Question

Congress voting on women’s issues. The American Economic Review (March 2008) published research on how the gender mix of a U.S. legislator’s children can influence the legislator’s votes in Congress. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) uses voting records of each member of Congress to compute an AAUW score, where higher scores indicate more favorable voting for women’s rights. The researcher wants to use the number of daughters a legislator has to predict the legislator’s AAUW score.

a. In this study, identify the dependent and independent variables.

b. Explain why a probabilistic model is more appropriate than a deterministic model.

c. Write the equation of the straight-line, probabilistic model.

Short answer

1. The Independent variable would be the one which is used to predict the dependent variable. The Independent variable would be the number of Daughters a legislator has.
2. Because a probabilistic model includes all the uncertainties associated in structured way.
3. Legislator's AAUW score = Intercept + (Number of Daughters a legislator has x slope).

Step-by-step solution

Introduction

The independent variable is the cause. It’s worth is independent of the other variables in your study. The dependent variable is the effect. Its value is affected by changes in the independent variable.

Determine which variables are dependent and which are independent.

Here,

The Independent variable would be the one which is used to predict the dependent variable.

The Independent variable would be the number of Daughters a legislator has.

Explain why a probabilistic model is more appropriate than a deterministic model.

A deterministic model is one that excludes all components of unpredictability. The outcomes are always the same when the identical beginning circumstances are used, however in a probabilistic model, we introduce aspects of unpredictability. If we predict the components with the same beginning conditions every time, we will obtain different outcomes.

A probabilistic model is more suited since the researcher's purpose in every experiment is to reduce the risk and uncertainty involved with forecasting the values. A probabilistic model incorporates all of the uncertainty in an organized manner.

Write the equation of the straight-line, probabilistic model.

The linear regression equation can represent the linear equation of a probabilistic model.

Taking variables from part a, we get the equation:

Legislator's AAUW score = Intercept + (Number of Daughters a legislator has x slope).