Students will receive a set of hypothetical data, analyzed (or amenable to analysis) with techniques presented up to that point in the semester. Your assignment will be to review these data, develop hypothesis, conduct analyses (from only those methods covered in this course) as you deem necessary, and prepare a page report of your findings. Papers will be evaluated in terms of their accuracy of analysis and interpretation, completeness, and quality of writing.
You are advised to review published literature to establish a sense of how much illustration is too much illustration. Do not use footnotes or substantive sources. Your paper must derive solely from the data given to you. More details for the paper will be discussed in class.
The purpose of this assignment is to give you practical experience in the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of empirical data.
Information you will report includes qualitative and quantitative elements as practiced in class and in your homework assignments.
Steps to Completing Paper:
1. Review data
2. Develop two research questions and 2 corresponding hypothesis (null and research) for EACH question
3. Use APPROPRIATE statistical test to analyze data and answer hypotheses
Statistical Tests we have covered in class:
Descriptive/Univariate Statistics
- Frequency Distributions, Means, Standard Deviations, Variance, Ratios/Rates
Measures of Difference
- T-test
- ANOVA
- Chi-Square - non parametric
Measures of Association
- Correlation
- Linear Regression
- Spearman's Rank - non parametric
4. Interpret and present data (both in text and in tables or charts)
5. Write paper which includes:
a. Methods used for collecting data
b. Research questions
c. Hypothesis
d. Description of Sample
e. Description of statistical test used and why it was chosen
f. Results (text and charts/tables)
g. Interpretation of the Results for practical/everyday use
I. Introduction: hypothesis/research questions
II. Design: what was done; to whom; how was study organized/executed
III. Description of Sample: presentation of univariate/descriptive stats (means, SD, Variance, frequency distributions) using only those variables that describe your sample
IV. Analytic Technique(s): what/why/how of data manipulation; what/why/how of statistical test(s); specification of p value and rationale for same. You will be specifying not only your statistical test(s) and why they were chosen, but also how you manipulated the data for your calculations.
For example, a word like ‘score' has no one accepted definition. Did you add values together? Multiply them? Tell the reader precisely how you manipulated the data. Rationales for any data manipulation, use of scores, creation of subgroups, etc. are critical.
V. Descriptive Findings: review only descriptive level statistics regarding study variables (i.e., those things analyzed in your hypotheses); limit presentation to descriptive information that orients the reader, tells something about how the group(s) fared in terms of variables of interest (e.g., mean, median, range, minimum/maximum, etc.). And remember -- not all descriptive statistics make sense for all variables.
VI. Results: present findings from only your tests of the hypotheses; be sure to have clean, easy to follow distinctions for groups within your analysis.
VII. Conclusion: do you accept/reject the hypotheses; what do you conclude about the intervention; why do you think you found what you did; did group differentials at baseline pose the possibility of bias; were there other problems in the data that might explain why you found what you did? Be sure all discussion flows from previously offered text. Do not save a ‘surprise' finding for your conclusion.
Attachment:- Assignment.rar