Dummy variables, yearly trend OLS

[Sarah Aspen]

Hello. I am writing my bachelor's thesis. I am going to see if national parties have increased their influence on MEPs between 2000 and 2015. The data is based on surveys from 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2015. I am using a dependent variable that is measured 1 to 5 (categorical). And I am going to check whether this has changed since 2000. How do I proceed? The year-variable is coded 1-4 (1= 2000, 2= 2006, 3= 2010 and 4=2015). Should I divide them and make dummy variables for each year?

[Phil Bromiley]

You didn't get a quick answer - ask your adviser for help. This looks like an ordinal logit. You can use factor variable notation to do your interactions and put in annual dummies.