Social Capital [III] Exercise for the Research Master Multivariate Statistics W. M. van der Veld University of Amsterdam

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences2 Goal of the ‘groups work’ Formulate a research question Develop a (testable) theory Develop measurement instruments Data for the test Analyze the data Presentation of research results

Data for the test

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences4 Data for the test Last time we ‘completed’ the search for the measures in the questionnaire: –Social trust –Age –(Civic participation)

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences5 Data for the test I will use the complex concept of social trust that includes the questions named: A8, A9, A10. –Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people? –Do you think that most people would try to take advantage of you if they got the chance, or would they try to be fair? –Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful or that they are mostly looking out for themselves? These questions should form a scale, measure the latent construct of social trust. To check this we have do analyze the data. I won’t discuss AGE and CVP.

Analysis with SPSS

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences7 Analysis with SPSS Before anything else is done: –Always check whether the missing values are specified in the data file. If you have constructs by derivation, analyze them first. (I have social trust to analyze). If you constructed all your variables, compute correlations. They will be input for LISREL.

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences8 Analysis with SPSS Analysis of social trust (A8, A9, A10). –First I checked whether missing data were defined. –Since there are only three indicator for social trust, I cannot test whether the indicators form a indicators of 1 latent construct. But if you have more constructs with than a test is possible. –I will skip the analysis, and assume that the items are indicators of 1 single factor. –I proceed with the reliability analysis, using Cronbach’s alpha. –For social trust Cronbach’s alpha = 0.7. Analysis of age (yrbrn) –Not discussed Analysis of civic participation –Not discussed, but it is a construct by definition.

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences9 Analysis with SPSS I computed the correlation between the three variables in SPSS. The correlations are: ST CVP YRBRN Because the measure of social trust (ST) contains random measurement error (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.7≠ 1.0), we should correct for it, so that our relations are not attenuated.

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences10 Analysis with SPSS There is a trick to do this: Replace the variance (1.0) of social trust with Cronbach’s alpha (0.7). Note that the variables are standardized (correlations!). ST CVP YRBRN (<=variance replaced by Cronbach’s alpha) This matrix can be used as input for LISREL, but it must be in ASCII-format; it is easiest to just retype the matrix in the LISREL input syntax.

Analysis with LISREL

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences12 Analysis with LISREL !Simple causal model for Social Trust. DA NI=4 NO=2352 MA=KM CM LA ST CVP YRBRN EDULVL / !NOTE: FIRST THE Y-VARIABLES THEN THE X-VARIABLES SE ST CVP YRBRN / MO NX=1 NY=2 GA=FU,FI PS=FU,FI !EFFECTS ON ST and CVP FR GA 1 1 GA 2 1 !RELATION BETWEEN ST AND CVP FR PS 1 1 PS 2 2 PS 2 1 ST 0.5 ALL !DRAW PATH DIAGRAM OF MODEL PD OU ML SC IT=500

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences13 Analysis with LISREL Why does the model fit perfectly (chi-square=0, and p=1)? The LISREL output fileThe LISREL output file (SocTrust 1.out)

Quantitative Methods in The Social Sciences14 Get to work Last session, we will continue the analysis And we have to find another time within two weeks after that, for the presentations.