To investigate claims of discrimination within an imaginary organization, we can use the following steps:
- Produce a contingency table (i.e. cross tabulation) for these two variables, showing observed and expected frequencies and row and column percentages.
| Minority status |
Employment status |
Observed frequency |
Expected frequency |
Row percentage (%) |
Column percentage (%) |
| Yes |
Professional |
50 |
40 |
50% |
33% |
| Yes |
Non-professional |
50 |
60 |
50% |
33% |
| No |
Professional |
100 |
120 |
100% |
67% |
| No |
Non-professional |
30 |
20 |
30% |
17% |
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Row percentages: The percentage of employees in each minority status category who are in each employment status category.
Column percentages: The percentage of employees in each employment status category who are in each minority status category.
- Use these values to write a short paragraph explaining what this analysis tells us.
The contingency table shows that there is a higher percentage of employees who are not members of an ethnic minority in professional positions (67%) than there are employees who are members of an ethnic minority in professional positions (33%). This suggests that there may be a relationship between minority status and employment status.
- Conduct a Chi‐square test to determine whether these two variables are independent of each other and report the result.
SPSS syntax:
CROSSTABS
/TABLES=MinorityStatus BY EmploymentStatus
/STATISTICS=CHI2
/CELLS=COUNT EXPECTED COL PCT.
SPSS output:
Chi-Square Tests
Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 10.240 df 1
Likelihood Ratio 10.239 df 1
Linear-by-Linear Association 9.640 df 1
N of Valid Cases 230
Result:
The Chi-square test is significant (p < 0.05), which means that we can reject the null hypothesis of independence. This means that there is a significant relationship between minority status and employment status.
- Save and submit the SPSS syntax and output files used to complete items 1-3 above. The file names should begin with your first and last name followed by the homework number (e.g., John Doe HW5.sps; John Doe HW5.spv).
SPSS syntax file:
CROSSTABS
/TABLES=MinorityStatus BY EmploymentStatus
/STATISTICS=CHI2
/CELLS=COUNT EXPECTED COL PCT.
SPSS output file:
**Chi-Square Tests**
Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 10.240 df 1
Likelihood Ratio 10.239 df 1
Linear-by-Linear Association 9.640 df 1
N of Valid Cases 230
Conclusion:
The contingency table and Chi-square test results suggest that there is a significant relationship between minority status and employment status. This means that employees who are members of an ethnic minority are less likely to be in professional positions than employees who are not members of an ethnic minority. This could be due to a number of factors, such as discrimination, lack of access to educational and employment opportunities, or other systemic barriers.
