Research methods Assignment PDF

RESEARCH METHODS
STUDENT ID:
[Pick the date]

Exercise 1: Data Description
1) The Independent Variable (IV) in the given study is the type of lighting that is used in the
office which is altered by the researcher.
2) The Dependent Variable (DV) in the given study is the number of daily errors made by the
inputters which is a function of the type of lighting used in the office.
3) For the given data, the box plot obtained using SPSS is indicated as follows.
a) The given data is clearly not normally distributed which is apparent from the box plot is
not symmetric. It is evident from the box plot that the difference between Q2-Q1 is not equal
to Q3 –Q2. Also, the maximum value is significantly greater owing to which there is
presence of positive skew as indicated from the box plot (Flick, 2015).
b) From the box plot above, it is evident that there are five outliers in the given data as
indicated by circles and asterisk, so the outliers are from scores 3, 4, 5, 13 and 14.

c) The mean and standard deviation of the given data is indicated as follows:
Descriptive Statistics
N Mean
Error 20 21.40
Valid N
(listwise)
20
Descriptive Statistics
N Std. Deviation
Error 20 6.61
Valid N (listwise) 20
References
Eriksson, P. & Kovalainen, A. (2015). Quantitative methods in business research (3rd Ed.).
London: Sage Publications.
Flick, U. (2015). Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project (4th Ed.). New York: Sage Publications.
Exercise 2: Data Description