educational statistics and spss

A researcher has administered an anxiety survey to students enrolled in graduate level statistics courses. The survey included three subscales related to statistics anxiety: (a) interpretation anxiety, (b) test anxiety, and (c) fear of asking for help. For the items that comprised the scales, students were asked to respond using a 5 point likert-type scale ranging from (1) No Anxiety to (5) High Anxiety. Therefore, higher scores on the anxiety subscales implied higher levels of anxiety.

In addition to the statistics anxiety subscales, the survey contained a subscale related to the use of statistical software and a subscale related to self-perceived confidence concerning general computer use. Students responded to items on the statistical software subscale using a response range from (1) Strongly Disagree to (7) Strongly Agree. For the computer confidence subscale, students responded to items using a range from (1) Strongly Disagree to (5) Strongly Agree. For each of these subscales, higher scores implied higher levels of confidence.

The researcher determined the score for each subscale by computing the mean response for the items associated with the subscale. This technique resulted in subscales that had the same possible range and the items that made up the subscale.

A subsample of the researcher’s dataset contains the following variables that should be used for completing the four final projects. The variables included in the dataset are:

Final Project 1:

Use SPSS to conduct the necessary analysis of the Age variable and answer each of the following questions.

Questions:

1. What is the value of n?

2. What is the mean age?

3. What is the median age?

4. What was the youngest age?

5. What was the oldest age?

6. What is the range of ages?

7. What is the standard deviation of the ages?

8. What is the value of the skewness statistic?

9. What are the values of the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles?

10. Present the results as they might appear in an article. This must include a table and narrative statement that provides a thorough description of the central tendency and distribution of the ages.

Final Project 2

One of the researcher’s questions involved the difference in scores on the Interpretation Anxiety subscale between male and female respondents. Use SPSS to conduct the analysis that is appropriate for this research question and answer each of the following questions. If a statistical significance test is used, you should use .05 as the critical level of significance.

Questions:

1. Based on the research question, what is the appropriate analysis for determining the difference in Interpretation Anxiety scores between female and male respondents?

2. Write an appropriate null hypothesis for this analysis.

3. What are the mean and standard deviation for the Interpretation Anxiety scores of female respondents?

4. What are the mean and standard deviation for the Interpretation Anxiety scores of male respondents?

5. What is the observed or computed value of the test statistic used to determine the difference in Interpretation Anxiety scores?

6. What is the value of the degrees of freedom that are reported in the output?

7. What is the reported level of significance?

8. Based on the reported level of significance, would you reject the null hypothesis?

9. Based on the results of the analysis, is the difference in Interpretation Anxiety scores statistically significant?

10. Present the results as they might appear in an article. This must include a table and narrative statement that reports and interprets the results of the analysis.