COUC/CEFS 515
WRITING RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT GRADING RUBRIC
COUC/CEFS 515
Criteria
Levels of Achievement
Content
Advanced
Proficient
Developing (
Not present
Content
(70%; 35)
(32 - 35 points)
All items listed below are completed
with excellence.
The following is complete:
The study’s design is named and
explained.
Accurate test of null hypothesis
addressed.
Is the statistical test correct? Why?
Why not?
Statistical significance answered and
discussed.
Decision on null hypothesis is
discussed and correct.
Discussion of implications to study
and to the field of clinical mental
health counseling is included.
(29 - 31 points)
One or two items from the items
listed below are missing,
incomplete, or incorrect.
The study’s design is named and
explained.
Accurate test of null hypothesis
addressed.
Is the statistical test correct? Why?
Why not?
Statistical significance answered
and discussed.
Decision on null hypothesis is
discussed and correct.
Discussion of implications to study
and to the field of clinical mental
health counseling is included.
(1 - 28 points)
More than three of the items listed
below are missing, incomplete, or
incorrect.
The study’s design is named and
explained.
Accurate test of null hypothesis
addressed.
Is the statistical test correct? Why?
Why not?
Statistical significance answered
and discussed.
Decision on null hypothesis is
discussed and correct.
Discussion of implications to study
and to the field of clinical mental
health counseling is included.
0 points
Not present
Structure
Advanced
Proficient
Developing
Not present
COUC/CEFS 515
Grammar and
Spelling, APA
formatting
(30%; 15
points)
(14 - 15 points)
All of the items below are completed
with excellence:
Each simulation is a well-written
paragraph.
Writing is clear, has a logical flow,
and follows current APA format
Grammar and spelling are correct.
(11 - 13 points)
The items below are completed with
two or three errors.
Each simulation is a well-written
paragraph.
Writing is clear, has a logical flow,
and follows current APA format
Grammar and spelling are correct.
(1 - 10 points)
The items below are completed with
more than three errors
Each simulation is a well-written
paragraph.
Writing is clear, has a logical flow,
and follows current APA format
Grammar and spelling are correct.
0 points
Not present
Total (50)
Advanced (46-50)
Proficient (41-45)
Developing (1-40)
Not Present
Professor
Comments
Writing Results and Discussion Instructions
Throughout this course you have learned about the importance of research in counseling
and how evidence-based research can inform how counselors practice. This assignment will help
you develop the skill of interpreting data and writing results based upon your research findings.
On page two, there is a case scenario with a detailed summary of the problem, purpose, research
question, null hypothesis, study design, raw data, method of analysis of the data, and the results.
Address the following questions in ONE well-developed paragraph that has a logical flow using
current APA format (an example is given). This paragraph should be no more than 1/2 to 1 page.
For further study, section 3 of the APA manual discusses Journal Article Reporting Standards.
What type of study design is used? Please explain.
Does the study design accurately test the null hypothesis?
Is the correct statistical test used to analyze the data? Why? Why not?
Regardless of whether or not the correct statistical test was used, are the results
statistically significant? Social science research uses a p value of .05 to determine
statistical significance.
Does the researcher reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis?
What are the implications of the results for the study and the counseling field?
Writing Results and Discussion Case Scenario
Counselors and school counselors are concerned that the current treatments being offered for
smoking dependence are not resulting in a high enough percentage of successful outcomes for
adolescents. A complicating factor is that many adolescents experience depression during treatment for
smoking dependence. Mindfulness Therapy has demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of depression.
The purpose of the study is to determine the efficacy of adding Mindfulness Therapy to the standard
treatment program. The research question is: Will the addition of Mindfulness Therapy with standard
treatment improve the efficacy of that treatment when used for adolescents with smoking dependence?
The researchers designed a study using a convenience sample of 20 participants who have entered
treatment for smoking dependence. The participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment
groups, the standard treatment program or the standard treatment program with Mindfulness Therapy.
Participants will receive treatment for 16 weeks and then complete a Youth Specific version of the
Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale (NDSS). The treatment groups are considered equivalent at the
beginning of the study based on random assignment to groups. The null hypothesis states there will be no
difference in scores on the NDSS between those who receive the standard treatment program and those
who receive the standard treatment program with Mindfulness Therapy. The researcher used a paired or
correlated groups t-test to analyze the data.
The scores on the Youth-Specific NDSS for the two
treatment groups are:
Paired Samples T-Test Results
The results are t(19) = 6.42, p = .000.
Standard Treatment Means = 13.25 (Standard
Deviation = 3.50)
Standard Treatment AND Mindfulness Means=
8.1 (Standard Deviation = 3.04)
Standard Treatment
Standard Treatment &
Mindfulness
14
18
9
12
11
17
10
11
13
17
14
21
8
14
12
14
15
16
7
12
8
12
4
4
3
10
15
9
3
10
9
10
6
9
7
8
10
10
8
7
APA Writing Results Example
This study used a single-group design in which the results of performance of a sample of
40 substance abusers (M= 92.43, SD= 10.76) were compared to the given mean score for the
general population (M = 100). A two-tailed one-sample t-test was the correct statistical test
because there was only one sample, the population mean was known, and the population
standard deviation was unknown (Jackson, 2016). The one-sample t-test was correctly used. The
test showed that the mean difference between sample and population was -7.56750, while t = -
4.446 and p = .000, confirming that the results were statistically significant with p-value < .05.
The researcher rejects the null hypothesis. Results demonstrated that there is a difference in the
level of emotional understanding among substance abusers compared to the general population.
That is important to the counseling field because it guides practitioners on how to help substance
abuse clients develop certain abilities.
Running Head: RESEARCH AND PROGRAM EVALUATION 1
Research and Program Evaluation
Name
Institution
Research and Program Evaluation 2
Research and Program Evaluation
This study used a two-tail design in which the results of the treatment of a sample of 20
adolescent smokers on standard treatment (M= 13.25, SD= 3.50) were compared to the Standard
Treatment and Mindfulness (M= 8.1, SD = 3.04). A correlated group t-test was used as the
statistical test given that there were two samples whose figures were all known. The approach
was correctly used. Both the means and the standard deviations of either samples - Standard
Treatment (ST) and Standard Treatment and Mindfulness (STM) - were known. The correlated
group t-test was correctly used, in this case, and its significance is evident given that there are
two sides covering the critical area of distribution. The test showed that the mean difference
between sample 1 (ST) and Sample 2 (STM) was -5.15, while t = -6.42 and p = .000, confirming
that the results were statistically significant with p-value < 0.025 on each tail. The researcher
rejects the null hypothesis stating that there will be no difference in scores on the Nicotine
Dependence Syndrome Scale (NDSS) between those who receive the ST therapy and those who
receive the STM therapy. The results indicated that there is a significant difference in the levels
of nicotine dependency (ND) between the two groups. The group on STM therapy recorded
lower ND rates that the group on ST. The result is indicative that the inclusion of the
mindfulness approach in the standard treatment therapy produces better results than the
application of the standard therapy alone.
