Investigating the Social World
Web Exercises
1. Search the web for a social science example of statistics. Using the key terms from this chapter, describe the set of statistics you have identified. Which social phenomena does this set of statistics describe? What relationships, if any, do the statistics identify?
2. Go to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research website at https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/. Now, pick the presidential approval ratings data, at https://presidential.roper.center/. Choose any two U.S. presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to the present. By using the website links, locate the presidential job performance poll data for the two presidents you have chosen.
Based on poll data on presidential job performance, create a brief report that includes the following for each president you chose: the presidents you chose and their years in office; the question asked in the polls; and bar charts showing years when polls were taken, average of total percentage approving of job performance, average of total percentage disapproving of job performance, and average of total percentage with no opinion on job performance. Write a brief summary comparing and contrasting your two bar charts.
3. Do a web search for information on a social science subject in which you are interested. About what fraction of the information you find relies on statistics as a tool for understanding the subject? How do statistics allow researchers to test their ideas about the subject and generate new ideas? Write your findings in a brief report, referring to the websites you used.