Statistics question

Biol/Stat 2244A (FW21) – Assignments: Metadata

BIOL/STATS 2244 Assignments 2, 3, and 4

Metadata

Purpose of this file Normally, you—the researcher—would be familiar with how your data were collected and your choice of measurements. That isn’t quite the case for our Assignments. So, this file is meant to provide:

• a brief description of where the data (that you will use for all remaining Assignments) came from

• a description of the measurements taken

• an explanation of the column names in the data file, assignment.csv Essentially, this is an elaborate, text-based metadata file to accompany the data file we are working with for our Assignments.

Sampling and Study Design A sample of Polish university students were recruited. To obtain the sample, an invitation to participate in the study was posted on the websites of twenty-eight (28) Polish universities. The link on the website directed interested participants to information about the study (i.e. objective, conditions for participation, desired characteristics of participants—i.e. university students) and a consent form for participation. For those who agreed to consent, online questionnaires were administered collecting data on a variety of variables (described in detail below). The online questionnaires were administered using the Webankieta platform (www.startquestion.com), an online survey platform that would ensure the anonymity and security of the participants’ responses. The research study obtained ethics approval from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology at the University of Silesia in Katowice. This study was part of a larger series of research studies contributing to an objective of understanding personality characteristics and predictors for academic dishonesty. Some background information on measurements The questionnaires which participants responded to asked for demographic characteristics:

• age

• sex

• year of study

• field/discipline of study as well as a series of questionnaires that measured various personality characteristics and history of academic dishonesty. The measures for personality characteristics and academic dishonesty are described below: TriArchic Psychopathy Measure (TPM): The original TPM was a 58-item questionnaire designed to assess the degree to which an individual shows key personality traits that are associated with psychopathy; for this research study, the shortened Polish-language adapted version was used. The Polish version

Biol/Stat 2244A (FW21) – Assignments: Metadata

contains 41 statements to which the respondent indicates the degree to which they believe each of the statements represents themselves, using a Likert-style scale from 0 to 3, where

• 0 = completely false

• 1 = somewhat false

• 2 = somewhat true

• 3 = completely true The statements are subdivided into three (3) categories meant to reflect three major personality traits associated with psychopathy: (i) Disinhibition, (ii) Meanness, and (iii) Boldness. The Disinhibition category included 16 statements like, “I jump into things without thinking”; the Meanness category had 10 statements like, “I don’t have much sympathy for people”, and the Boldness category had 15 statements like, “I’m a born leader”. The rank for each statement within a category was summed across all statements for that category to give each participant a count of points (i.e. score) for boldness (out of 45), meanness (out of 30), and, disinhibition (out of 48). New General Self Efficacy Scale (NGSES): The NGSES is an 8-item questionnaire that was designed to measure how well an individual believes that they can complete goals in spite of difficulties, i.e. their “self-efficacy”. For this research study, the Polish-language version was used. Participants respond to each statement indicating the degree to which they agree/disagree with the statement, on a Likert-style scale from 1 to 5, where

• 1 = strongly disagree

• 2 = disagree

• 3 = neither agree nor disagree

• 4 = agree

• 5 = strongly agree The statements to which participants responded were things like: “I will be able to achieve most of the goals that I set for myself”, and “I will be able to successfully overcome many challenges.” The rank for each statement was summed across all 8 statements to give each participant a count of points, i.e. score (out of 40), for self-efficacy. Achievement Goals Questionnaire – Revised (AGQR): The AGQR is an updated version of the Achievement Goals Questionnaire (AGQ). This questionnaire seeks to measure what motivates an individual to achieve goals, and the nature of that motivation. The AGQ measures motivation characterized four (4) different ways:

• Mastery-approach: individuals are motivated by a desire to achieve mastery/understanding of a skill or concept (i.e. master a task)

• Mastery-avoidance: individuals are motivated by a desire to avoid lack of mastery/ understanding of a skill or concept (i.e. not do worse than previously demonstrated)

• Performance-approach: individuals are motivated by a desire to be recognized as competent in applying a skill or concept (i.e. to do better than others)

• Performance-avoidance: individuals are motivated by a desire to avoid being recognized as incompetent with a skill or concept (i.e. avoid doing worse than others)

Performance goals can be interpreted as consistent with extrinsic motivation while Mastery goals would be interpreted as consistent with intrinsic motivation. The AGQR has three (3) statements associated with each of the four (4) motivation types described above. Participants respond to each statement indicating the degree to which they agree/disagree with the statement, on a Likert-style scale from 1 to 5, where

• 1 = strongly disagree

Biol/Stat 2244A (FW21) – Assignments: Metadata

• 2 = disagree

• 3 = neither agree nor disagree

• 4 = agree

• 5 = strongly agree Statements were things like “My goal is to learn as much as possible” (example of a Mastery-approach), “I am striving to avoid an incomplete understanding of the course material” (example of Mastery- avoidance), “My aim is to perform well relative to other students” (example of Performance approach), and “I am striving to avoid performing worse than others” (example of Performance avoidance). For this research study, a Polish translation of the AGQR was used. The Mastery-approach and Mastery- avoidance statements were collapsed into a single category of Mastery goal statements (six total), while the Performance-approach and Performance-avoidance statements were collapsed into a single category of Performance goals statements (6 total). The rank for each statement within a category was summed across all statements for that category to give each participant a count of points, ie. score (out of 30), for Mastery goals, and separately for Performance goals (also out of 30). Academic Dishonesty Scale (ADS): The ADS is a questionnaire that seeks to measure an individual’s tendency or previous history towards engaging in academic dishonesty. The ADS includes 16 statements that characterise different activities and/or behaviours exemplifying academic dishonesty. Participants respond to each statement indicating how often they have engaged in the activity/behaviour described by the statement, on a Likert-style scale from 0 to 4, where

• 0 = never

• 1 = rarely

• 2 = sometimes

• 3 = frequently

• 4 = many times The statements to which participants responded were things like: “Using crib notes on a test”, “Falsifying bibliography”, and “Receiving substantial, unpermitted help on an assignment.” The rank for each statement was summed across all 16 statements to give each participant a count of points, i.e. score (out of 65), on the Academic Dishonesty Scale.

Biol/Stat 2244A (FW21) – Assignments: Metadata

Variable descriptions The following data were collected. The first column represents the names of the variables in the assignment.csv file.

Variable name Description

participant Participant identification: a unique number assigned to identify each participant in the sample

sex The biological sex of the participant (demographic data); 1 = female, 2 = male

year The year of university of the participant (demographic data); 1 = first year 2 = second year 3 = third year 4 = fourth year 5 = fifth year 6 = first year doctoral (PhD) students 7 = second year doctoral (PhD) students 8 = third year doctoral (PhD) students 9 = fourth year doctoral (PhD) students

age Age of the participant (demographic data), in years

field The field of study of the participant (i.e. module discipline of their university degree) (demographic data) H = humanities LA = law and administration MS = medical sciences SS = social sciences ST = science and technology

NGSES Participant’s score (out of 40) on the Polish translation of the New General Self- Efficacy Scale. Used to measure the degree to which the participant believes they can achieve their goals.

AGQR_M Participant’s score (out of 30) on the Mastery component of the Achievement Goals Questionnaire-Revised. Used to measure the participant’s tendency to be motivated to obtain competency (i.e. mastery) of a skill/knowledge.

AGQR_P Participant’s score (out of 30) on the Performance component of the Achievement Goals Questionnaire-Revised. Used to measure the participants’ tendency to be motivated to be better/not worse than others at a skill/knowledge.

TriPM_B Participant’s score (out of 45) on the Boldness category of the Polish adaptation of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Used to measure the degree to which a participants’ personality aligns with the boldness characteristics associated with psychopathy.

TriPM_M Participant’s score (out of 30) on the Meanness category of the Polish adaptation of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Used to measure the degree to which a participants’ personality aligns with the meanness characteristics associated with psychopathy.

TriPM_D Participant’s score (out of 48) on the Disinhibition category of the Polish adaptation of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Used to measure the degree to which a

Biol/Stat 2244A (FW21) – Assignments: Metadata

participants’ personality aligns with the disinhibition characteristics associated with psychopathy.

ADS Participant’s score (out of 65) on the Academic Dishonesty Scale. Used to measure the degree to which a participant has performed activities or behaviours associated with academic dishonesty/misconduct.

Access to data The complete data set was accessed from the website for the journal, PLOS One at the following URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211779 The datafile used for Biology/Statistics 2244 Assignments is available on our OWL course site, through the “Assignments” tool, posted for Assignment 2.

Modifications to data The original dataset downloaded from PLOS One contained 28 variables and 390 observations/rows (plus the column headings). For the purpose of Biol/Stat 2244, some of the names of these variables were changed to make them simpler/shorter. As well, variables ADS1 through ADS16 were removed (because the statements to which they refer could not be identified, and they would note be used in our course). In addition, missing values were changed from the text NA to blank cells.

Quality check characteristics

The file we are using contains 12 columns and 390 rows (PLUS the row of column names). The values in

the column named age sum to 8959. The column named sex contains two hundred ninety (290) 1s and

one hundred (100) 2s.