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Your Research: Exploring Your Variables and Analysis
GOAL: To correctly identify your variables for analysis and which statistical technique
you will later use to test your hypothesis. You will also be required to demonstrate that
you can access and open the SPSS file (you will need to be able to open SPSS for
Written Exam 3)
You may enter your responses to the questions below directly into this document and
submit this completed document under the appropriate link in the course site.
Instructions:
Part I
Choose one hypothesis you developed in your Written Exam 1. This will be the hypothesis you
investigate and write about this semester (and in the questions below). Below, list your single
outcome variable and your predictor variables (you must list at least 2) that will be part of your
research (Step A). For each listed variable, indicate what type of variable it is (i.e. level of
measurement - refer to Chapter 5 in your textbook to learn about levels of measurement) (Step
B).
A. My single outcome variable is (1)__________ and my predictor variables are
(2)___________, (3)________________, and (4)_________________.
B. List all the variables (outcome and predictors) with the corresponding level of measurement
(i.e. gender – nominal). Be sure to distinguish between interval and ratio levels of measurement.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Part II
Review the statistical tests lectures (i.e. ANOVA, correlations, etc.) to investigate different
analysis techniques. The statistical tests will depend on the level of measurement. If you’re
unsure of the level of measurement for your variable, please review the Class Survey Codebook.
Based on the type of variables in your hypothesis, indicate which technique (or techniques) you
will use to investigate how your predictor variables relate to your outcome variable.
- Note: Because you have multiple predictor variables, you may be able to use a single analysis
technique that incorporates all of your predictors at once (ex. they can all fit in a multiple
regression) OR you may need to run one or more separate analyses (with one or more different
analysis techniques). Do your best to investigate your analysis options and explain (to the best of
your ability) how you plan to analyze your data.
(Example, I will use [statistical test] to see if [variable 1] and [variable 2] predict [outcome
variable – variable 3]. I am using this [statistical test] because [variable 1] is a [level of
measurement] variable, [variable 2] is a [level of measurement] variable, and [outcome variable variable 3] is a [level of measurement] variable.
Part III
You will be required to use SPSS for Written Exam 3. These are essentially 3 free points to
encourage you to have SPSS downloaded, updated, and ready to go for you to run analyses in
Week 5. Follow the following steps then provide a screenshot of the opened dataset with a
date and time stamp:
1. Go to Week 5
2. Click on “Instructions and Resources: Written Exam 3 Methods and Results”
3. Follow the instructions under Step 1
4. Open the dataset provided in Step 4
5. Take a screenshot of the opened data file and paste the screenshot below
Class Survey Codebook
•
•
Variable name for a given question in SPSS highlighted in yellow. In other words, when you are in SPSS
looking for your variable, you will look for the variable name that is highlighted in yellow
Coding for each variable listed as # next to variable response options.
o For example, if someone responded they were male, it was entered as a “0” in SPSS.
Survey Question and Responses
1.
How old are you?
a. ____
2.
What is your gender?
a. Male 0
b. Female 1
3.
What is your ethnicity?
a. White, Caucasian, European, not Hispanic 1
b. Hispanic or Latino 2
c. Black or African American 3
d. Asian or Asian American 4
e. American Indian 5
f. Mixed; parents are from two different groups 6
g. Other 7
4.
Are you a full time student (12 hours or more) or a part time
student?
a. Yes 1
b. No 0
5.
What is your class standing (if you don't know, make your best
guess)?
a. Freshman 1
b. Sophomore 2
c. Junior 3
d. Senior 4
e. Other 5
6.
Have you ever jumped out of a perfectly good plane?
a. Yes 1
b. No 0
7.
Where do you live?
a. At home with at least one parent 1
b. In a residence hall 2
c. In a fraternity or sorority house 3
d. In an apartment, condo, or house (not with a parent) 4
8.
What is your relationship status?
a. Single 1
b. In a relationship (but it’s not serious) 2
c. In a serious romantic relationship 3
d. Engaged 4
e. In a committed, lifelong relationship, but not married 5
f. Married 6
Variable Name
in SPSS
age
Level of
Measurement
ratio
female
nominal
ethnicity
nominal
fulltime
nominal
class_standing
ordinal
skydiving
nominal
live
nominal
relationship
nominal
9.
How honest do you consider yourself to be on a scale of 1 (not at
all honest) to 5 (very honest)?
10. In general, how happy do you consider yourself to be, on a scale of
1 (very unhappy) to 5 (very happy)?
11. On a scale of 1 (much less happy) to 5 (much more happy),
compared with most of my peers, I consider myself __.
12. At what age is someone “old”? ____
13. What is your current GPA to two decimal places? ___
14. What type of driver do you consider yourself to be, on a scale of 1
(awful driver) to 5 (great driver)?
15. In the past 30 days, how many days did you have at least one
alcoholic drink? ___
16. How many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day
when you are drinking? Note: One drink is equal to - 12 ounces
(1.5 cups) of beer, 5 ounces (about 3/4 cup) of wine, or 1.5 ounces
or a "shot" of hard liquor. _____
17. Define your family's social status growing up by typing one of the
following options in the text box below?
a. Upper 5
b. Upper middle 4
c. Middle 3
d. Lower middle 2
e. Lower 1
18. How many hours of paid employment do you engage in per week?
____
19. How "scared" are you of aging on a scale of 1 (not scared at all) to
5 (very scared)?
20. How many hours per week are you involved in community service?
___
21. How lonely do you feel on a typical day based on a scale of 1 (not
lonely at all) to 5 (very lonely)?
22. On average, how many hours per week do you participate in
moderate to strenuous exercise? ___
23. On average, how many hours per week do you watch television?
___
24. Approximately how many traffic tickets (for moving violations –
not parking tickets) have you received in the past 5 years? _____
25. Do you want to grow old?
a. Yes 1
b. No 0
26. Do you own a:
honest
ordinal
happy
ordinal
happy_comp
ordinal
Old
ratio
gpa
ratio
drive
ordinal
drink_30days
ratio
drinks_typical
ratio
ses
ordinal
work
ratio
aging
ordinal
service
ratio
lonely
ordinal
exercise
ratio
tv
ratio
ticket
ratio
grow_old
nominal
pets
nominal
a.
b.
c.
d.
Cat 1
Dog 2
Cat and dog 3
None of the above 4
27. On average, how many hours per week do you spend studying for a
single typical class (not especially hard or especially easy)? ____
28. How likely are you to cheat in a typical semester based on a scale of 1
(definitely would NOT cheat) to 5 (I am 99.99% sure I will cheat)?
study
ratio
cheat
ordinal
politics
nominal
Examples of cheating include (but are not limited to): using notes
on an exam or assignment when instructed not to, plagiarism (using
someone else's words without citing them), buying a term paper,
using a cheat sheet when it is not permitted, etc.
29. Politically speaking, I am typically:
a. Republican 1
b. Democrat 2
c. Independent 3
d. Green 4
e. Other 5