Individual Assignment – Time to Practice Parts 

Complete Parts A, B, and C below.

Individual Assignment – Time to Practice Parts

Individual Assignment – Time to Practice Parts

Some questions in Part A require that you access data from Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics. This data is available on the student website under the Student Text Resources link.

 

1.     Use the following data to answer Questions 1a and 1b.

 

 

a.     Compute the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient by hand and show all your work.

b.    Construct a scatterplot for these 10 values by hand. Based on the scatterplot, would you predict the correlation to be direct or indirect? Why?

 

2.     Rank the following correlation coefficients on strength of their relationship (list the weakest first):

 

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

3.     Use IBM^® SPSS^® software to determine the correlation between hours of studying and grade point average for these honor students. Why is the correlation so low?

 

 

4.     Look at the following table. What type of correlation coefficient would you use to examine the relationship between ethnicity (defined as different categories) and political affiliation? How about club membership (yes or no) and high school GPA? Explain why you selected the answers you did.

 

 

5.     When two variables are correlated (such as strength and running speed), it also means that they are associated with one another. But if they are associated with one another, then why does one not cause the other?

 

6.     Given the following information, use Table B.4 in Appendix B of Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics to determine whether the correlations are significant and how you would interpret the results.

 

a.     The correlation between speed and strength for 20 women is .567. Test these results at the .01 level using a one-tailed test.

b.    The correlation between the number correct on a math test and the time it takes to complete the test is –.45. Test whether this correlation is significant for 80 children at the .05 level of significance. Choose either a one- or a two-tailed test and justify your choice.

c.     The correlation between number of friends and grade point average (GPA) for 50 adolescents is .37. Is this significant at the .05 level for a two-tailed test?

 

7.     Use the data in Ch. 15 Data Set 3 to answer the questions below. Do this one manually or use IBM^® SPSS^® software.

 

a.     Compute the correlation between income and level of education.

b.    Test for the significance of the correlation.

c.     What argument can you make to support the conclusion that lower levels of education cause low income?

 

8.     Use the following data set to answer the questions. Do this one manually.

 

a.     Compute the correlation between age in months and number of words known.

b.    Test for the significance of the correlation at the .05 level of significance.

c.     Recall what you learned in Ch. 5 of Salkind (2011) about correlation coefficients and interpret this correlation.

 

 

9.     How does linear regression differ from analysis of variance?

 

10.  Betsy is interested in predicting how many 75-year-olds will develop Alzheimer’s disease and is using level of education and general physical health graded on a scale from 1 to 10 as predictors. But she is interested in using other predictor variables as well. Answer the following questions.

 

a.     What criteria should she use in the selection of other predictors? Why?

b.    Name two other predictors that you think might be related to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

c.     With the four predictor variables (level of education, general physical health, and the two new ones that you name), draw out what the model of the regression equation would look like.

 

11.  Joe Coach was curious to know if the average number of games won in a year predicts Super Bowl performance (win or lose). The x variable was the average number of games won during the past 10 seasons. The y variable was whether the team ever won the Super Bowl during the past 10 seasons. Refer to the following data set:

 

 

a.     How would you assess the usefulness of the average number of wins as a predictor of whether a team ever won a Super Bowl?

b.    What’s the advantage of being able to use a categorical variable (such as 1 or 0) as a dependent variable?

c.     What other variables might you use to predict the dependent variable, and why would you choose them?

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

From Salkind (2011). Copyright © 2012 SAGE. All Rights Reserved. Adapted with permission.

Individual Assignment – Time to Practice Parts

Part B

 

Some questions in Part B require that you access data from Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh. This data is available on the student website under the Student Text Resources link. The data for this exercise is in the data file named Lesson 33 Exercise File 1.

 

Peter was interested in determining if children who hit a bobo doll more frequently would display more or less aggressive behavior on the playground. He was given permission to observe 10 boys in a nursery school classroom. Each boy was encouraged to hit a bobo doll for 5 minutes. The number of times each boy struck the bobo doll was recorded (bobo). Next, Peter observed the boys on the playground for an hour and recorded the number of times each boy struck a classmate (peer).

 

1.     Conduct a linear regression to predict the number of times a boy would strike a classmate from the number of times the boy hit a bobo doll. From the output, identify the following:

 

a.     Slope associated with the predictor

b.    Additive constant for the regression equation

c.     Mean number of times they struck a classmate

d.    Correlation between the number of times they hit the bobo doll and the number of times they struck a classmate

e.     Standard error of estimate

 

From Green & Salkind (2011). Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved. Adapted with permission.

 

Part C

 Individual Assignment – Time To Practice Parts

Complete the questions below. Be specific and provide examples when relevant.

 

Cite any sources consistent with APA guidelines.

 

Question		Answer
Draw a scatterplot of each of the following:   ·        A strong positive correlation ·        A strong negative correlation ·        A weak positive correlation ·        A weak negative correlation   Give a realistic example of each.
What is the coefficient of determination? What is the coefficient of alienation? Why is it important to know the amount of shared variance when interpreting both the significance and the meaningfulness of a correlation coefficient?
If a researcher wanted to predict how well a student might do in college, what variables do you think he or she might examine? What statistical procedure would he or she use?
What is the meaning of the p value of a correlation coefficient?

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.