Reference no: EM133153389 , Length: word count:2500

Assessment: Research Report

For this assessment, everyone will participate in a research project which you will write up as a research report formatted to APA 7th edition guidelines. Your research report will need to contain the following sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, References, and Appendices (your SPSS outputs).

To support writing up your Research Report, the assignment has been split into 2 sections:

Aims
By completing this assessment, you will be able to:
1: Recognise which of a range of basic statistical tests are appropriate in the analysis of data from selected studies.

2: Compute a range of basic statistical tests using SPSS and show competence in the interpretation of results.

3: Analyse selected psychological research reports.

4: Undertake a research exercise leading to a psychological research report.

Research Topic and Question

The broad research topic will be exploring the way that different types of students differ in how they feel about statistics. Within this topic, you will need to choose a variable with two specific groups to compare (IV) and one specific outcome to compare them on (DV).

The options for an outcome (DV) are:
1. Statistical anxiety (see Tremblay et al. 2000)
OR
2. Attitude toward studying statistics (also Tremblay et al. 2000)

The options for an IV with two groups are:
1. Age (traditional students under 24 years of age vs non-traditional students who are 25 years of age and older)
OR
2. Previous maths experience (low vs high)

Once you've chosen your variables you will have your research question (a description of the broad topic of study). Insert your chosen variables into the following to form your RQ: "Are there differences among (insert your IV) students in terms of their (insert your DV)?"

Then, depending on your choice of variables, your hypothesis will be:

Do traditional and non-traditional students differ in statistics anxiety, and if so, how do they differ?
OR

Do students who have low and high previous math experience differ in statistics anxiety, and if so, how do they differ?

OR
Do traditional and non-traditional students differ in attitude to statistics, and if so, how do they differ?
OR
Do students who have low and high previous math experience differ in attitude to statistics and if so, how do they differ?

In the video "Assessment 2.1 elaborating on the instructions" below I discuss about how you would turn your hypothesis into a testable hypothesis (i.e. word it as a specific prediction based on the conclusion of your literature review).

• Instructions for Assessment 2.1
Step 1: Download the Initial instructions for the 2.2 Research Report which covers what is required for the full report.
Step 2: Watch the below recording where I go through these initial instructions providing more in-depth information of how to proceed with this assessment.
General instructions for RR IRM_revised

General initial instructions for the BEHL2019 Research Report

Step 3: Download the Rubric IRM Assessment 2.1 which details the criteria for each section of your 2.1 Draft Introduction.
Step 4: Download and complete the Draft Introduction Template. You will be writing your assessment in this template.
Draft Introductions submitted will only be accepted by the markers if the template is used. Any Draft Introduction submitted without this template will be sent back. The date that you re-submit your Draft Introduction in the template will be the new submission date.
Step 5: Submit your completed Draft Introduction through the submission link by 12pm Monday Week 5.

Assessment 2.1 - Feedback
Your Draft Introduction will be marked and returned to you one week after submission. You will receive your results on the rubric as well as your Draft Introduction with specific comments from your marker. Areas that you did well on will be noted, as well as areas that need improvement. You are expected to act on this feedback in your Assessment 2.2 Research Report.
Step 6: Revise your Introduction based on your marker's recommendations, this will be your introduction for Assessment 2.2
In the below video I (Laura) go through the info about your Assessment 2.1 Draft Introduction in slightly more detail:

Assessment 2.1 elaborating on the instructions
*since recording this I've changed my wording in the instructions to better reflect the difference between a Research Question, a Hypothesis and a prediction (aka a testable hypothesis). You can read more about "research questions, hypotheses and predictions" in the Cozby text below (page 20 -21):

• Draft Introduction Resources

• Interpreting your task and searching the literature
• Academic Integrity Resources
o PSW Academic Integrity page
o Interpreting your Turnitin report
o UniSA Academic Integrity Module
o APA Style Referencing
o Paraphrasing
• Instructions for Assessment 2.2
Step 1: Download the Rubric IRM Assessment 2.2 which details the criteria for each section of your Research Report.
Step 2: Download and save the Research Report template. You MUST write your Research Report in this template.
Research Reports submitted will only be accepted by the markers if the template is used. Any submissions not using this template will be sent back. The date that you re-submit your Complete Research Report in the template will be the new submission date.
Step 3: Watch the Research Report Template video.
Research Report Template elaboration

• Introduction
The introduction of your Assessment 2.2 Research Report is your revised 2.1 Assessment (revised as per your marker's recommendations).

Method
Participants. In this section of the Method you will need to include an APA formatted table which can be downloaded here, select the table that is appropriate to your question. If your IV is age group (traditional vs non-traditional) use the first table, if your IV is math group use the second table template. Here's a video to help you select the correct table and which numbers you need to fill it out (note, this is a complement to the Data Analysis instructions which you can find below this video):

To perform the tests to generate this data, follow the "Data Analysis Instructions for the Report" . Follow these steps in the document using the SPSS Data File for Research Report.
Data Analysis for Report in SPSS

For those that would like to know how the data file was created and what each variable is please see this "Variables in the SPSS File" document. I also go through this document with the data file you will be using for your report in the video below:
How the SPSS data file was created_Wednesday, 27 April 2022 at 5:51:38 PM

Materials. In the Materials section of the Method you need to describe the scale that is being used - we are using the 10-item Statistical Anxiety Scale (Tremblay et al. 2000) and the 10-item Attitude Toward Learning Statistics Scale (Tremblay et al. 2000). Note that a high score on the Statistical Anxiety Scale indicates greater statistics anxiety, whereas a high score on the Attitude Toward Learning Statistics Scale indicates a more positive attitude. You can find further details about these scales in the survey questions PDF as well as the Variables in the SPSS File.pdf above. You will also need to report the Cronbach's alpha value for internal consistency for scores on your scale, I'll calculate these for you when the data has been collected and paste them below:
the Statistical Anxiety Scale: α = .89
the Attitude Toward Learning Statistics Scale: α = .82

In Word you can click 'Insert Symbol' then select Greek Small Letter Alpha.

Attachment:- Research Report.rar