Psychology: Research Methods Assignment on Data Analysis Techniques

This document presents a student's completed research methods assignment, demonstrating data description and analysis techniques. The assignment includes two exercises. The first exercise focuses on identifying independent and dependent variables, interpreting a box plot generated in SPSS to assess data distribution, identifying outliers, and calculating mean and standard deviation. The second exercise involves identifying the independent and dependent variables, analyzing histograms to assess normal distribution, and comparing the mean and standard deviation of two groups of students based on their drug use. The student utilizes SPSS to generate outputs and provides interpretations based on the statistical results, referencing relevant academic literature to support their analysis. This assignment offers insights into data analysis methodologies commonly used in psychological research.

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

1) The IV in this study is if the students took or not hallucinogenic drugs while they were
attending Dr Boering’s lectures.
2) The DV in this study is the marks obtained by students in the exam at the end of the term
since the marks are supposed to be dependent on the decision taken by the students to
consume or avoid consumption of hallucinogenic drug.
3) The histogram for the marks of those students who took hallucinogenic drugs in Dr.
Boering’s lectures has been derived using SPSS as shown below:
The histogram for the marks of those students who did not take hallucinogenic drugs in Dr.
Boering’s lectures has been derived using SPSS as shown below.

a) Based on the histograms of the scores for two sets of students shown above, it is apparent
that they can be assumed to be roughly normally distributed. This is on account of the
middle value in the distribution having the highest frequency and lower frequencies to the
left and right (Ericsson & Kovalainen, 2015).
b) The corresponding outputs indicating the mean and standard deviation of marks of those
students who took hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures has been derived using
SPSS as shown below:

The corresponding outputs indicating the mean and standard deviation of marks of those
students who did not take hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures has been derived
using SPSS as shown below:
On the basis of the above outputs, it can be concluded that highest mean is exhibited by the
group of students who did not take hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures. Variability
is captured by standard deviation which is higher for the group of students who did take
hallucinogenic drugs in Dr. Boering’s lectures (Hastie, Tibshirani & Friedman, 2016).

References
Eriksson, P. & Kovalainen, A. (2015). Quantitative methods in business research (3rd Ed.).
London: Sage Publications.
Hastie, T., Tibshirani, R. & Friedman, J. (2016) The Elements of Statistical Learning (4th
ed.). New York: Springer Publications.