Statistics

As a mental health professional in the new era, consider how the appropriate application of statistical analysis can be used to understand real-world issues and issues in behavioral science, and to inform decision making. As a mental health professional, you are expected to remain current on field research and to apply this new knowledge within your work.

For this assignment, complete the following:

1. Select an area of interest within psychology.
2. Use the Capella library to locate one peer-reviewed journal article that uses the interpretation of statistical analysis to resolve an issue in the field. Select an article that uses quantitative (not qualitative) analyses.
3. Write a 2–3-page paper in which you will provide a critical analysis of the article. In this paper, you consider the interpretation and selection of the supporting statistical analyses. To do this, you will:
   1. Explain the analysis and describe the decision that was made. Was the null hypothesis rejected or did the article fail to reject the null hypothesis? Provide examples of the statistical language used, and translate the examples from statistical language to real-world language.
   2. Evaluate the research and discuss areas of strength and areas of weakness in the study design, research process, and interpretation and description of the results.
   3. Explain whether you think the conclusions accurately reflect the analysis. Use both statistical and real-world language to support your opinion.

Be sure to communicate in a manner that respects the dignity, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and individual uniqueness of others.

You may wish to work with the APA Paper Template (given in the Resources) to increase your understanding of APA style and format, a key component of academic writing.