assignment 1 testing hypotheses for means 1
SPSS Assignment #1
First, read the material and watch the SPSS tutorial videos for computing t-tests.
Then, read the 3 scenarios for week 6. You will run three analyses:
a one-sample t-test,
an independent samples t-test,
and a paired samples t-test.
https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/U…
You will need to match the appropriate statistical test with the appropriate scenario. If you’ve watched the videos, my hints below will also serve as hints as to the type of test to run 🙂
For the first two scenarios, you will use the Afrobarometer data set and question 46a (Q46a. Level of democracy: today) as the dependent variable. SPSS refers to the dependent variable as the Test variable. There is an error in our scenarios; the values for Q46a range from 0 to 10 (rather than the stated 1 to 10).
In the first scenario, the value of 6 is given and is what you should enter as the Test Value.
In the second scenario, you will again use question 46a as the dependent variable (Test variable). You will also need to use the COUTRY.BY.REGION (Country by region) variable as your Grouping Variable. Review the Value labels to ensure you know the numbers assigned to Southern Africa and to North Africa so you can provide this information appropriately when you define the Grouping Variable in SPSS.
In the third scenario, you will use the High School Longitudinal Survey (HSLS) data set. You will need to locate the variable X1MTHUTI (T1 Scale of student’s mathematics utility) and the variable X2MTHUTI (T2 Scale of student’s mathematics utility) for this analysis.
To be clear, you must complete all three of these scenarios!
Independent Samples t-test
When you run the Independent Samples t-test you must first check Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances to see if the assumption of equal variances is met.
– IF the p-value for this test is GREATER than an alpha of .05, the assumption of equal variances IS MET and you can report the TOP LINE of the t-test results in the SPSS output.
– IF the p-value for this test is LESS than an alpha of .05, the assumption of equal variances is NOT MET and you should report the BOTTOM LINE of t-test results in the SPSS output.
Review the video on independent samples t-tests to help with this topic.
Headings
Use 3 main headings for Scenario 1, Scenario 2, and Scenario 3.
APA Format & Report of Results
Include a title page, (no abstract), text, SPSS output, and a references page.
Report your results as if you are submitting them for publication. This should read like a formal research report, not like you are talking to your classmates. Quote sparingly; but, if you quote, include the author names, date of publication, and page number.
Insert the relevant SPSS output and treat it as a figure with an APA style figure caption. Refer to your output in-text by Figure number. Refer to your APA publication manual (2010) for support. Here is another resource to help with figure captions: http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/ap…
Review how to use the snipping tool to select output and paste it into your Word file. I believe the snipping tool is the easiest way to copy and paste output into your document. Please see earlier announcements for support with the snipping tool.
(Do not insert irrelevant output).
Attend carefully to details when reporting statistical results. Spaces, italics, parentheses, rounding, etc. are all very important.
Here is a link that shows how to report some common statistical results. http://my.ilstu.edu/~jhkahn/apastats.html
When reporting p-values, report them to 3 decimal places.
Here is one exception; if the sig column in SPSS shows as .000, report this as p < .001.
The p-value can never actually be 0, but SPSS only shows 3 decimal places. So, a p-value of .000005, would round to .000. We would report this as p < .001.
Do not report ns or p < .05. These are old conventions and APA no longer recommends this format for in-text reports of analyses.
Length
A paragraph for each scenario should suffice. Be succinct, yet thorough. A clear writer can complete this with about 3 pages of text, or approximately 8 pages total with Title page, text, SPSS output, and References. Do not exceed 9 pages.
Implications for Social Change
When you write the results for each scenario, be sure to address the implications for social change! This is a big focus for Walden University and you will be asked to address this in many courses.