SPSS Statistics Research Report

General Information
For this assignment, the class will participate in a simple research project which you will
write up as a research report with the following sections: Abstract, Introduction,
Method, Results, Discussion and References.
In order to successfully complete this assignment, you will need to
 conduct a literature review of 10 to 15 peer-reviewed journal articles in the area;
 integrate and critically evaluate the evidence in the articles, leading logically to
the research hypotheses
 obtain descriptive statistics and conduct inferential tests using SPSS
 correctly report the results of the analyses and critically interpret the results,
leading to your own claims about your results
 point out the significance of your research for psychological theory, practice,
and/or policy
 cite references in text and compile a References list according to APA guidelines
I encourage you to work in small groups at the following stages: finding references and
developing skills at critiquing the evidence in the early weeks, conducting the statistical
analyses and discussing the results of your analyses in the weeks before the report is
due. However, each student must write their own reports and I would expect everyone’s
report to be substantially different, except for the Method and Results sections which
will necessarily be similar.
There is an expectation that you will conform to APA (American Psychological
Association) referencing style. Please see links to guides and resources on the
Learnonline page.
The e-reader on the Learnonline page also contains three annotated research report
examples. Please pay particular attention to the content of each section of the report.
You will be marked on how well you have addressed the following criteria: Title,
Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, References, neatness and
correction of presentation, and writing style (structure, flow and logical presentation of
the arguments).

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Your research report should be submitted on the Research Report Template, which
includes a Cover Sheet and marking proforma/feedback sheet, and is available on the
course Learnonline page.
As learning to write an APA style research report is a difficult task, you will complete
submit a draft of your Introduction, receive a grade and feedback on the draft, complete
the SPSS analyses to write the Method and Results sections in class, and then interpret
the results, write and submit the complete report.
Requests for extensions must be submitted at least three days prior to the assignment
due date. All applications for extension must be made via the Extension request link on
the course Learnonline page and include supporting documentation (eg medical
certificate, letter from counsellor). Students will be notified (via Learnonline) whether or
not the extension has been granted (and the new submission date where appropriate).
An assignment handed in after the due date for which an extension has not been
granted will lose 5% per working day. Assignments will not normally be accepted once
marked assignments have been returned to the class (and if accepted will receive a
maximum mark of 50%).
Note that if your submitted assignment file is corrupted you will be required to resubmit
your assignment. The date on which a readable file is submitted to Learnonline will be
deemed to be the date of submission. If this is after the due date a late penalty of 5%
per working day will be applied to the assignment. It is your responsibility to ensure that
the assignment file you submit is not corrupted.
Topic specific information
We’re going to be looking at how undergraduate Psychology students feel about
studying statistics – a topic I know will be close to your hearts! Specifically we’re
interested in how different groups of students (either traditional [under 22] and non-traditional [22 and over] OR male and female OR low [less than year 12 maths] and high
[year 12 and over] previous maths experience) students might differ in how they feel
about statistics. To this end I asked you to complete the Tellus Survey in your Week 1
practical. The questionnaire contains the following:
 Text comment about course expectations
 Statistics Anxiety Scale
 Attitude To Learning Statistics Scale
 Demographic information
o Age
 In years
o Sex
 Male
 Female
o Highest level of Maths studied prior to this course
 Less than Year 12 Secondary School
 Year 12 Secondary School
 Higher Education (eg University)
 Print out a copy of the Tellus Survey
o Look at the questions and see if you can work out which make up the two scales
(I’ll tell you which is which later so don’t worry if you’re unsure about some of
them) and whether they are positively or negatively worded
 Statistical Anxiety (5 positively worded and 5 negatively worded items on
7 point Likert scales) which we will sum so that a high score reflects
greater statistics anxiety. Refer to Tremblay, Gardner, and Heipel (2000)
for information on this scale

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 Attitude Toward Learning Statistics (5 positively worded and 5 negatively
worded items on 7 point Likert scales) which we will sum so that a high
score reflects a more positive attitude toward learning statistics. Refer to
Tremblay, Gardner & Heipel (2000) for information this scale.
 Read: Tremblay, Gardner & Heipel (2000)
o Look at the scales they have used to measure statistics anxiety and attitude
towards studying statistics – we have used two of the same scales
 The overall aim of our study is to explore whether different groups of students (either
traditional vs non-traditional OR male vs female students OR low vs high previous
maths experience) differ in how they feel about studying statistics. Conduct your
literature search to answer this question (you will need to find 10 to 15 peer reviewed
articles). Some may be quite general (about study anxiety and attitudes to studying,
some will be specific to studying statistics (statistics anxiety, attitude to statistics),
some will be about the differences between traditional and non-traditional students
OR male and female students OR students with low and high previous maths
experience, and some will be even more specific (relating to differences in statistics
anxiety and attitude to statistics between traditional and non-traditional students OR
male and female students OR students with low and high previous maths experience).
o Read each article critically and type or write your own notes in a separate
document – DO NOT copy & paste from the articles!
o Keep a record of all references and sources
 Approach your literature search with an open mind asking the questions
o Do traditional and non-traditional students differ in statistics anxiety, and if
so how do they differ?
o Do traditional and non-traditional students differ in attitude to statistics,
and if so how do they differ?
OR
o Do male and female students differ in statistics anxiety, and if so how do
they differ?
o Do male and female students differ in attitude to statistics, and if so how do
they differ?
OR
o Do students with low and high previous maths experience differ in statistics
anxiety, and if so how do they differ?
o Do students with low and high previous maths experience differ in attitude
to statistics, and if so how do they differ?
 Once you have found the answers to your questions, these will become your
hypotheses or research questions. For example:
o If you have chosen to look at differences between traditional and non-traditional students and have found that most of the studies you read
suggest that non-traditional students experienced greater statistics anxiety
than traditional students, then your theoretical hypothesis is “nontraditional
students experience higher levels of statistical anxiety than traditional
students” and your research hypothesis is “nontraditional students (aged 22
and over) will score higher on the Statistical Anxiety Scale than traditional
students (aged under 22)”.
OR
o If you have chosen to look at differences between male and female students
and have found that most of the studies you read suggest that female
students have a more positive attitude to studying statistics than male
students, then your theoretical hypothesis is “female students have a more
positive attitude to studying statistics than male students” and your
research hypothesis is “female students will score higher on the Attitude to
Learning Statistics Scale than male students”.

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OR
o If you have chosen to look at differences between students with low and
high previous maths experience and have found that most of the studies you
read suggest that students with high previous maths experience have a
more positive attitude to studying statistics than students with low previous
maths experience, then your theoretical hypothesis is “students with high
previous maths experience have a more positive attitude to studying
statistics than students with low previous maths experience” and your
research hypothesis is “students with high previous maths (year 12 or
above) experience will score higher on the Attitude to Learning Statistics
Scale than students with low previous maths experience (less than year 12)”.
o You should each have two hypotheses about differences between your chosen
groups (either traditional vs non-traditional or males vs females or high vs low
previous maths experience) in Statistical Anxiety and Attitude Toward Learning
Statistics.
o Make sure that you can justify both of your hypotheses on the basis of the
research you have reviewed.
o If your review of the literature doesn’t give you a clear answer then your
conclusion (theoretical hypothesis) will be that the evidence in inconclusive.
 You should state this as a research question or objective “to
determine whether males and females [or traditional and non-traditional or students with low and high previous maths experience]
differ in statistics anxiety” or “to determine whether males and
females [or traditional and non-traditional or students with low and
high previous maths experience] differ in their score on the Statistics
Anxiety Scale [or Attitude to Learning Statistics Scale”
 Once you have completed your reading and have developed your hypotheses (or
research questions) you can start writing the Introduction in the Introduction
Template.

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o Have your hypotheses (or research questions) in front of you whilst you do this
as your Introduction should be leading to your hypotheses. Your introduction
should not have subheadings but should have the following general sections:
o The first paragraph should introduce the topic and convince the reader that i t is
something worth exploring.
o In the body of the Introduction you need to summarise and critically evaluate
the literature and draw evidence based conclusions about differences between
traditional and non-traditional OR male and female students in how they feel
about studying statistics (ie their statistics anxiety and their attitude to studying
statistics) – these are your theoretical hypotheses.
o In the final paragraph you introduce the current (our) study. Clearly state the
aim of your study. Very briefly (ie one sentence) state what was done in the
current study and then formally state your two hypotheses.
o Write in the third person (do not say ‘I’ or ‘we’). Do not use contractions (eg
isn’t, wouldn’t).
o Use clear, concise, formal expression.
o If you do not know the meaning of a word then do not use it.
 The Introduction is quite difficult to write, and if you have made errors in the
development of your hypotheses this can lead to problems with the rest of the
report. Consequently you will be submitting a draft of your Introduction and
References (worth 10% of your final grade) which will be marked and returned to
you before you write and submit the complete research report (worth 30% of your
final grade).
 We will use the data we collected in the first practical to test your hypotheses.
You will be given additional information about the other sections of the research
report in subsequent lectures and practicals