Assignment
You will submit one Word document and one SPSS data file for this week. You will create the Word document by cutting and pasting SPSS output into Word. Please read the instructions below to ensure you are pasting the correct material into your assignment document.
Begin by downloading the following SPSS data sets:
• Activity 6a.sav (found on the "additional resources" page)
• Activity 6c.sav (found on the "additional resources" page)
Part A. Dependent t test
In this assignment, we are interested in finding out whether participation in a creative writing course results in increased scores of a creativity assessment. For this part of the assignment, you will be using the data file "Activity 6a.sav". In this file, "Participant" is the numeric student identifier, "CreativityPre" contains creativity pre-test scores, and "CreativityPost" contains creativity post-test scores. A total of 40 students completed the pre-test, took the creativity course, and then took the post-test.
1. Exploratory Data Analysis/Hypotheses.
a. Perform exploratory data analysis on CreativityPre and CreativityPost. Using SPSS, calculate the mean and standard deviation of these two variables.
b. Construct an appropriate chart/graph that displays the relevant information for these two variables.
c. Write the null and alternative hypotheses used to test the question above (e.g., whether participation in the course affects writing scores).
2. Comparison of Means
a. Perform a dependent t test to assess your hypotheses above (note that many versions of SPSS use the term "paired samples t test" rather than dependent t test; the test itself is the same.
b. Write one or two paragraphs that describe the dataset, gives your hypothesis, and presents the results of the dependent sample t test. Be sure that your writing conforms to APA style.
Part B. Independent t test
In this assignment, we will start with the data file used in Part A ("Activity 6a.sav"). Suppose, however, you [the researcher] encountered a small problem during data collection: after the post-tests were collected, you realized that the post-test form did not ask for the students' identification number. As such, it will be impossible to match pre-test scores to post-test scores. Rather than simply give up, you start thinking about the data you do have, and try to determine whether you can salvage your project. In assessing the situation, you realize that you have 40 pre-test scores and 40 post-test scores, but no way to link them. While it will result in a weaker comparison, you determine that you are still able to compare pre-test vs. post-test scores; you will use a between-subjects design rather than a within-subjects design.
1. Create the data set.
a. Using the "Activity 6a.sav" file as a starting point, create a new dataset that you can use with the between subjects design. Hint: you will no longer need the variables CreativePre and CreativeTest. Instead, you have only one variable for the score on the creativity test. A second (or grouping) variable will serve to indicate which test the student took.
b. Submit the dataset as one of the week's files. Name the file in the following format: lastnamefirstinitialPSY7107-6a.sav (example: smithbPSY7107-6a.sav).
2. Exploratory Data Analysis/Hypotheses.
3. Comparison of Means
a. Perform an independent t test to assess your hypotheses above (note that many versions of SPSS use the term "independent samples t test" rather than simply "independent t test".
b. Write one or two paragraphs that describe the dataset, gives your hypothesis, and presents the results of the dependent sample t test. Be sure that your writing conforms to APA style.
4. Comparison of Designs
a. In this assignment, you used the same dataset to analyze both a between- and within-subjects design. Create a single paragraph (using the material you wrote above), that presents both sets of results.
b. Explain, in 300-500 words, whether the two tests resulted in the same findings. Did you expect this to be the case? Why or why not? What have you learned in this assignment?