N. Davis
SOC 100
COMPUTER PROJECT 1: EDUCATION IN AMERICA
Due in class Weds. Sept. 25
General Instructions: Type your answers to these questions on
another sheet of paper, but use the charts provided to do your line graphs
and bar charts on; do those in ink or with a felt-tip pen. For each question,
include the computer-generated StudentChip tables that you used to construct
your line graphs, bar charts, or answers to questions. Label which question(s)
each StudentChip table goes with. Be sure to label and fill in the key to
your line graphs. Staple all your work together. (There's five points for
doing all this right). The StudentChip file that you will need to answer
each question is shown in parentheses in capital letters. You will use the
CENTREND and CEN1990 directories; if you don't find a file on one directory,
try the other. You will use the CROSSTAB function on the COMMAND menu and
sometimes the CONTROL function on the FILE menu. Good luck!
1. Examine the changes from 1950 to 1990 in the percent of people who
have graduated from high school (EDUC5090). Create a line graph showing
your results. (Hint: Those graduating from high school include high school
graduates, those with some college, and college graduates.) Include the
StudentChip table you used for this question and for all remaining questions.
2. Add to your graph a line that shows cross-time changes in the percent
who have graduated from college (EDUC5090). Be sure to label the lines on
your graph.
3. How would you summarize these trends? Where do the most striking changes occur? What social, economic, or political factors do you think account for them?
4. Using data from 1950 to 1990, examine changes in the percentage of
blacks and nonblacks with a high school education or more (EDUC5090). Create
a line graph that shows this trend by race. (Hint: after specifying your
2-way table, you will need to add race as a control variable.)
5. Do the same analysis only this time examine changes over time in the
percentage of blacks and nonblacks who are college graduates. Create a line
graph that shows this (EDUC5090).
6. Describe the racial differences in educational attainment that you found in questions 4-5. What's happening to racial differences in high school completion over time? What's happening to racial differences in college completion over time? What decades show the most change? In 1990, at which level of education (high school or college) are racial gaps the largest?
7. What factors do you think account for racial gaps in education at
the high school level? at the college level? What events or factors do you
think explain the over-time trends in race differences in education?
8. Focusing on 35-44 year olds in 1990, which racial group has the highest
proportions of its members with advanced degrees--that is, Master's, Ph.D.
or professional degrees? (EDIMM9) What percent of its members have such
degrees? (Hint: Use AGE as a control variable to limit your focus to 35-44
year olds.)
_________________________________________________________
9. Using data from 1950 to 1990, examine changes over time in the percentages
of men and women who have graduated from college. Create a line graph with
a line for women and a line for men. For each year, indicate the percentage
of college graduates in each group (EDUC5090).
10. Now look at the lowest level of education, those with less than a
high school diploma. Add to the line graph above lines for women and men
that show the percent of each sex with less than a high school education
in each of these years.
11. Summarize what your line graph shows. Are the trends different for
men than for women?
12. Looking at your line graph, does it seem like education differences
explain much of the earnings gap between women and men? (In this forty year
period, women's earnings for those in full-time, full-year jobs ranged from
about 57-71% of men's.)
13. Is there any other information about women's versus men's education
in this period that you would like to have in order to more fully or accurately
question 11?
14. Using the file EDOC5090, fill in the table below: (Hint: pay
attention to which way tables need to be percentaged to fill in the various
information asked for.)
1970 1990
_______________________________________________________________________
Percent in top white-collar occupations
Percent who graduated from college
Percent of college grads whose jobs are
top white-collar ones
Percent of high school grads whose jobs
are top white-collar ones
_______________________________________________________________________
15. Summarize what your table from question 13 shows about the value
of a college education in getting a top white-collar job and about the changing
likelihood that a college grad will get a white-collar job. What do you
think accounts for the differences between 1970 and 1990 in the likelihood
that a college graduate will get a top white-collar position?
16. Focussing on 35-44 year olds in 1990, look at the relationship between
educational attainment and people's standards of living (PPOVEDU9). Create
a bar chart for 35-44 year olds indicating the percentage living
comfortably well off (COMF) for each education level.
17. What does your bar chart suggest about the value of an education
in the 1990s? Why might a researcher want to limit the sample to 35-45 year
olds? In other words, what kind of biases might be introduced by having
people of all ages in the analysis? (Hint: think about the relationship
between age and earnings and also between age/cohort and education.)
18. How does your anticipated level of educational attainment compare to your parents' and grandparents' educations? What factors do you think explain these generational differences or similarities? (Each person in the team should answer this question for their family.)