Follow Ass - SRD Ass 1a

Follow up Assignment

Here are some suggestions. 

You said you want to examine “Impacts of Early Head Start for families experiencing parental mental health challenges.” This is a great start.

***But you need to be more specific. (Please Specific Question 2b)

(1) The impacts of EHS on what?

(2) A specific aspect of (a) child outcome? (b) Maternal depression? (c) Parental stress level? 

For question 3b, describing basic demographics means to specify the demographic composition of the sample. (Please Re-write Question 3b)

E.g., it’s not enough to say that the sample has males and females. Rather you need to say the % of each gender, like the APA style descriptive statistics example I gave in SPSS practice 1.

For this assignment, you don’t need to present the accurate numbers, but at least say things like “all families are from low income backgrounds, and the majority of them are ethnic minorities. The gender distribution of the data is relatively balanced. The majority of the parents enrolled in the study were mothers” (I made this up).

(Please follow up the Question 4) for the last question you need to pick KEY variables that are relevant to your research topic, rather than demographic variables. Based on the research topic you specified,

(a) the KEY variables need to include at least one variable indicating the enrollment of EHS (so that you can examine it’s impact), and

(b) one variable on parental mental health (so that you can select your study sample). 

See the example I provided in lecture. All 6-8 variables are either indicator of academic development or factors related to it. 

oSpecify a research topic that you are interested in studying

ne.gI am interested in understanding factors that contribute to children’s academic development

oPick 6-8 variables/constructs that are relevant to the research topic

ne.g household income, parenting style, children’s learning motivation, and children’s academic achievement

********A side note. In formal writing, try to avoid terms such as “kids” (e.g., use children instead).