Chapter 7
Module 1For self-study

Assignment 7.1.3
Exercise 3

Please consider the design of this (fictive) study: A group of students wants to investigate the extent to which advanced students in different countries are ‘culturally literate’ in the sense of E.D. Hirsh. Their assumption is that his conceptualisation of cultural literacy is biased. They compile a list of items put forward by Hirsh as fundamental for a person’s knowledge of culture. They ask participants in Canada, Egypt, Finland, India, and Ukraine to tick those items they are familiar with. The list consists of subjects discussed in Hirsh’s New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (see http://​www​.bartelby​.com​/59/). Below we printed a selection of terms they use from the section Fine Arts. Of course, they have a number of items that have little to do with the Fine Arts (Eucalypta is the famous Dutch witch; Knodeln is a heavy German dish, Corcovado is a mountain in the middle of Rio de Janeiro). In case participants mark these items as Fine Art terms they recognize, you know they should be excluded from the study.

For this assignment you create an SPSS-file in which you can enter the data for this study. Consider the following:

  • Make the file in a way that allows the students to compare the scores of the five nations.

  • The file should be ready for the students to use: for this you also enter the value labels for all the variables.

  • How will the students be able to compare the participants’ total scores on the checklist?

Hand in the file, or make screen-shots of both the data view and the variable view – in SPSS, combine the “control” (Ctrl) and “print screen” key (Prt Sc); then in your text editor program (e.g., Word) click on the paste icon. Describe what you did to make the file ready.

Below we list a number of important terms from the Fine Arts. Do you know what they mean? Please mark the items that are related to concepts in the Fine Arts in the list below that you can define.

  • A cappella

  • Adagio

  • Alto

  • Basilica

  • Bassoon

  • Cantata

  • Coloratura

  • Corcovado

  • Dixie

  • Eucalypta

  • Frieze

  • Knodeln

  • Leitmotiv

  • Off-Broadway

  • Rococo

  • Timpani