Week #8

Mini-Report Instructions

Congratulations!  We have reached the point in the class where you will now be asked to conduct a mock study and write up the results as a mini-paper.  We are going to share these mini-reports with each other as a discussion so everybody will be able to see each others’ examples and therefore have a better idea of how to run statistical tests and write up the results.

This will help accomplish our course themes/goals of 1) asking and answering questions with statistics, 2) telling stories with data, and 3) choosing the correct statistical test.

To complete this assignment, you are asked to generate a scenario that would require the use of a one sample or independent samples t-test, write your research question and matching hypothesis, generate fake/mock data, enter that correctly into SPSS, calculate one of the types of t-test which is appropriate to analyze that scenario, and explain your results.  It would be best to write your replies in MS word, save them, and paste them into this discussion so you don’t lose any work.

The sections of this mini-report are
  1. Title
  2. (2 point) Brief introduction to the scenario (explain what you are comparing, what the variables are and what your null and alternative hypotheses are.
  3. (3 pts) Brief explanation of the methods
    1. Explain the sample size, sampling method, and measurement methods you might use to have collected the mock data for your study.  Use about 20-30 data points.
    2. Explain the descriptive statistics and charts which you might use to first analyze the data and check the sample for outliers and normality.
    3. List your choice of alpha level and explain that choice.  Will you use the standard p<.05 level or a different criterion and why?
    4. List which of the two types of t-test (one-sample or dependent samples) would be used to test your null hypothesis and explain why that is the correct choice.  This should include explaining the “assumptions” for using t-tests.
  4. (3 pts) Results [ Annotated SPSS t-test ouput tables, courtesy of UCLA ]
    1. List the descriptive statistics for your data.  List any charts which accompany them.
    2. Paste in the t-test results table for your data
    3. Report the descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and the inferential statistics (t-test results) in APA format.  https://www.socscistatistics.com/tutorials/ttest/default.aspx
    4. Explain whether or not you rejected the null hyothesis and why
    5. Calculate Cohen’s d statistic as your measure of effect size and report that value ( https://memory.psych.mun.ca/models/stats/effect_size.shtml and click here for a theoretical tutorial).  Note for this section – be sure to enter the correct values from your SPSS table into the Cohen’s d calculator.
  5. (2 pts) Interpretation
    1. Write a brief description of your results and what it means about your research question.  Was there a difference between the means you looked at and what would that tell you about the primary research question?  Interpret the effect size measures. End with the final take home message about what your study shows and comment about what you learned or what you have questions about based on this assignment.
  6. References (if any)
  7. Also attach your SPSS Viewer file and SPSS Data file with your post using the attachment button (the paperclip) from the discussion editor menu.
  8. Your questions, comments, and replies to classmates are worth the other 5 points in this forum.