Final Paper

STUDY METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

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Study Methods, Results and Discussion

Kaytlin De Los Santos

FIU

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Methods

Participants

Nine hundred and fifty-seven participants were used in this study which were all my

fellow students in the college. Out of 957, 39.3% of participants were males (N=376) while

60.7% of the participants were females (N=581) as shown in the Appendix E. Considering the

ethnic distribution of the population in the college, ethnic distribution of the participants in the

study was as follows: 20.9% were Caucasian (N=200), 20 % African Americans (N=191),

54.1% Hispanic Americans (N=518), 3.2% Asian Americans (N=31), 0.9% Native Americans

(N=9) and 0.8% from other ethnic backgrounds (N=8) as indicated in appendix E.

Materials and procedure

First, informed consent was sought from all the participants which allowed to be recruited

in the study. In order to get the informed consent from the study, it was made clear to all the

participants the purpose of the study and assurance was given the all the information that they

would give would be held confidential and use for the sole purpose of the study. Further,

participants were required to provide true information that is best to their knowledge which

would help to ensure that reliability and validity of the study was maintained.

Second, one independent variable with two levels which are support and the mixed

reaction was used in the study. One independent variable that is self-determination which is

psychological needs is studied. Three basic needs are tested under self-determination which are

autonomy, competence and relatedness which are tested using a dependent variable which is self-

esteem to determine if the feedback is supportive or mixed.

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Third, the dependent variable that is studied is self- esteem. In the study of the self-

esteem, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was been used that contains 10 statements in the four-point

scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree where the data was collected and analyzed with

high scores high-self-esteem while low score represented low-self-esteem. However, before

responding to the 10 statements, questions about gender and ethnicity were administered and

questionnaire development was as follows:

i. Part a: demographic data (tick where appropriate)

1. What is your gender?

Male { } Female { }

2. What is your ethnicity?

Caucasian { } African Americans { } Hispanic Americans { } Asian Americans { } Native

Americans { } Others { }

ii. Part b: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Statements on a Likert scale

Instruction: kindly respond to the following statements by circling the appropriate response that

relates to your general feeling about yourself.

3. I am satisfied with myself. SA A D SD

4.* At times, I think I am no good at all. SA A D SD

5. I feel that I have a number of good qualities. SA A D SD

6. I am able to do things as well as most other people. SA A D SD

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7.* I feel I do not have much to be proud of. SA A D SD

8.* I certainly feel useless at times. SA A D SD

9. I feel that I’m a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others. SA A D SD

10.* I wish I could have more respect for myself. SA A D SD

11.* All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure. SA A D SD

12. I take a positive attitude toward myself. SA A D SD

On the scoring: SA=3, A=2, D=1=SD=0 while items with an asterisk are reverse score.

Finally, carry manipulation check is carried out to determine if independent variable

manipulation worked. Since the dependent variable self-esteem, it is run in the manipulation

check with expected feedback being a supportive or mixed reaction.

Results

First, dependent variable which is self-esteem which used to run manipulation check

worked to check feedback condition, in the level of the support condition, 88.8% supported their

behavior, 7.9% had a mixed reaction and 3.3% had unknown feedback while under the level of

mixed reaction; 21.2% supported their behavior, 70.9% had a mixed reaction and 8.0% had an

unknown reaction and finally when all total count was considered to check IV condition, 55.1%

supported their behavior,39.4% with mixed reaction and 5.6% with unknown reaction according

to appendix F.

Second, on the manipulation check for the profile gender cross-tabulation, for the male

profile, 82.9% of the males were within IVprofile gender,11.2% females and 5.9% could not

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recall the owner of Facebook while female profile, 4.3% of the male were within IVprofile

gender, 88.6% females and 7.0% could not recall the owner of the Facebook and finally, taking

into consideration total count, 43.3% were males, 50.3% were females and 6.5% did not recall

the owner of the Facebook as displayed in appendix F.

Third, for the first 2 X 2 ANOVA, the three F tests are as follows:

1. Main Effect #1 (IV #1): There is no main effect on the in ANOVA for the first IV gender. This

is because, F=2.085, sigma=0.149 and mean of 5.422 hence P>0.05 as shown in appendix G.

Therefore, participant differed in term of the gender.

2. Main Effect #2 (IV #2): There was the main effect in the ANOVA table for the second IV

which is IV condition. This is because F=6.897, sigma=0.009, mean 17.394 hence p<0.05.

Therefore, there is significant feedback for the IV condition.

3. Interaction (IV #1 X IV #2): There was the interaction between independent variable 1 and

independent variable 2. However, the interaction was not significant because P>0.05 given

F=0.354, sigma=0.552 and mean =0.921 as shown in appendix G.

Fourth, for the second 2 X 2 ANOVA, the first three F tests are as follows:

1. Main Effect #1 (IV #1): There is no main effect on the in ANOVA for the first IV which is

IVCondition. This is because F=0.137, sigma=0.711 and mean of 5.454 hence P>0.05 as shown

in appendix H. Therefore, condition feedback of the participants did not differ.

2. Main Effect #2 (IV #2): There was no main effect in the ANOVA table for the second IV

which is gender. This is because F=0.047, sigma=0.829, mean 0.343 hence p>0.05 as displayed

in Appendix H. Therefore, there is no significant effect for the second IV.

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3. Interaction (IV #1 X IV #2): There was interaction between independent variable 1 and

independent variable 2 (IVCondition*gender). However, the interaction was not significant

because P>0.05 given F=0.899, sigma=0.343 and mean =35.809 as shown in appendix H.

Discussion section

Overall, interaction of independent variable does not influence outcome. This is means

that level of the self- esteem among the participants is not influenced by gender but there are

other psychosocial factors such as autonomy, competence and relatedness which are components

of the self-determination theory. These significantly influence self-esteem of an individuals.

Finally, males tend be more confident than females which is clearly demonstrated by the

manipulation check which can be attributed to the manner in which the societies are structured

that develops qualities and responsibilities that boost confidence of the males.

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Appendices

Appendix E: Demographic Variables Gender & Ethnicity

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Appendix F: Manipulation Check

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Appendix G: First 2 X 2 ANOVA

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Appendix H: Second 2 X 2 ANOVA