SPSS Assignment

The purpose of this task is to simulate and assess 'real world' data analysis and interpretation skills. You will be provided with a data file and a research scenario relating to the variables contained in the file. The scenario is written from the point of view of a researcher interested in testing particular relationships between several variables. You have been recruited as a research assistant/data analyst and your task is to make sense of the scenario in order to plan the relevant analyses, run the analyses and then provide an interpretation of the results. Specifically, in order to fulfil your responsibilities in this role, you will need to produce the following:

1. An analysis plan in which you need to justify in detail why you are selecting the particular analyses and what research questions they will answer. You may find it helpful to think about the nature of the variables (whether they are continuous or categorical), and whether they are proposed as IVs or DVs in order to help ascertain the most appropriate analysis or analyses. Such information may also help you to justify your analytic choices.
2. The results of the analyses outlined in the analysis plan. You will need to run the relevant analyses and then report the specific statistics you feel are important in answering the research questions.
3. An overall interpretation of the results in the context of the research scenario. For each analysis you are required to provide an interpretation and explanation of the results in terms of the variables in the analysis and an overall integrated interpretation and explanation of the results in the context of the research.

An SPSS file has been provided which includes the data collected for this research. The variables in the file are detailed in the Table below. The file contains basic demographic variables (age, sex) along with a number of relevant personality and individual variables. Negative mood, impulsivity, well-being, conscientiousness, social support and average mark are all continuously scored with higher scores indicating more of the construct being measured (e.g., a higher score on impulsivity means the person is more impulsive). As noted in the Table, 'dropout' is categorical and indicates whether or not the student has withdrawn from their enrolled course.

Research scenario

A researcher is interested in examining a range of psychological variables which might contribute to academic success in a sample of first year university students. Transition to university study can be particularly stressful and research has investigated variables that might be relevant in understanding academic success during this time. Variables of interest included age, sex and alcohol use, along with specific personality traits; impulsivity (a personality trait characterised by spur of the moment behaviour, without regard for negative consequences), and conscientiousness (a personality trait relating to good time management, attention to detail, good organisation). Social support (encouragement, taking an interest in the study area/career etc.) and psychological well-being (general psychological health, life satisfaction) were also measured. Specifically, the researcher is interested in what might be associated with academic success in first year in terms of average first year mark and whether students maintain their enrolment in their course.

A primary variable of interest is academic performance (operationalised in terms of average first year mark) and the extent to which these variables impact on overall average mark warrants further study within a first year cohort. As a first step, using the variables defined above, you have been asked to examine the potential predictors of academic performance within the sample and provide a report detailing the results of this analysis. Furthermore, the researcher would like to examine some specific relationships within the data. Specifically, there is evidence to suggest that levels of positive social support from family and friends is an important factor contributing to better performance. However, it is clear that other factors are also involved in the prediction of academic performance. In particular, there is a possibility that the relationship between social support and academic performance might be influenced by particular personality variables. There is strong evidence to suggest that social support has a stronger effect on academic performance for individuals who are more conscientiousness and the researcher would like to examine this potential association in the sample of first year students.

In addition to this, the researcher is particularly interested in understanding the relationships between alcohol use, negative mood states, impulsivity, and academic performance. There is evidence to suggest that both negative mood and impulsivity are detrimental to overall academic performance and it is possible that alcohol use might be an important explanatory variable in this association. However, the extent to which alcohol use explains associations between negative mood, impulsivity and academic performance is unclear.

The study also collected data on whether the students in the sample remained enrolled in the course throughout the entirety of their degree. Retention in university courses is a key focus of research in the teaching and learning literature and studies have focused on understanding variables that might explain why students choose to drop out of their course. You have been asked to examine this issue to further understand predictors of student drop out as part of the overall investigation into academic success within the sample.

Your Task

In order to complete this assignment you are asked to produce a report of no more than 2000 words which includes the following:

1. An analysis plan in which you need to justify in detail why you are selecting the particular analyses and what research questions they will answer. That is, you need to identify specific research questions within the scenario and then formulate a way to analyse the data in order to best answer those questions. In doing so, you are required to justify and explain your choice of analysis and the particular statistics you will refer to with reference to the particular research question and relevant variables.
2. The results of the analyses outlined in the analysis plan. You will need to run the relevant analyses and then report the on the specific statistics you feel are important in answering the research questions. You can choose any statistics to report and that choice should be based on what you deem to be relevant in answering the research questions outlined in the analysis plan.
3. An overall interpretation of the results in the context of the research scenario. Thus, you are required to provide an interpretation and explanation of the results in terms of the variables in the analysis. In order to provide an integrative interpretation of the results you will need to consider the extent to which the analyses answer the research questions identified and provide an overall integrated interpretation of the results in the context of the research scenario (so what do the results mean?).

Price: $38.98

Solution: The downloadable solution consists of 26 pages, 1298 words and 7 charts.
Deliverable: Word Document