Measurement Theory: Tenth Assignment Page

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POLS 6386 MEASUREMENT THEORY
Tenth Assignment
Due 18 April 2001

Continuing our Lieberman project, you need to download all the Senate roll call votes taken to date from:

U.S. Congress Web Site (Thomas)

As of 10 April 2001 there were 86 votes cast in the Senate. Repeat the steps you took in part (3) of Homework 7 to get the roll call voting matrix. As a check on your results, below are the first 14 Senators from SEN107Y.ORD:


1074970041 0ALABAMA 20000SESSIONS   11111111111111161111161111111116666161166666166666666116166116661616616161166111161611
1079465941 0ALABAMA 20000SHELBY     11111111111111161111161111111116661161111666166666666116166116661616616161166111161611
1071490781 0ALASKA  20000MURKOWSKI  11111111111111161116161111111116661161161666166166666116166119961616616161166111161611
1071210981 0ALASKA  20000STEVENS    11111111111111161111161111111111669161166616161166166116666116611616616161166611661611
1071542961 0ARIZONA 20000KYL        11111111111111161111161116111116666161611666166666666116166166661616616161166111161611
1071503961 0ARIZONA 20000MCCAIN     11111111111111161111161116111616661111611611111616161611661116111616611161166111111111
1072930642 0ARKANSA 20000HUTCHINSON,11111111111119161111161111111116666161166616166666666116161166661616616161166111161611
1072930542 0ARKANSA 10000LINCOLN    11111116111119116666616611611611611116611611111116161611666111116161111611661661616111
1071501171 0CALIFOR 10000BOXER      11111616111111616666616666666611119911611111191116111661611616116161119611611661616116
1074930071 0CALIFOR 10000FEINSTEIN  11111116111111666666616661661611161161611611111616161611661116116161111111611661616111
1072910862 0COLORAD 20000ALLARD     11111111111111161111161111111116661161116666169166666116166116661616616161166111161611
1079540762 0COLORAD 20000CAMPBELL   11111111111111161111161116111116666161166611166666666116666116661616616161166111161611
10714213 1 0CONNECT 10000DODD       11111111111111616666616661666611111616611111111616111611611611116161111111611666616116
10795704 1 0CONNECT 10000LIEBERMAN  11111616111111611666616661161611611116611111111616111611611611116161111111611661616116

Be certain that you exactly reproduce the data above!

Run SEN107Y.ORD through PERFL in one and two dimensions. Use SPSS to make a graph of the two dimensional results. Label Senators Lieberman, Helms, McCain, Feingold, Kennedy, Lott, Hagel, Wellstone, and Stabenow in the plot.
Compare the results with last week's configuration. Has a week's worth of voting changed the level of fit or the structure in one or two dimensions?

Merge the 107^th roll calls into the combined data matrix for the 105^th and 106^th Senates -- SEN0506.ORD. To do this, use the program LIEBER.EXE and its control card file LIEBER.DAT that you downloaded for homework #8. To create the new SEN0507.ORD file simply change the number in LIEBER.DAT to the current number (again, as of 10 April 2001, 86 roll calls).

We are now going to add a complication to our investigation. We are going to check if Senator John McCain has shifted positions because of his Presidential ambitions. To do this we are going to modify our combined file SEN0507.ORD and break McCain into two records at exactly the same point as Senator Lieberman. We are going to call this new file SEN0507A.ORD.

To create SEN0507A.ORD first make a copy of SEN0507.ORD:

COPY SEN0507.ORD SEN0507A.ORD

and then bring SEN0507A.ORD up in EPSILON. Position the cursor at the beginning of McCain's record and enter the following commands:
```
     C-U
     1022
     C-F  these three commands put the cursor just to the right of the 1021st column
     ^J   hit the Enter key
```
You should now see the following:

Now, create a new header for our cloned McCain by simply changing his ID number from 15039 to 95039. It should like like this:

Place the cursor at the beginning of Lieberman's second record and repeat the steps above. The result should look exactly like this:

Position the cursor at the beginning of the zeroes of Lieberman's second record and type:
```
     C-K
     C-Y
     C-D  Note that this is equivalent to hitting the "Delete" key.  This puts Lieberman's record back the way it was.
```
You should now see:

Put the cursor back at the beginning of the line (C-A) and then move the fragment of McCainJR's record over so it is lined up with the beginning of everyone else's records. It should look exactly like the following:

Now type C-Y to "Yank" the contents of the buffer (the row of zeroes from Lieberman's second record). You should now see this:

There is only one step left to go. You need to put zeroes in the remainder of McCain's record. You can get these from Lieberman's first record. Position the cursor at Lieberman's first record and do these steps:
```
     C-U
     1022
     C-F 
     C-K
     C-Y
     C-A  
```
You now have the zeroes in the buffer and the cursor is back at the beginning of Lieberman's first record. Now, go back up to McCain's first record, go to the end of the line (C-E), and type C-Y to "Yank" the contents of the buffer (the row of zeroes from the end of Lieberman's first record). Save the file and you are done.
1. We are going to start by running SEN0507A.ORD through W-NOMINATE (WNOM9707.EXE). The control card file, NOMSTART.DAT, should look like this:
```
SEN0507A.ORD
NOMINAL MULTIDIMENSIONAL UNFOLDING OF 105TH TO 107TH SENATES
 1370    1    1
    2   19
 15.0000  0.5000
  0.0250   25
(3X,9A1,7X,4A1,2X,6A1,5X,3600I1)
(1x,I4,19A1,1X,4i4,51f7.3)
(1x,I4,19A1,1X,51f7.3)
```
  The "1370" is the number of roll calls as of 10 April 2001.
  
  Report the following fit statistics for one and two dimensions: Percent Classified, Aggregate PRE, and Geometric Mean Probability.
2. Use Excel to make a histogram of the distribution of roll call vote margins. Make the histogram bars percentages.
3. Use Excel to make a graph of the eigenvalues of the double-centered squared distance matrix computed from the agreement scores from the combined matrix. These are in the output file NOM23.DAT.
4. Use SPSS to make a graph of the two dimensional results. Label Senators Lieberman, Helms, McCain, Feingold, Kennedy, Lott, Hagel, Wellstone, and Stabenow in the plot. Note that we now have two Libermans and two McCains!
Run PERFL in one and two dimensions on SEN0507A.ORD.
1. Report the one and two dimensional correct classification percentages.
2. In one dimension, how many rank positions did Senators Lieberman and McCain move after March 2000?
3. Use SPSS to make a graph of the two dimensional results of the combined scaling. Label Senators Lieberman, Helms, McCain, Feingold, Kennedy, Lott, Hagel, Wellstone, and Stabenow in the plot (don't forget the clones of Lieberman and McCain!).
4. Based upon the PERFL and W-NOMINATE one and two dimensional results, who do you think changed the most -- Lieberman or McCain? Does the media coverage of the two men fit with these results. What are the implications?

Use HOUSYM2 to get an agreement score matrix for SEN0507A.ORD. Run the agreement score matrix through KYST. Report the one amd two dimensional STRESS values and use Excel to compute the correlations between the one and two dimensional coordinates from KYST with those from PERFL and WNOM9707.EXE. Report the correlations one dimension at a time for each dimensionality using the format below:



      One Dimension Scalings
          PERF 1d    KYST 1d         WNOM 1d
------------------------------------------------
PERF 1d  1		
KYST 1d	-0.92682	1	
WNOM 1d	-0.95408	0.990908	1


      Two Dimensional Scalings
 	1 PERF 2d	1 KYST 2d	1 WNOM 2d
-------------------------------------------------
1 PERF 2d	1		
1 KYST 2d	0.99034	1	
1 WNOM 2d	1	0.99034 	1

 	2 PERF 2d	2 KYST 2d	2 WNOM 2d
-------------------------------------------------
2 PERF 2d	1		
2 KYST 2d	0.592688	1	
2 WNOM 2d	1	0.592688	1

                 etc.