Los Angeles Valley College Variable Social Class Data Discussion

Sampling methods allow the social scientist to design a study to answer a specific question without biasing the results by excluding important cases that help measure the variations in behaviors.

Review the DATA sections in Neckerman and Kirschenman (1991) and Lareau (2002) and Southgate and Roscigno (2009). Each of these studies measured the variable SOCIAL CLASS.

After reading my lecture notes on sampling methods, please answer what is the final sample size for each of these studies and what sampling method did they use? Do you think they could have improved the study by including a group that was excluded? If so, what group and why do you think they were excluded?