SPSSExercise5CreatingandIndex

Due:Anindexisameasureofasinglegeneralconceptordimensionthatiscomposedofseveralindividualitems.Putanotherway,anindexisameasurethatismadewhentwoormoremeasuresarecombined.Objectives:

1. Learntocreateanindex2. Learntointerpretindexscores

SPSSProcedure:

1. FromthetoolbarselectTransform->ComputeVariable(SeeFigure5.1).ThiswillcauseawindowsimilartothatinFigure5.2toopen.

2. Under“TargetVariable”typeinthenameoftheindexabouttobecreated,“empathyINDEX”inthisinstance.NotethattheTargetVariablenameshouldneverhavespacesnorshoulditusespecialcharacters.

3. Correctthevariablestobeused.Notethisdirectionisonlyavailableinclass.4. Usethevariables“emapthy1”,“empathy3”,“empathy2R”,and“empathy4R”

tocreateanindextomeasureempathyamongtherespondentsinoursample.Under“NumericExpression”entertheformulatocreate.(empathy1+empathy3+empathy2R+empathy4R)/4.Theequationisdividedby4becausethatisthenumberofvariablesintheindex.

5. Hit“OK”6. RunafrequencydistributionforempathyINDX7. Notewhendescribinghowanindexismadeitisexpectedthatthe

variablesusedtocreatetheindexareexplicitlydiscussed.Thisincludesadescriptionofwhatisaskedandadiscussiononvariablesthathavebeentransformedandwhy.

ReadingtheOutput:Figure5.3isasimplefrequencydistribution.ItcanbereadasdiscussedinSPSSExercise2butthereareacoupleofthingstoknow.

1. Checktherangeofthevaluesbeingdisplayed.Ifthereisavalue/attributesmallerorlargerthaninoneoftheoriginalvariablesusedtocreatetheindextheremaybeaproblem.

2. Beclearonthedirectionofthevalues/attributes.Doesahighnumbermeanmoreorlessofwhattheindexismeasuring?Inthisinstance,thehigherthevaluethemoreempatheticrespondentsarerelativetooneanother.Forexample,ifapersonhadanempathyINDEXscoreof4.0wedon’treallyknowhowempatheticthatpersonisweonlyknowtheyaremoreempatheticthanapersonwhoscored3.75ontheindexandlessempatheticthansomeonewhoscoreda4.25.

DisplayingtheData&AnalyzingtheTable:InstructionforthisisavailableinSPSSExercise2Assignment:

1. Createanindexforempathyusingthevariablesandprocedurediscussedabove.

2. Writeareportwherethefollowingarediscussed:a. Whatanindexisforandwhattheyareusedfor.b. Describehowtheempathyindexwascreated.Dosoby:

i. Specifyingeachofthevariablesused.Don’tjustnameeachvariable;alsopresentwhateachquestionisasking.

ii. Discussanyrecodingofvariablesthatwasnecessaryfortheindexandwhyitwasneeded.

c. Answerthefollowingquestion:Dopeopleinthesampletendtohavehighorlowlevelsofempathy?Whatevidencedoyouhavetodrawthisconclusion?

3. SubmittheoutputforthefrequencydistributionofempathyINDEXandthecodeyouusedtocreateitwiththereport.

Figure5.1.

Figure5.2.

Figure5.3.