Exercise 8.3: Setting Up a Data Matrix and Codebook

The purpose of this activity is to better understand the structure and use of codebooks and data matrices by working through the process of creating a very short, original codebook and data matrix of your own.

1. Write four survey questions, each of which operationalizes a variable, as described in Chapter 7. Two of the questions should ask about social background and two should elicit an opinion about some public policy. Construct a codebook similar to the one in Figure 8.5 or those you have seen on the Web sites. The codebook should show how your survey data will be placed in a data matrix, including SPSS variable names. (Remember that you will need a respondent identification number for each person who will answer the questions, so you will have five variables for each respondent.)

2. Administer your survey to five people and record their answers. Sketch out a data matrix similar to the one in Figure 8.1 and place the values of the variables expressed as survey answers in the appropriate cells. Finally, open SPSS, enter the data into an SPSS data file, and save that file.