Research Question and Hypotheses
The research question was: Does the number of hours spent on physical activity differ significantly depending on the gender of the students?
The research hypotheses are as follows:
Ho: The number of hours spent weekly on physical activity does not vary significantly among the three gender groups.
Ha: The number of hours spent weekly on physical activity varies significantly among the three gender groups.
Choice of Predictor and Outcome Variables
The choice of predictor variable and outcome variable was based on the research question and hypotheses.
Predictor and Outcome Variables
In this study, the independent variable is Gender (named Q2). The gender groups are classified as either male, female, non-binary, other, and undisclosed (prefer not to say). The response variable is Number of hours spent weekly on physical activity (named Q47). The label assigned is “How many hours of physical activity do you participate in each week? Enter a number with up to one decimal place, such that five and a half hours would be 5.5.”
Data Cleaning or Recoding
No data cleaning or recoding was required. All the codes had been properly done. Only the renaming of the gender variable (from Q2 to Gender) and the hours spent variable (from Q47 to Hours_spent) was done in SPSS (variable view).
Screen Capture of Name Label, and Code of Predictor Variable
The screen capture for the name and label (respectively) for the predictor variable is as displayed below:
The screen capture for the code values (representing each of the gender categories) is as follows:
Screen Capture of Name Label, and Code of Outcome Variable
The screen capture for the name and label (respectively) for the outcome variable is as displayed below:
The outcome variable has no code values since it is continuous in nature.
A Codebook Entry for Predictor and Outcome Variables.
The code entry for the predictor variable is as follows:
Variable Name
Gender
Survey Question Wording
Q2 Gender
Possible Response Options
Male (1)
Female (2)
Non-binary (3)
Other (4)
Prefer not to answer (5)
Coding
1= “Male”
2= “Female”
3= “Non-binary”
4= “Other”
5= “Prefer not to say”
The code entry for the outcome variable is as follows:
Variable Name
Hours_spent
Survey Question Wording
Q47 How many hours of physical activity do you participate in each week? Enter a number with up to one decimal place, such that five and a half hours would be 5.5.
Possible Response Options
Enter any value with one decimal place.
Coding
Not applicable.
Table of Descriptive Statistics for the Predictor Variable
A frequency table was carried out to display some descriptive statistics for the predictor variable (gender).
The table is as displayed below:
Statistics
Gender
N
Valid
241
Missing
18
Gender
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid
Male
38
14.7
15.8
15.8
Female
202
78.0
83.8
99.6
Non-binary
1
.4
.4
100.0
Total
241
93.1
100.0
Missing
System
18
6.9
Total
259
100.0
From the displayed statistics, it can be observed that the gender variable had 241 entries and 18 missing values. The males recorded were 38; females were 202, non-binary individual was 1. In total, there were 259 participants.
Table of Descriptive Statistics for the Response Variable
The descriptive statistics considered included a measure of central tendency (mean) and a measure of dispersion (standard deviation) for the number of hours spent on physical activity for each of the gender groups participating in the survey.
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Included
Excluded
Total
N
Percent
N
Percent
N
Percent
How many hours of physical activity do you participate in each week? Enter a number with up to one decimal place, such that five and a half hours would be 5.5. * Gender
217
83.8%
42
16.2%
259
100.0%
Report
How many hours of physical activity do you participate in each week? Enter a number with up to one decimal place, such that five and a half hours would be 5.5.
Gender
Mean
N
Std. Deviation
Male
8.27
37
7.435
Female
7.71
179
24.889
Non-binary
10.00
1
.
Total
7.82
217
22.798
Based on the descriptive statistics, only three gender groups, namely male, female, and non-binary, participated in the survey. It can be observed that the mean number of hours spent on physical activity by the male students is 8.27. The mean for the female gender is 7.71 hours while that for the non-binary group is 10.
Histogram for the Predictor Variable
The histogram for the predictor variable cannot be constructed given that this is a categorical variable; not continuous. Histograms are generally constructed for continuous datasets.
Histogram for the Outcome Variable
The histogram for the outcome variable is as follows:
From the histogram above, it can be observed that most of the students spend 20 hours and below on weekly physical activity.
A bar graph representing the mean physical hours (outcome variable) for the various gender groups (predictor variable) could also be constructed as shown below:
From the bar graph, it can be observed that on average, the non-binary students spend the highest amount of time on physical activity, followed by the male students and then the female students.
Appropriate Test of Association Between Predictor and Outcome Variable
Given that the independent (predictor) variable is categorical in nature (with more than two independent categories or levels) and the response variable is quantitative in nature, a one-way ANOVA test would be most appropriate. The test is used instead of the independent sample t-test when the predictor variable has more than two categories.
Table of Output for Test of Association Between the Predictor and Outcome Variables
The results for the one-way ANOVA are indicated below:
ANOVA
How many hours of physical activity do you participate in each week? Enter a number with up to one decimal place, such that five and a half hours would be 5.5.
Sum of Squares
df
Mean Square
F
Sig.
Between Groups
14.287
2
7.144
.014
.986
Within Groups
112253.765
214
524.550
Total
112268.053
216
From the ANOVA table above, we can determine whether there exist any significant differences in hours spent on physical activity among the gender groups considered in the study. In this case, the p-value is 0.986 (which is greater than 0.05). We therefore fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the number of hours spent weekly on physical activity does not vary significantly among the three gender groups.
A Brief Description of the Data Presented
The data used is an excerpt of a survey carried out on BBH students with a view to collect information based on 222 variables. The number of participating students was 259. The task was to establish a research question and hypothesis about a health behavior among BBH students. In this regard, this report sought to establish whether there exist significant differences in weekly hours spent on physical activity based on the gender of the BBH students.
Reflection Statement
Coming up with the predictor and outcome variables was quite challenging given the multiple variables recorded in the original survey dataset. Upon unravelling this challenge, the hurdle of coming up with the appropriate test procedures came into play. However, with the assistance of literature learnt, I was able to come up with the most appropriate test for my study. The analysis carried out was very informative. For instance, I was able to establish that although the gender groups indicated were 5 in number, only 3 participated in the study.
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