Final Projects

Scenario

A researcher has administered an anxiety survey to students enrolled in graduate level statistics courses. The survey included three subscales related to statistics anxiety: (a) interpretation anxiety, (b) test anxiety, and (c) fear of asking for help. The survey also included three subscales related to attitude toward statistics. For the items that comprised the scales, students were asked to respond using a 5 point Likert-type scale. Higher scores on the anxiety subscales implied higher levels of anxiety, and higher scores on the attitude subscales implies a more positive attitude toward statistics.

 

In addition to the statistics anxiety subscales, the survey contained a subscale related to the use of statistical software and a subscale related to self-perceived confidence concerning general computer use. Students responded to items on the statistical software subscale using a response range from (1) Strongly Disagree to (7) Strongly Agree. For the computer confidence subscale, students responded to items using a range from (1) Strongly Disagree to (5) Strongly Agree. For each of these subscales, higher scores implied higher levels of confidence.

 

The researcher determined the score for each subscale by computing the mean response for the items associated with the subscale. This technique resulted in subscales that had the same possible range and the items that made up the subscale.

 

A subsample of the researcher’s dataset contains the following variables that should be used for completing the four final projects. The variables included in the dataset are:

Variable name:	Label:	Values:
gender	Gender	1:  Female 2:  Male
race	Ethnicity	1:  White 2:  Non-White
age
courses	Number of online courses completed	1:  0-2 courses 2:  3-7 courses 3:  8 or more courses
tca	Test and class anxiety
interpret	Interpretation anxiety
help	Anxiety associated with asking for help
worth	Worth of statistics
csc	Computational self-concept
teacher	Fear of statistics teachers
software	Confidence in using statistical software
computer	Attitude toward computers and the internet

Project 1

One of the researcher’s questions involved the difference in scores on the Interpretation Anxiety subscale between male and female respondents. Use SPSS to conduct the analysis that is appropriate for this research question and answer each of the following questions. If a statistical significance test is used, you should use .05 as the critical level of significance.

Questions

1. Based on the research question, what is the appropriate analysis for determining the difference in Interpretation Anxiety scores between female and male respondents?

2. Write an appropriate null hypothesis for this analysis.

3. What are the mean and standard deviation for the Interpretation Anxiety scores of female respondents?

4. What are the mean and standard deviation for the Interpretation Anxiety scores of male respondents?

5. What is the observed or computed value of the test statistic used to determine the difference in Interpretation Anxiety scores?

6. What is the value of the degrees of freedom that are reported in the output?

7. What is the reported level of significance?

8. Based on the reported level of significance, would you reject the null hypothesis?

9. Based on the results of the analysis, is the difference in Interpretation Anxiety scores statistically significant? 

10. Present the results as they might appear in an article. This must include a table and narrative statement that reports and interprets the results of the analysis.

Note: The table must be created using your word processing program. Tables that are copied and pasted from SPSS are not acceptable.

 

 

 

 

 

Project 2

Another of the researcher’s questions involved the difference in scores on the Asking for Help subscale based on the respondents’ reported number of online courses completed. Use SPSS to conduct the analysis that is appropriate for this research question and answer each of the questions. If a statistical significance test is used, you should use .05 as the critical level of significance.

Questions

Based on the scenario, what is the appropriate analysis for examining differences among the Asking for Help subscale scores based on the number of online courses completed?

Write an appropriate null hypothesis for this analysis.   

What is the mean Asking for Help score for each number of online courses completed?

What is the standard deviation for each number of online courses completed?

What is the observed or computed value of the test statistic comparing the Asking for Help subscale scores based on the number of online courses completed?           

What are the reported degrees of freedom for the Between Groups variance?

What are the reported degrees of freedom for the Within Groups variance?

What is the reported level of significance?

Based on the results of the Scheffe post hoc test, which groups are significantly different?

Present the results as they might appear in an article. This must include a table that reports the results of the analysis and narrative statement that reports and interprets the results of the analysis and Scheffe post hoc test.

Note: The table must be created using your word processing program. Tables that are copied and pasted from SPSS are not acceptable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project 3

One of the researcher’s questions involved the difference in levels of fear of statistics teachers and asking for help. Use SPSS to conduct the analysis that is appropriate for this research question and answer each of the following questions. If a statistical significance test is used, you should use .05 as the critical level of significance.

Questions

1. What is the appropriate analysis for comparing the difference in fear of statistics teachers and anxiety associated with asking for help?

2. What are the means for the scores on the fear of statistics teachers and asking for help subscales?

3. What are the standard deviations for the scores on the fear of statistics teachers and asking for help subscales?

4. State an appropriate null hypothesis for this analysis.

5. What is the observed or computed value of the test statistic used to determine the difference between fear of statistics teachers and asking for help scores?

6. What is the value of the degrees of freedom that are reported in the output?

7. What is the reported level of significance?

8. Based on the reported level of significance, would you reject the null hypothesis?

9. Based on the results of the analysis, is the difference between fear of statistics teachers and asking for help statistically significant?

10. Present the results as they might appear in an article. This must include a table and narrative statement that reports and interprets the results of the analysis.

Note: The table must be created using your word processing program. Tables that are copied and pasted from SPSS are not acceptable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project 4

The final research question involved the relationship between scores on the Test Anxiety subscale and general computer use confidence. Use SPSS to conduct the analysis that is appropriate for this research question and answer each of the following questions. If a statistical significance test is used, you should use .05 as the critical level of significance.

Questions

What is the appropriate analysis for examining the relationship between scores on the Test Anxiety and Computer Confidence subscales?

Write an appropriate null hypothesis for this analysis.       

What is the mean Test Anxiety score? What is the mean Computer Confidence score?

What are the standard deviations for Test Anxiety and Computer Confidence scores?

What is the value of the statistic representing the relationship between the Test Anxiety and Computer Confidence scores?

Based on the value of the statistic identified in the previous question, how would you classify the strength of this relationship?

What is the appropriate value for the degrees of freedom?

What is the reported level of significance?

Based on the level of significance, would you reject the null hypothesis?

Based on the level of significance, is the relationship between Test Anxiety and Computer Confidence statistically significant?

Present the results as they might appear in an article. This must include a table and narrative statement that reports and interprets the results of your analysis.

Note: The table must be created using your word processing program. Tables that are copied and pasted from SPSS are not acceptable.