Houghton Mifflin College

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Doing Empirical Political Research
James M. Carlson, Providence College
Mark S. Hyde, Providence College

Web Exercises
Chapter 6: Assessing Relationships: Association or Causality?

Exercise 6.5: Association and Empirical Evidence

Consider the following table based on a survey done in 2000. People were asked their level of education and if they had voted in the 1996 presidential election. The independent variable, level of education, is at the top of the table and has three values: less than high school, high school graduate, and more than high school. The dependent variable, on the left side, is voting behavior and has two values: voted and did not vote. As you can see, 83.1% of those with the highest level of education voted and 66.1% of those with the middle level of education (high school graduates) voted while only 47.5% of those with less than a high school education voted.

Table 6.1E Education and Voting in 1996 Presidential Election

Education

	Less than High School	High School	More than High School
Voted	47.5%	66.1%	81.3%
Did not vote	52.5%	33.9%	18.7%
Total	356	1342	825

Source: National Opinion Research Center, General Social Survey, 2000

Does this table show an association between the independent variable of education and the dependent variable of voting? Why does this table not demonstrate that the two variables are causally related?





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