PSYC 510
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H HELPFUL INTS FOR UCCESS IN S PSYC 510
Index of Topics:
How to Actively Practice Concepts
Overview and Strategy for Quizzes
Writing Results in APA Hints and Examples (with statistical notations)–
Statistical Decision Flow Chart (helps you select the most appropriate test AND graph)
How to Actively Practice Concepts
Before completing any assignment, read the module s assigned readings and watch the presentations. ’
Complete the Critical Thinking Checks embedded within the “Research Methods and Statistics” text. For
extra practice, each chapter of the “Research Methods and Statistics” text has a review section that
contains Chapter Exercises and a Chapter Review. The answers are provided to the odd numbered
“Chapter Exercises” and for every question in the “Chapter Review”! The Chapter Exercises gives you a
great opportunity to practice hand calculations and SPSS similar to our homework assignments. The
Chapter Review is more conceptual, and is similar to our quizzes. There is a video titled “How to find and
use the e-book resources for PSYC 510” located in Module 1 showing you how to access them if you
have problems locating these resources!
The e-book “A Simple Guide to IBM SPSS Statistics” (Parts I and II) is for helping with SPSS. You should
work through their Sample Problems using SPSS yourself for additional practice (your output should
match that in the e-book).
Overview and Strategy for Quizzes
Quizzes focus on concepts and theory whereas homework requires use of SPSS. There is NO use of SPSS
for your exams, although there are some hand-calculations. You have 90 minutes to complete 40
multiple choice questions. Make sure you’ve given yourself ample time in your schedule so that you are
not rushed. You can have as many browsers open as you want, so feel free to open all presentations, e-
book chapters, et cet that were particularly helpful before beginning the exam. Read all answer options.
Some times “all of these options” or “none of these options” is the correct answer. If you select the first
“right” answer you see, you may miss these! For questions that are particularly difficult, answer to the
best of your ability and record that question number. Revisit if you have time at the end of your quiz.
PSYC 510
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Writing Results in APA Hints and Examples (with statistical notations) –
Helpful Hints Regardless of Test:
• If the “sig” column in SPSS is a number equal to or higher than .05 that means you fail to reject the
null hypothesis and conclude it was NOT significant.
• If the “sig” column in SPSS is less than .05 (e.g., .048, .03, .001) that means you REJECT the null
hypothesis and conclude there is a significant effect. If df = 1 then just look at the means to interpret
HOW it is significant (if correlation, look to see if it is positive or negative to interpret). If df > 1 then
you need to conduct the appropriate post hoc analysis to interpret it more fully.
• **Always report EXACT p value from SPSS output unless SPSS states .000, then you write p<.001**
Pearson’s r correlation – how to run this test in SPSS is shown in Week 5’s “Correlations and Regressions
in SPSS” presentation
A Pearson’s r correlation revealed a significant relationship between the self-concept of intimate
relationships and friends, (78) = 0.552, <.001 (two tailed). The null hypothesis is rejected; 30.47% of r p
the variation in intimate relationships is accounted for by friends.
Simple linear regression analysis – how to run this test in SPSS is shown in Week 5’s “Correlations and
Regressions in SPSS” presentation
A linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the prediction for the self concept of friends
given the self concept of intimate relationships and was found to be significant F (1,78) = 34.231, p
<.001. The regression equation for predicting the self concept of friends is .617X + 22.821. The 𝑌′=
correlation between self concepts of friends and intimate relationships is 0.552. Approximately 30.47%
of the variance in the self concept of friends was accounted for by its linear relationship with the self
concept of intimate relationships.
Independent samples t-test –how to run this test in SPSS is shown in Week 7’s “Independent samples t-
test” presentation
• r2 = 𝒕𝟐
𝒕𝟐+𝒅𝒇 where r2 = .01 small, = .09 medium, = .25 large r2 r2
An independent samples -test found a statistically significant difference in the amount of money t
donated based on how child hunger is described (18) = -2.383, p = .028, = 0.24, 95% CI [-21.450, -t r2
1.350] (two-tailed), rejecting the null hypothesis. The group given facts about child hunger donated
significantly less money (M = 19.10; S = 7.06) than the group described an identifiable victim (M = 30.50;
S = 13.38).
