Excerpt from Busch (1996) research article1. Student groups were formed at the beginning of the fall semester, and each group consisted of six groups, with a total of 150 students. The students remained in the same group for one year, and they worked together in several courses. In the computer course, the students worked jointly on a group project during the spring semester. At the end of the semester, all students were asked several questions that fell into the following categories.

1. self-efficacy(in computing) - students were asked to rate how confident they were in performing several computer tasks on a 5-point scale ranging from "no confidence at all" to "complete confidence."
2. previous computer experience- students wereasked to indicate on a 5-point scale to what extent they had worked with word processing, spreadsheet programs, programming, or computer games before attending college.
3. previous encouragement to work with computers- students rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 to 5 the extent to which their decisions to use computers had been influenced by parents, school teachers, and friends.
4. group processes -students were asked to assess the activity level in the group, and to indicate to what extent they gave and received task-related help. These three questions were answered by indication on a 5-point scale ranging from "very small extent" to "very great extent."
5. cooperation- students were asked what percentage of the time they spent in front of the computer consisted of cooperation with one or several fellow students.

Table 1t-tests: Gender differences

female students

(n= 63)

male students

(n= 87)

Variables

Mean

SD

Mean

SD

t

p

self-efficacy in computing

10.7

2.8

12.8

3.4

4.32

.001*

previous computer experience

8.5

2.8

10.4

3.5

3.79

.000*

previous encouragement to work with computers

5.4

2.1

6.7

2.7

3.42

.001*

giving task-related help

2.6

.9

2.9

1.1

2.46

.015*

receiving task-related help

3.2

.8

2.9

.9

-2.00

.048*

level of activity in the groups

3.1

.7

3.3

.8

1.36

.180

cooperation working with computers

61.1

29.9

44.1

29.4

-3.34

.001*

*p< .05

Questions

1. The females have a higher average than the males on which two variables?
2. Is the difference on giving task-related help statistically significant at the .05 level? How do you know?
3. Is the difference on giving task-related help statistically significant at the .01 level? Why or why not?
4. The value ofpfor cooperation working with computers is .001. What does this mean? It would mean that ____ of results are due to error/chance. a. 1 out of 10b. 1 out of 100c. 1 out of 1,000d. 1 out of 10,000
5. Six of the seven values ofpin the table have asterisks that refer the reader to a footnote. Explain why one of the values does not have an asterisk.
6. Which of the following differences is significant at a higher level (more statistically significant)? a. the difference on previous computer encouragement b. the difference on receiving task-related help
7. Which of the following differences is significant at a lower level? a. the difference on receiving task-related help b. the difference on cooperation working with computers
8. Why are two of the values fortnegative?
9. What type of at-testdid the researcher run?
10. Look over the results in the table and write a few sentences of aDiscussionsection with your interpretation of the results - what do you think they mean? Be sure to consider the year (1996) that this research was published.