Psychology 2113 – Introduction to Research and Statistical ...



Psychology 2113 – Introduction to Research and Statistical Methods in Psychology

Guidelines for SPSS & R Statistics Assignment #1

Due Monday, February 1st 9:30am

For this assignment, you will conduct analyses in both SPSS and R software. You will print out your findings as demonstrated in the sample report (but with different data). You will also type up your findings in paragraph form.

General Guidelines:

- At the top of each assignment put your name, student number and assignment number.

- Staple together multiple pages.

- Use 12 point font and 1 inch margins.

- This is an individual assignment and the work needs to be your own.

- Assignments may be submitted in class, to the dropbox outside Dr. Hughes’ office.

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Specific Details:

For this assignment, you will be analyzing the variable “Grade Expected” from the class survey data. You will be required to enter your data into the software program, check it for errors, construct a histogram, and calculate the mean and standard deviation.

This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade in the course.

Part One: SPSS Software

You can access SPSS from computer labs on campus. Or you may download a trial version of the software for your personal computer. These instructions will be most helpful for students using Windows on their computer.

1. When SPSS first opens, click that you want to start a new data set. Then click OK. Two windows will be open, one called “Output” and one called “Untitled”. Click on the “Untitled” window to see your empty dataset. In the lower left corner of the Untitled window, you will see “Data View” and “Variable View”. Click on Variable View so that it is yellow.

2. With Variable View selected, “Name” should be the first column, and “1” should be the first row. Click the cell of your table in the column Name and the row 1. Enter “Grade” as the variable name. Click enter when you are done typing the name. Now you have created a variable called “Grade”

3. Characteristics of your variable will automatically appear, such a decimal places, variable type, and value labels for missing data. Under the column “Label” type “Grade Expected”.

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4. Next, you will enter your data. Click the “Data View” tab in the lower left corner. Under the column “Grade”, begin typing in the scores, with one score on each row.

5. Double check your work to make sure you do not have any typos.

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6. At the top of the screen, click “Analyze,” then “Descriptive”, then “Explore.” A pop-up window will appear. Your variable “Grade” should appear in a left box. Select your variable and then click the small arrow to put “Grade” in the Dependent List box.

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7. Click the “Plots” button in the pop-up window. Check the box that says “Histogram”.

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8. Click Continue. Then click Ok. The Output window should now appear with statistical output. You will see a few lines of computer code, then you will see table statistical tables and a histogram chart similar to this:

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9. Using the tables and histogram that appear, prepare an Assignment write up similar to the sample on the following page.

Part Two: R Statistics Software

R software is a free statistical program that can be downloaded from the following website: It may also be available in computer labs on campus.

R is quickly becoming a prepared way to conduct statistical analysis because it is a flexible, free, program that can be customized. However, it requires typing and understanding computer code. The purpose of this assignment is to teach you basic codes in R so that you can conduct simply analyses in this program.

1. Install and open R statistical software. You should see a screen that looks like this:

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2. R works like a calculator, as soon as you type information into the program and hit “enter”, it will compute. It is always a good idea to type your computer code in notepad, Word, or another program and then copy and paste it into R so that you can modtify your code and keep it for later use.

3. To create a variable in R, simply name the variable (using only alphanumeric characters that are case sensitive), and give it meaning. To give something meaning in R using the “less than” symbol followed by a hyphen ( ................
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