SYC 300: Statistics

Statistics – Project 2

t-tests and Contextualizing Data Analysis

Project 2 – Due Week 11

Your performance as the data analyst in Dr. D’s lab has been impressive so far, particularly your

presentation of the descriptive information he sought earlier this semester. He has requested that you

complete analysis and write-up a report on some new data that was collected by his lab. The data is

compiled in an Excel file posted Canvas.

As the data analyst, you have been asked to prepare a report that includes information to help answer

the research questions below.

Please provide the following:

1. Sheet 1 in the Excel file (Framing Effects) contains data from a study conducted where a sample

of participants was shown an image of a female in a picture twice, once with a red frame and

once with a white frame. The dependent variable collected was their rating of how attractive

the woman was in each condition, with higher values indicating greater attractiveness.

a. You will use Excel to conduct a repeated measures t-test to evaluate whether there is a

difference between conditions.

b. You will provide the result as part of a small write-up, describing the research

hypothesis and results of the data analysis. Your presentation of the result should be in

appropriate APA style and include a graph of the group means with error bars. Lastly,

you should write a conclusion describing what the results of the test mean in terms of

the hypothesis. That is, what conclusion can we draw about the effect of frame color on

attractiveness ratings?

2. Sheet 2 in the Excel file (Training Method) contains data from a study conducted where a

sample of dogs was trained to walk on their hind legs, using either food or affection as the

reinforcer. The dependent variable collected is the level of training achieved, with higher values

indicating more successful training.

a. You will use Excel to conduct an independent samples t-test to evaluate whether there

is a difference between training methods.

b. You will provide the result as part of a small write-up, describing the research

hypothesis and results of the data analysis. Your presentation of the result should be in

appropriate APA style and include a graph of the group means with error bars. Lastly,

you should write a conclusion describing what the results of the test mean in terms of

the hypothesis. That is, what conclusion can we draw about the effect of training

method on success?

Thank you!

Dr. Doesntdohisowndataanalysis

To submit: Your task is to calculate the requested statistical tests and present the results to the

researcher in a document (.doc, .docx or .pdf) uploaded to Canvas.

In addition to using Excel to conduct the statistical analysis, you will also need to figure out what the

hypothesis for the research would be. That is, do you expect the groups to be different or not? This

requires that you do some background research. You should find at least one research article that

explores the issue (e.g., the effect of color on attractiveness and type of training on effectiveness) and

use them to generate your research expectation. For example, if you found an article that

demonstrated that the color red makes people more attractive, your prediction would be that the image

in the red frame would be rated more highly. (You only need to find one article to generate your

prediction, no need to do a complete search of the literature to figure out what multiple studies have

found).

Your final submitted version should include the following elements:

1. A paragraph describing the hypothesis and results of the statistical test (in APA style) along with

a conclusion about what the test result means in terms of the prediction.

2. A graph (with error bars included) to visually present the data.

3. An APA style citation for the article you used to generate your hypothesis.

Please note that you will have 2 versions of each of these three elements, one for each set of data.

Use the posted resources to help you use Excel in order to effectively analyze the data. Please make

sure to pay attention to the coding information in the sheets to help you.

You should complete your work individually.

Below is the grading rubric. Please review it so you know what your grade is based on.

Element Points What I’m looking for to earn full credit:

Statistical Tests 10 Calculation of values is accurate

Results are presented correctly in APA style

Conclusions are stated clearly and connected to hypotheses

Predictions 5 Predictions are clearly stated as hypotheses for each study

Predictions are based on prior research

Prior research identified using appropriately formatted APA citation

Graphs 5 Graphed values are accurate

Graphs include error bars

Graph is visually appealing

Axes are labeled appropriately