Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence. This course exercises many skills related to understanding statistical procedur

Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.

This course exercises many skills related to understanding statistical procedures and analysis. For this assessment, you have the opportunity to incorporate many of the skills discussed in this course into a research report. You will use the GSS Explorer website, form a hypothesis, and then conduct a statistical analysis on the data in order to determine whether the hypothesis is accurate or not. In addition, you will record the results and make conclusions based on the hypothesis you originally designed. Having the ability to connect all the concepts to apply research and real variables ensures you understand the various methods of statistical analysis.

Preparation

You will use data from the GSS Data Explorer website, which contains archival data. Archival data is pre-existing data that has been collected by another individual or organization and is available to be analyzed, enabling you to draw new conclusions about the data. The website requires you sign up for an account. If you need help with sign-up, watch GSS Data Explorer Instructions, which walks you through the process of creating an account with the website (free of charge), finding your variables for the research report, and extracting the data to an Excel spreadsheet.

Decide Your Variables

Begin by selecting two variables of your choice from the following list of variables—it’s recommended that you choose one from List A and one from list B. Note that "r" represents the participant.

List A

• Labor force status (wrkstat).
• Marital status (marital).
• R's highest degree (degree).
• Have gun in home (owngun).
• How often does r read newspaper (news).
• Www hours per week (wwwhr).

List B

• People helpful or looking out for selves (helpful).
• People fair or try to take advantage (fair).
• Can people be trusted (trust).
• Days of poor mental health past 30 days (mntlhlth).
• Told have depression (depress).
• Happy or unhappy with life today (hapunhap).
• R’s rating of life overall now from 0–10 (lifenow).
• R’s quality of life (quallife).
• R’s mental health, mood, and ability to think (hlthmntl).
• In the past 7 days, how often r has been bothered by emotional problems (emoprobs).
• How often r was unhappy or depressed in past 4 weeks (unhappy).

If you want to report demographic information on your participants (optional):

• Respondent's sex (sex).
• Respondent's race (race).

Extract Your Data

When you decide on your variables, extract your data from the GSS Data Explorer website. If you need help, watch GSS Data Explorer Instructions. Be sure to name your project for this course.

After you've extracted your data, design a research topic involving the two selected variables. For example, if you select “condition of health” and “How often r attends religious services,” you may want to research how religion impacts an individual’s health and wellness.

Resources

Be sure to visit the Resources for this assessment to help you with the steps of your research report, such as the literature review, determining which statistical test to use, and writing your results in APA style.

Instructions

The Research Report Template [DOCX] will help you include the following in your paper.

• Introduction.
  • Literature Review.
    • Search for relevant, scholarly articles that support your hypothesis and argument.
      • Consult the Resources for this assessment for guidance on searching for sources.
      • You should have a total of six sources.
    • For each source, write 1–2 paragraphs that includes a main idea, evidence from the source, and an analysis.
  • Hypothesis.
    • Include both null and alternate hypotheses.
• Methods.
  • Participants.
    • Describe the number of participants in the study.
      • For this archival data project, the number of participants refers to the number of participants who responded to both of your selected variables.
  • Measures.
    • Discuss the measurement you chose from your work throughout the course.
  • Data Analysis.
    • Explain the form of analysis that you used to manipulate your data. Consider the following questions in your explanation.
      • From the point that you had the raw data, what test did you run?
      • Why did you select that test?
      • Why did you choose to manipulate the data?
      • How did you manipulate the data?
      • What results did you desire?
  • Results.
    • Report the results of your statistical analysis.
    • Reflect on whether your null hypothesis or alternate hypothesis is correct.
    • Make a conclusion in regard to the relationship between the variables.
  • Discussion.
    • Discuss your results in relation to the following:
      • How do your results compare to other research studies?
      • How can your results be generalized?
      • What were the limitations of the study?
      • Is your research valid and reliable? Or, how would you evaluate the validity and reliability of your study?

Submission Requirements

Submit the completed 6–8 page template as your deliverable for assessment. Be sure that you have cited all sources in APA style.

Note: Faculty may use the Writing Feedback Tool when grading this assessment. The Writing Feedback Tool is designed to provide you with guidance and resources to develop your writing based on five core skills. You will find writing feedback in the Scoring Guide for the assessment, once your work has been evaluated.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

• Competency 1: Apply appropriate notation, terminology, procedures, and concepts to statistics problems.
  • Explain the rationale for a selected measurement for a research study.
  • Describe conditions of the research findings that can be appropriately generalized.
• Competency 3: Evaluate confidence and significance of statistical data.
  • Describe participants in relation to selected variables in a research study.
  • Explain the data analysis process for a research study.
  • Explain the reliability and validity of conclusions.
• Competency 4: Apply quantitative analysis to individual, organizational, and social issues.
  • Report the results of a statistical analysis.
  • Discuss the conclusions of a research study.
• Competency 5: Communicate quantitative analysis effectively in a manner consistent with expectations for psychology professionals.
  • Support hypothesis and arguments with relevant scholarly literature.
  • Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly writing standards.
  • Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references.