Edited 11/09/2004ADA
(1) Open the "http://sda.berkeley.edu:7502/cgi-bin12/hsda?harcsda+gss02" web page. A page with the following will be displayed:
(2) Type in your analysis choices: Click beside "Frequencies or Crosstabs" then click the Start button. The "SDA Tables Program" page will open:
- Type the name of your dependent variable, abany from the GSS in this case, in the Row box
- Type the name of your independent variable, relig, in the Column box
- Type "year (1996)" in the Selection Filter(s): box. This will choose the GSS for the 1996 data, leave blank if you want the complete 1972-2002 data. You also could choose 2002 or any other another year. I choose 1996 because the religious categories were simpler and more appropriate as an example.
- Click the Percentage "column" box
- Click by Statistics and Color coding
- Click the Run the Table button
(3) Your table(s) and statistics will be displayed. There will be two tables. The first table displays information for all people who took the survey. The second table, Statistics for all valid cases, displays the data for just those who answered the questions you are examining. In general you would use the Statistics for all valid case unless you have an interest in those who did not answer.
| Note: First Print your table and statistics output. If part of the output page is cut off: (1) Decrease the print size Microsoft Explorer: Choose Text Size from the View menu and select a smaller size Netscape: Choose from the View menu Decrease font. You may have to repeat this several times to get a smell enough taple to print. and/or (2) Change the print option to Landscape (3) Reverse the column, row and percentage choices and run the table again (4) Consider comparing diffirences in categories of your independant variable if the data is appropriate (means are appropriate for data like money, weight, temperature but not classifications like ethnic groups, religious groubs, etc. If your table still has two many categories you can change your hypothesis and use different variables or you may want to consider recoding your variables or obtaining a different type of output such as a t test. This is more advanced but for those who want to try Advanced analysis techniques using SDA |
(a) At the top of your page will be general descriptions of the variables 
The range of the variables, and filters in selection for year are listed(b) The distribution table for your variables all people taking the survey appears next
This table lists the distribution of your dependent variable across your independent variable. Each table is color coded relative to the expected distribution by chance. Check reading a table for specifics on how to interpret this table(c) The last information on this page is the statistics and summary information about your table
The color coding above the statistics indicate whether the table cell has adequate observations for statistical calculations. The interpretation for this table is that the pattern is acceptable. For beginners just ignore this. The Summary Statistics for all valid cases information contains a wide range of Summary Statistics for your table. Choose statistics that you know and apply to this data. Check Interpreting Statistics to find out more about these statistics Advanced analysis techniques using SDA
