PSYC 290- EXTRA-CREDIT ASSIGNMENT

to read the articles uploaded on blackboard (specifically Results sections) and answer the following questions:

1.Which analyses were conducted in the research article? (Keep in mind that we have not discussed all the analyses used in the article. You just name the ones we discussed.)

2.Why were the analyses appropriate to test their hypothesis? (Hint: check their research question and design. The answer might be: It is because they were looking for a relationship and they had two variables, thus they conducted a correlation analysis.)

3.Summarize the overall findings (based on the analysis we learned). (E.g., they found a significant difference between men and women. Women spent longer time on social media than men.)

We worked on the Dataset for t-test data file.

This is how the SPSS data file on variable view looks like:

Do not forget that we enter the values for the gender variable. Because it is a nominal level data and we need to indicate that what values we use for what labels (e.g., 1 means Male, 2 means Female). To do that you need to click on the "values" box for Gender variable, then you fill out values and labels and add then on the new opening window.

This is how the SPSS data file on data view looks like:

Creating the bar chart:

As the next step we create a bar chart to present our data on a picture. It will make it easier for us to understand the findings (This is also asked in your final paper. So you will follow the same steps to create the bar chart for your final paper as well).

Go to Graphs -> Legacy Dialogs -> Bar

Then for Bar chart options select: "Clustered" and for Data in Chart Are select "summaries of separate variables" then click "define".

Then send the variable to the relevant locations ("bar represent" and "category axis") as in the picture. Then click OK.

In your output file you see the graph.

Running the analysis:

Independent sample t-tests:

We run two independent sample t-tests:

Compare Males vs Females on cheating acts before they married.

Compare Males vs Females on cheating acts after they married.

Go to Analyze -> Compare Means -> Independent Samples t-test

We send the variables to the appropriate locations to run the analysis. Because we run both of the independent sample t-tests at the same time we send both Cheating before marriage and after marriage to the "test variables". We send "gender" to the "grouping variable" because we want to see the difference males and females. Then we click on "define groups".

We define the groups as how we enter groups as values. Remember we use 1 for Males and 2 for Female. So we enter 1 and 2 for the groups. Then click "continue". Then click OK.

We see the results on the output file. The first table shows the descriptive statistics and the second table show the t-test results. We need the numbers in the red boxes to interpret and report our findings.

Paired sample t-test:

We run two paired sample t-tests:

Cheating before vs. after marriage only for males

Cheating before vs. after marriage only for females

We run paired samples t-test because cheating act records before marriage and after marriage come from the same participants. Each participant is measured twice: before and after marriage.

If we run the paired sample t-test right away, SPSS runs the analysis including both males and females. But we want to run separate analysis for each group. So we need to commend SPSS to deal with the groups separately. To do that we need to go "data" -> "split file"

Then we select "compare groups" and select "gender" (because we want to separate males and females) and send it to "groups based on". Then select OK. On your output file we see the sign indicating that file split by gender.

Now we are ready to run paired sample t-test. We go to "analyze" -> "compare means" -> "paired samples t-test".

Then we select the comparison variables: Cheating before marriage vs. Cheating after marriage. We send them next to each other. Then we click OK.

On output file we see the results. We need the numbers in the red boxes to interpret and report our findings.

Reporting the findings:

These are sample sentences you need to change the wording based on the findings.

-An independent sample t-test demonstrated that male participants (M = ###, SD = ###) cheated significantly more times than female participants (M = ###, SD = ###) after they got married; t(df) = tval, p = .pval.

-An independent sample t-test demonstrated that male participants (M = ###, SD = ###) cheated significantly more times than female participants (M = ###, SD = ###) before they got married; t(df) = tval, p = .pval.

-A paired sample t-test demonstrated that male participants cheated more after they got married (M = ###, SD = ###) than before they got married (M = ###, SD = ###); t(df) = tval, p = .pval.

-A paired sample t-test demonstrated that female participants cheated more after they got married (M = ###, SD = ###) than before they got married (M = ###, SD = ###); t(df) = tval, p = .pval.

PS: We need to commend to SPSS again to cancel split file, otherwise it will run everything we ask separately for males and females. To do that we go "data" -> "split file" then we select "analyze all cases, do not create groups".