As a social scientist, you will often construct research designs that require some sort of comparison between groups. When constructing hypothesis tests, the t test allows you to evaluate estimates from samples to determine if differences exist between these groups in the population. You might want to know whether a specific educational intervention has benefit, whether a training program works, or under what conditions employees are most effective. These are just a few examples where you might make comparisons between two groups. The t test’s roots lie in solving practical questions about industrial quality control, which has led to it becoming one of the most fundamental and widely used tests in classical statistics.
In this week, you will examine t tests. In your examination, you will construct research questions, evaluate research design, and analyze results related to t tests. You also will critically evaluate research related to t tests.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
· Construct research questions
· Analyze research design through research questions
· Evaluate t Tests
· Analyze implications of t Tests results
· Evaluate assumptions of t Tests
· Analyze implications for social change
· Evaluate research related to t Tests
Learning Resources
Required Readings
Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Leon-Guerrero, A. (2018). Social statistics for a diverse society (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
· Chapter 8, “Testing Hypothesis” (pp. 204-234)
Wagner, W. E. (2016). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for research methods and social science statistics (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
· Chapter 6, “Testing Hypotheses Using Means and Cross-Tabulation” (previously read in Week 5)
· Chapter 11, “Editing Output” (previously read in Week 2, 3, and 4)
Walden University Library. (n.d.). Course Guide and Assignment Help for RSCH 8210. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/rsch8210
For help with this week’s research, see this Course Guide and related weekly assignment resources.
Document: Week 6 t test Scenarios (PDF)
Use these scenarios to complete this week’s Assignment.
Document: Walden University: Research Design Alignment Table
Datasets
Document: Data Set 2014 General Social Survey (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Discussion.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.
Document: Data Set Afrobarometer (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Assignment.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.
Document: High School Longitudinal Study 2009 Dataset (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Assignment.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2016l). The t test for independent samples [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.
In this media program, Dr. Matt Jones, demonstrates the t Test for independent samples in SPSS.
Accessible player
Laureate Education (Producer). (2016m). The t test for related samples [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.
In this media program, Dr. Matt Jones, demonstrates the t test for related samples in SPSS.
Accessible player
Optional Resources
Klingenberg, B. (2016). Inference for comparing two population means. Retrieved from https://istats.shinyapps.io/2sample_mean/
Use the following app/weblink to enter your own data and obtain an interactive visual display.
Skill Builders:
· Research Design and Statistical Design
· Hypothesis Testing for Independent Samples t-test
To access these Skill Builders, navigate back to your Blackboard Course Home page, and locate “Skill Builders” in the left navigation pane. From there, click on the relevant Skill Builder link for this week.
You are encouraged to click through these and all Skill Builders to gain additional practice with these concepts. Doing so will bolster your knowledge of the concepts you’re learning this week and throughout the course.
Discussion: Research Design and t Tests: How Are They Connected?
Whether in a scholarly or practitioner setting, good research and data analysis should have the benefit of peer feedback. For this Discussion, you will post your response to the hypothesis test, along with the results. Be sure and remember that the goal is to obtain constructive feedback to improve the research and its interpretation, so please view this as an opportunity to learn from one another.
To prepare for this Discussion:
· Review the Learning Resources and the media programs related to t tests.
· Search for and select a quantitative article specific to your discipline and related to t tests. Help with this task may be found in the Course guide and assignment help linked in this week’s Learning Resources. Also, you can use as a guide the Research Design Alignment Table located in this week’s Learning Resources
Write a 3- to 5-paragraph critique of the article. In your critique, include responses to the following:
· Which is the research design used by the authors?
· Why did the authors use this t test?
· Do you think it’s the most appropriate choice? Why or why not?
· Did the authors display the data?
· Do the results stand alone? Why or why not?
· Did the authors report effect size? If yes, is this meaningful?
Be sure to support your Main Post and Response Post with reference to the week’s Learning Resources and other scholarly evidence in APA Style.
Assignment: Testing Hypotheses for Means
This week you have explored three different approaches to t tests. By this point, you know that each test has assumptions about the data and type of research questions it can answer. For this Assignment, you will be provided with three scenarios. As you read the scenarios, be sure and think about aligning the appropriate t test with the question. Consider whether the data are independent samples and if two samples are being compared.
To prepare for this Assignment:
· Review the Learning Resources and the media programs related to t tests.
· For additional support, review the Skill Builder: Research Design and Statistical Design and the Skill Builder: Hypothesis Testing for Independent Samples t-test, which you can find by navigating back to your Blackboard Course Home Page. From there, locate the Skill Builder link in the left navigation pane.
· Also, review the t test scenarios found in this week’s Learning Resources and consider the three different approaches of t tests:
· Independent sample t test
· Paired sample t test
· One sample t test
· Based on each of the three research scenarios provided, open the High School Longitudinal Study dataset or the Afrobarometer dataset from this week’s Learning Resources using SPSS software, then choose and run the appropriate t test.
· Once you perform your t test analyses, review Chapter 11 of the Wagner text to understand how to copy and paste your output into your Word document.
For this Assignment:
Write a 2 to 3-paragraph analysis of your t test results for each research scenario and include the SPSS syntax and output. Do not forget to evaluate if the t test assumptions are met, justify the selection of type of t test, and report the effect size. Based on your results, provide an explanation of what the implications of social change might be.
Use proper APA format, citations, and referencing for your analysis, research questions, and output.