Part 1 (10 points)
This exercise requires
students to identify research strategies. On separate paper, address the
following elements for each scenario: (a) purpose (include the hypothesis when
possible), (b) research strategy, (c) operational definitions employed (if
applicable), and (d) types of conclusions that can be made based on the chosen research
strategy.
1. The research scientists Dean, Willis,
and Hewitt (1975) were interested in the interpersonal distance between people
of unequal status. They assumed that people of lower status stand farther away
from people of higher status than they do from people of equal status. A
student, for example, may stand a bit farther away from his/her professor than
from his or her classmate. The student may stand even farther away from the dean
or president of the university. To test this, Dean et al. unobtrusively measured
how far away enlisted men would stand when they approached navel officers. At
the moment the first words were spoken during an interaction, observers recorded
the number of floor tiles between their nearest feet to the closet half-tile.
The results of this study showed that the distance between people of different
rank increased as the difference in rank increased. These results tell us
something about the dynamics of personal space and perceived status.
3. Are there gender differences in mathematical ability? A study by Benbow and Stanley (1980) used the subject variable of gender in trying to differentiate mathematical ability between boys and girls. The researchers gathered test scores for 8, 827 seventh- and eighth-graders who were matched on mathematics courses (i.e., they had equal amounts of math courses). Then they were given the Scholastic Aptitude Test. On the mathematics portion of the test, the boys’ average score was significantly higher than the girls’ average score. Also, more than 50 percent of the boys scored above 600 (out of a possible 800), while not one of the girls scored above 600.
4. Lorge (1930) investigated whether performance on a task is better when a person practices it continuously without interruption (massed practice) or when that person distributes the practice sessions with rest intervals between them (distributed practice). For his task, Lorge chose a problem in which the subject traces a star pattern, but can only see the pattern (and his or her hand) in a mirror. Lorge had three groups of subjects and had each group trace the pattern 20 times. For one group, the 20 trials were completed consecutively with no rest between trials. For the second group, each trial was followed by a 1-minute rest period. The third group did one trial a day for 20 days; thus there was a 24-hour interval between trials. The measure of performance was the length of time it took the subjects to trace the pattern—the shorter the time, the better the performance. Lorge’s results indicated that, except for the first trial, the average performance of the 24-hour-interval group was better than that of the 1-minute-interval group, and the performance of the 1-minute-interval group was better than that of the continuous-practice group. On this type of task, spaced practice leads to better performance than does massed practice.
5. Tourism officials in Minnesota are interested in describing the characteristics and vacationing behaviors of tourists. Officials send surveys to the home addresses of all people signing into visitor centers located in 20 different cities throughout Minnesota. The results of the survey indicate the following: Seventy-six percent of visitors traveled 300 miles or more before they arrived at the visitor center. Forty-two percent of females and eighty-nine percent of males list “lake recreation” as the number one reason for their visit. One-in-four respondents report their vacation will last at least five days.
Part II
(10
points)
Students
will use SPSS during lab time to complete this portion of the assignment.
Data
Set 1
Scores on the AIDS Knowledge Test
30 10 15 17 41 37 23 29 18 6
16 17 21 21 23 29 29 21 22 31
32 27 27 24 18 18 25 26 18 25
26 19 20 19
1. Using the above data, create a data file in SPSS. Save the file.
2. Create a frequency distribution table ( a listing of the scores, with percentage and cumulative percentage also listed for each score). Print the frequency distribution table.
3. Create a histogram or bar graph for the above data. You must first determine which is appropriate for this data set. Print your display.
4. On the printout, hand write a brief description the data.
Data Set 2
The U.S. department of labor conducted a study of various types of workers in the United States. Listed below are the answers given by the first 50 respondents to the question, "Which category best describes your current position?"
Answers: 5 2 3 4 1 1 4 4 5 5 3 1 1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 4 2 5 3 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 5 2 1 2 1 3 1 2 3 3
Worker Categories (code/value)
Professional (1)
Technical (2)
Managers/ Administrators (3)
Sales workers (4)
Clerical workers (5)
5. Create a data file in SPSS. Save the file and print it.
6. Construct a frequency distribution table and visual display for these data. Be sure to choose the type of chart that is most appropriate for this data set. Print the chart.
7. On the printout, hand write a brief description of the data.