the United States to find out.
- Do you think it would be possible to find similar statistics from the 1950s? Why or why not?
