Section Two: Data Interpretation and Reporting
Overview of the Task
In the assignment brief, you have links to three sets of output of analyses run in JASP.
Below, there is a description of the analysis. For each one, you should write a brief report in APA format of the statistics completed (descriptive statistics (means/standard deviations), differential or relationship analyses) as well as an interpretation of the findings about the outlined hypotheses.
In other words, for each one, you must answer as a minimum the following questions, but within a paragraph – NOT as a list of answers:
- What do the means, range and standard deviations show?
- Does the output demonstrate a consideration of all assumptions for the analyses completed?
- Which statistical tests have been run, and what are the results?
- What do the analyses reveal in relation to the stated hypotheses?
The reports must be correctly formatted in APA 7 format in relation to the research questions stated in the outlines. You can find examples of APA formatting for statistical output throughout the module worksheets and in the core textbooks.
This section is worth 30% of your overall mark and should not exceed 700 words. Each data output is worth 10% of the overall mark.
Data Output One (10%) A researcher was interested in whether attitudes around binge drinking might be linked to intentions to binge drink in the future. They measured attitudes towards drinking on a multi-item scale of one (not at all in favour) to eight (extremely in favour) of binge drinking and participants reported on a single item scale of one (no intention) to 10 (fully intend to) their intention to binge drink in the future. In the output, you can see that 86 participants completed both scales, and that the researcher then completed a test of the relationship.
Please report the data considering an expectation that higher levels of positive attitude towards binge drinking are related to heightened intentions to engage in binge drinking. The data reported is one-tailed. Please download Data Output One from the assignment brief module page to view the output so you can write up the analysis.
Hypothesis: As attitudes towards binge drinking become more favourable, future intention to binge drink becomes stronger.
Data Output Two (10%)
Another researcher considered the Data Output One and suggested that this did not really tell us much about peoples’ intentions to binge drink in the future. They argued that these were cognitive suppositions recorded as a one off measure (attitude) towards a hypothetical consideration of future drinking (intention). They thus argued that a better determinant of intention to binge drink in the future would be whether people had previously engaged in binge drinking. They therefore split the group of participants into two levels (those who had previously engaged in binge drinking [n=36] and those who hadn’t
[n=50]) and considered whether there would be a significant difference in their intentions to binge drink in the future. The output is reported as a one-tailed analysis.
Two participants’ data for the intention to drink scale are not reported as they did not complete the report of whether they had previously engaged in binge drinking. Please download Data Output Two from the assignment brief module page to view the output so you can write up the analysis.
Hypothesis: People who have previously engaged in binge drinking are more likely to intend to binge drink in the future, than those who have not previously engaged in binge drinking.