research methods in psychology

SPSS Assignment Example : One Possible Outline Greetings Folks, Below is one possible outline for ho w to tackle the different scenario s of the SPSS Assignment. If you follow it great, if n ot, and submit something that we can easily follow when marking, that is fine too. The more detail you provide the better – in most instances. Key aspects: Your research idea and design needs to match the statistical procedure you are using . To that end; 1. It is easiest to create 8 different scenarios and data sets. 2. We need to know your hypothesis – make sure they are easy to find. 3. You need to include the key SPSS outputs for each scenario (no SPSS note s) – and you need to explain the most critical components of those outputs . You need to determine what those outputs and components are. 4. We need to see a conclusion, both in terms of the hypotheses and in terms of your study. In other words, saying you reject or retain Ho is fine, but you will NOT get full marks. State that you reject or retain Ho, and then state what that means in terms of your study. A Possible 5 -Step Outline Example Step 1: An Idea: The Canadian government estimates that the average debt lo ad for a student who recently graduates with an undergraduate degree is $20000. You believe that Covid -19 and its economic impact will significant ly increase this debt load. You randomly select 30, 4 th year students, and ask them about their debt load. Note: the design above, fits best for a One -Sample T -Test. Step 2: Hypotheses and Alpha : Ho: µ = 20000; Ha: µ > 200000 ; Alpha = 0.05 Step 3: The SPSS Output Step 4: Explain the main components of the SPSS output. From the SPSS above, our sample size of 30 ensures approximate normality. Our sample mean was 22616.6667 with a stand ard deviation of 8122.6411. Our one -sample t -value (or t -test statistic) was 1.764 with 29 df. The 2 -tail p -value is 0.088, since our research hypothesis is 1 -tailed, we divide this p – value in half, to obtain our p -value of 0.044. Notes for Step 4: 1. Should you choose to explain the Effect sizes and/or Confidence Intervals to base your conclusion that is perfectly fine too. 2. Should you choose to say, since the t -test statistic (t-value ) is 1.764, and it lies beyond the t -cut score of 1.69 9 we have evidence to support Ha, and reject Ho, that is fine too. 3. If you choose to do some of these by hand, in addition to SPSS, that is fine too, and really good practice . B ut it is not required unless specifically stated in the question. Step 5: Conclusion, and state (re -state) the p -value Since our p -value is less than ou r set alpha level (0.044 < 0.05) we have evidence to support the research hypothesis (Ha), and thus reject the null hypothesis (Ho). Student debt following Covid -19 has increased.