PSYC 515
SPSS HOMEWORK 5 INSTRUCTIONS: HOW TO WRITE A METHOD SECTION (40 POINTS)
When submitting this file, be sure the filename includes your full name, course, and section. Example:
HW5_JohnDoe_515B03
Please note that for all problems in this course, the standard cut-off (alpha) for a test of significance will
be .05, and you always report the exact power unless SPSS output states p=.000 (you’d report p<.001).
Also, remember that we divide the p-value in half when reporting one-tailed tests with 1 – 2 groups.
1) What level of subheading is “Participants” in this week’s
presentation?
Answer: Level 2
2) What subsection of the Method section as outlined in this
week’s presentation would describe the experience of the
participants in a detailed and organized manner?
Answer: Procedure
3) List the three headings in an empirical research paper that
use Level 1 formatting.
Answer: Methods, Results, and Discussion
4) What is the first subheading in the “Method” section, as
shown in this week’s presentation.
Answer: Participants
5) What subsection of the Method section as described in
this week’s presentation would provide the operational
definitions of all variables?
Answer: Analysis
6) As stated in your assigned e-book reading, the Abstract,
Title of Paper in the Introduction, and References are
NOT considered headings by the APA. How are they to be
formatted?
Answer:
7) What is the minimum length for a paragraph?
Answer:
8) When describing age, should you write it out or use
numerals?
Answer: use numbers
9) The abbreviation for “Mean” is what?
Answer:
None for this week.
P 1 – CONCEPTS this ’s pres
(2 per / 18 )
P 2 – SPSS APPLICATION this ’s readings and pres
P 3 – CUMULATIVE include theore , hand-calculations, use SPSS
cover thus far.
PSYC 515
Problem Set 1: (14 pts)
Research Scenario: The following scenario is based loosely
on an actual study conducted in 2013 by Ahn, Kim, and
Aggarwal– please note that methods and data have been
modified for educational purposes.
Do you turn off the light when you leave the room? South
Korean researchers wondered how they could increase the
number of people who do by use of posters (Ahn, Kim, &
Aggarwal, 2013). In one, an image of a light bulb was
anthropomorphized by giving it eyes, nose, and a mouth, as
well as adding the words, “I’m burning hot, turn me off when
you leave!”. In a second, there were no human features on the
light bulb and the text simply said, “Our bulbs are burning hot,
turn the lights off when you leave!”.
They compared how people would respond to the two posters
by having each displayed in separate coffee rooms for two
weeks. Although the coffee rooms were different, they were
matched as closely as possible on as many parameters as
possible (similar business, # of employees, et cet) such that
this is a correlated groups design. Percent likelihood of
someone turning off the light upon exiting was calculated
every day and is presented below. Select and conduct the
most appropriate statistical test based on the premise that
all assumptions are met for a parametric test and this is a
correlated groups design. Determine whether there is a
difference in likelihood of turning off the light based on the
poster campaign.
Anthropomorphis
m
Nonanthropomorphis
m
87.2
76.3
78.1
86.2
77.5
76.5
91.9
87.0
86.6
77.6
87.4
86.8
76.5
76.2
65.7
65.2
88.3
55.4
57.5
51.7
68.6
61.8
67.9
53.7
73.5
62.9
77.7
57.6
PSYC 515
10) Paste appropriate SPSS output. (4 pts)
11) Paste the appropriate SPSS graph. Make sure you have a y axis label and labels for your two groups. (3 pts)
PSYC 515
12) Write an APA-style Results section based on your analysis. All homework “Results sections” should follow
the examples provided in the presentations and textbooks. They should include the statistical statement
within a complete sentence that mentions the type of test conducted, whether the test was significant, and if
relevant, effect size and/or post hoc analyses. Don’t forget to include a decision about the null hypothesis. (4
pts)
A correlated groups t-test examined whether there is a difference in the likelihood of turning off the light
based on the poster campaign. The results were significant t (13) = 2.91, p = 0.012, two tailed, r2 = .12,
0.006, one tailed, r2= .06. The 95% confidence interval ranged from 13.6 to 2.01. There is a significant
difference in the likelihood of turning off the light based on the poster campaign therefore the null
hypothesis is rejected.
13) If the assumptions had been violated, what would the most appropriate statistical test be? (3 pts)
Wilcoxon signed-rank test
PSYC 515
Problem Set 2: (8 pts)
Research Scenario: Does distraction and/or amount of details affect the ability of people to make good
decisions? In this fictitious scenario, researchers used a mixed design. Thirty participants were split into two
groups – No Distraction or Distraction (n=15 per group). All participants were given TWO scenarios based
on amount of details (4 or 12), and were asked to make an objective decision at the end of each scenario.
Objective decision was the dependent variable and was quantified numerically using an interval scale of
measurement.
Assume the data is parametric. Select and conduct the most appropriate statistical test to determine
whether distraction and/or amount of details affect people’s ability to make good decisions. Hints:
remember for a between subjects factor, there will be one column with arbitrary numbers to designate
groups (e.g., 0 = no distraction; 1 = distraction and make sure you use the value labels in the Variable
View!). For a within subjects factor, there will be a column per level (name these Detail4 and Detail12).
Thus, you will have 3 columns of 30 rows of data in your SPSS data view. The order in which you input the
data must match the table below, as it has a within-subjects component.
N D D
4 details
12 details
4 details
12 details
5.5
0.8
2.5
4.7
5.2
1.2
2.1
5.8
5.3
1.5
2.3
5.3
4.7
1.2
2.4
4.9
4.9
1.3
2.7
4.8
4.8
1.1
2.9
5.7
5.1
0.5
3
5.5
5.2
0.3
2
5.1
5.4
1
2.1
5.3
5.7
0.7
2.4
5.1
5.3
1.4
1.7
5.6
5.1
1.1
2.5
5
5.9
0.9
2.7
4.3
6
1.3
2.3
4.8
5.7
1.2
2.1
4.9
14) Paste appropriate SPSS output. (4 pts)
PSYC 515
15) Write an APA-style Results section based on your analysis. All homework “Results sections” should follow
the examples provided in the presentations and textbooks. They should include the statistical statement
within a complete sentence that mentions the type of test conducted, whether the test was significant, and if
relevant, effect size and/or post hoc analyses (REMINDER: you don’t need to conduct post hocs if df = 1).
Don’t forget to include a decision about each null hypothesis. (4 pts)
A 2 x 2 mixed design ANOVA was conducted to assess the effects of the between subjects factors Details (4
and 14) and distraction (no disctraction and distraction) on objective decision making. The main effect of
Distractions was significant [F(3,42) = 26.972, p<.001] with a partial eta-squared effect size of .658. The
main effect of Details was significant [F(1,14)=45.350, p< .001] with a partial eta-squared effect size of .
764. The interaction of Distractions and Details was signigicant [F(1, 14) = 1592.874, p<.001 ] with a partial
eta-squared effect size of .991. We reject the null hypothesis.
DONE! S a 11:59 . . (ET) S M /Wee 5.
