Description

Unit 2: Statistics Assignment

Instructions: 

Please do this assignment in Microsoft Word. Unless specified (i.e. for tables), your answers do not need to be in APA format. Make sure it is clear which question you are addressing and that the formatting is neat and organized. In order to do this assignment, you will need to access the ECLSK Abridged Course Dataset. It is located in the “Dataset” module on the left hand side of the Blackboard page for the course. Please open the dataset, create a new syntax file where you can save your work. You will want to save the syntax for the analyses you run so you can make changes and build upon this work in future assignments. For sample APA style tables see the "statistics assignments" tab on the left menu bar in blackboard. You will need to create the tables yourself in Microsoft word and then manually transfer the information from SPSS into the tables you create in word.

Descriptive Statistics

1.    Choose these variables. Take a look in variable view. Which variables are Continuous? Which are categorical?

a.       P1CHLDBK: Number of books in home reported by parents in fall of kindergarten

b.      X2RSCALK4: Children’s reading scores at the end of kindergarten

c.       X_CHSEX_R: Gender

d.      X1LOCALE: Whether school is located in a Rural, Urban or Suburban Area

e.       t2parinr: Parent involvement (make sure you use the version that is lowercase)

f.       X2POVTY: Family Poverty level

g.      X1NUMSIB: Number of Siblings in Home

2.    For categorical variables listed above, create bar charts. Paste the bar charts in the assignment. What percent of the sample fall in to each category for each categorical variable?

3.    For continuous variables listed above, run descriptive statistics to find the mean, standard deviation and range. Create a histogram for each continuous variable. Write in words what the means and standard deviations are for each continuous variable.

4.    Create an APA Style Descriptive statistics table to show the appropriate information for each of the variables. See the mini-lectures or APA handbook for more information on formatting and what should be included.  

5.    Write up a short paragraph describing these descriptive findings in words.

Inferential Statistics

1.    Select two continuous variables that you think would be correlated with one another. What are they?

2.    Run a bivariate correlation. Include the results here. Is there a statistical significant correlation? How do you know? Is it a strong or weak correlation? Is it a negative or positive correlation? Write a sentence to interpret the findings.

3.    Determine temporal order/ precedence of the two variables of interest. Which variable do you think would “predict” the other one? Explain which one will be your independent variable and dependent variable and why.

4.    Write a research question that you would use to address the relationship between these variables.

5.    Write a hypothesis to go with your research question. Is it directional or non-directional?

6.    Create a scatterplot using your independent and dependent variable. Paste it here.

7.    Run a linear regression testing the relationship between the two variables. Paste the output here.

8.    Based on the R2 statistics (coefficient of determination), how much of the dependent variable is explained by the independent variable in this model?

9.    Is the independent variable a statistically significant predictor of the dependent variable?

10. As the independent variable increase by 1, what happens to the dependent variable?

11. Take this information and create an APA formatted regression table.