Coursework 2: Portfolio of Statistical Exercise

For this portfolio of statistical exercises you will be presented with fourresearch questions and datasetswhich you need to conduct the relevant statistical test(s) for and write-up the findings in an appropriate format. You should attempt each question. The mark that you receive will reflect how well you have answered allfourresearch questions and therefore missing any questions out will adversely affect your mark.

For each exercise requiring data analysis you are required to conduct and then report the findings of an appropriate analysis of the data provided in the reporting style that we have shown you during this module. You should screen the data prior to any analyses and routinely report appropriate estimates of effect size and other relevant statistical information where appropriate. You should also include appropriate and clearly expressed hypotheses.

You should include any calculations and all relevant SPSS outputs (e.g., data screening checks, analyses, etc.) as appendices.

For each question/exercise you should include the following sections:

  • Hypothesis or hypotheses: This should be clearly written and explain what you are testing for based upon the description of the research question.
  • Results: As stated above, in this section you should justify your selection of the test used and write up the results in the reporting style you have been shown.
  • Discussion: There should be a brief (i.e., a paragraph) discussion of the findings of the results in light of the research question.
  • Appendix: Please include any calculations and all relevant SPSS outputs for the question at the end of the answer to the question (in other words, don’t have a single appendix at the end with all of the outputs for all of the questions – it makes it more difficult for us to check them for an assessment like this).

Please note that staff members will not be able to help you to identify which test is most appropriate for the different questions as this is an important aspect of data analysis and one of the main aspects of your learning that this assessment is assessing.

Exercise 1

An opportunity sample of 50 undergraduate students were asked to complete a series of personality questionnaires investigating the “Dark Triad” of personality (Lee & Ashton, 2005).

The average scores for each questionnaire and for each participant are recorded below. Each mean score ranges from 1 to 10, where 1 is low and 10 is high. The questionnaires record scores on “Psychopathy” (i.e., patterns of callousness, manipulation without remorse, and exploitative behaviour of others), “Machiavellianism” (i.e., manipulativeness, insincerity, callousness), and “Narcissism” (i.e., dominance, exhibitionism and exploitation of others).

The following data were obtained from the students:

ParticipantNumber / Psychopathy / Machiavellianism / Narcissism
1 / 7.44 / 9.13 / 6.50
2 / 8.89 / 7.77 / 8.87
3 / 7.07 / 8.28 / 6.20
4 / 7.17 / 7.38 / 7.27
5 / 7.80 / 9.62 / 6.00
6 / 9.23 / 9.52 / 9.13
7 / 5.09 / 9.72 / 4.32
8 / 9.65 / 9.57 / 9.32
9 / 8.55 / 8.42 / 8.55
10 / 6.58 / 7.02 / 6.59
11 / 7.38 / 7.95 / 7.32
12 / 7.77 / 8.64 / 5.20
13 / 7.18 / 7.97 / 7.21
14 / 8.82 / 8.02 / 8.80
15 / 7.89 / 7.67 / 7.83
16 / 9.51 / 9.78 / 9.60
17 / 8.38 / 9.78 / 8.38
18 / 8.34 / 5.95 / 8.24
19 / 9.41 / 8.74 / 9.36
20 / 7.23 / 9.34 / 7.23
21 / 8.99 / 7.08 / 8.76
22 / 7.84 / 9.53 / 7.65
23 / 4.48 / 7.70 / 3.56
24 / 9.03 / 8.40 / 7.89
25 / 7.40 / 7.44 / 6.93
26 / 3.93 / 8.83 / 3.85
27 / 8.24 / 5.46 / 7.24
28 / 6.79 / 8.79 / 6.56
29 / 8.71 / 8.28 / 7.65
30 / 7.58 / 6.37 / 7.42
31 / 9.88 / 6.14 / 8.88
32 / 8.15 / 6.37 / 8.20
33 / 8.11 / 9.91 / 8.00
34 / 9.07 / 9.16 / 8.90
35 / 7.70 / 7.03 / 9.12
36 / 7.14 / 8.42 / 7.23
37 / 8.76 / 9.04 / 8.69
38 / 7.74 / 8.38 / 7.74
39 / 7.45 / 8.96 / 7.42
40 / 9.27 / 7.88 / 9.21
41 / 7.50 / 6.39 / 7.48
42 / 9.80 / 7.67 / 6.56
43 / 7.43 / 8.69 / 7.43
44 / 8.36 / 7.09 / 8.32
45 / 8.48 / 6.06 / 8.51
46 / 6.97 / 7.13 / 5.30
47 / 8.79 / 9.71 / 8.71
48 / 8.38 / 9.10 / 5.57
49 / 8.09 / 7.48 / 7.98
50 / 8.50 / 7.35 / 8.23

Do Machiavellianism and Narcissism scores predictPsychopathy?

Exercise 2

A psychologist was interested to see if consuming caffeine resulted in significantly different levels of creativity. She asked a sample of students to drink coffee in progressively larger amounts (3 cups, 6 cups, and 9 cups) and assessed their levels of creativity throughout the process. The measure of creativity could range from 0 to 6 (the higher the number, the higher the creativity level – the measure can be assumed to be at least interval in nature).

The following data were obtained from the students:

3 cups / 6 cups / 9 cups
3.43 / 1.05 / 1.79
3.79 / 2.15 / 1.42
4.14 / 2.37 / 2.25
3.88 / 1.80 / 1.30
2.89 / 2.24 / 1.75
5.09 / 2.23 / 1.87
4.20 / 1.20 / 1.35
3.97 / 2.30 / 1.84
3.68 / 1.42 / 1.34
4.42 / 2.19 / 1.00
3.94 / 2.01 / 1.20
4.10 / 1.35 / 1.30
5.23 / 1.70 / 2.57
3.87 / 1.61 / 1.45
4.31 / 1.76 / 1.81
3.72 / 2.04 / 1.90
5.89 / 2.15 / 1.23
4.02 / 2.58 / 1.76
4.14 / 3.04 / .87
3.30 / 2.43 / 1.25

Are there significant differences in the creativity levels as students drank more coffee?

Exercise 3

A social cognition experiment was conducted in order to investigate individual differences between boys and girls with regard to abstract reasoning (such as the mental manipulation of three-dimensional shapes). In order to investigate this, boys and girls were given both easy and difficult abstract reasoning tasks and had to complete them as quickly as possible.

The following data were obtained from an opportunity sample of children (time of task completion in seconds):

Girls completing easy tasks / Girls completing difficult tasks / Boys completing easy tasks / Boys completing difficult tasks
370 / 400 / 317 / 400
356 / 435 / 321 / 412
337 / 421 / 322 / 424
333 / 424 / 297 / 424
327 / 371 / 297 / 371
351 / 424 / 272 / 411
339 / 388 / 316 / 388
333 / 410 / 317 / 400
342 / 382 / 295 / 382
355 / 443 / 302 / 421
332 / 422 / 296 / 422
369 / 422 / 274 / 411
317 / 396 / 279 / 396
365 / 393 / 288 / 391
374 / 378 / 334 / 378
328 / 404 / 317 / 404
334 / 414 / 286 / 414
341 / 399 / 291 / 407
370 / 394 / 298 / 390
382 / 395 / 280 / 395
345 / 407 / 328 / 407
343 / 423 / 289 / 423
375 / 363 / 282 / 363
327 / 425 / 261 / 425
341 / 441 / 314 / 413
372 / 343 / 309 / 371
334 / 396 / 278 / 392
304 / 395 / 292 / 395
362 / 409 / 312 / 409
339 / 383 / 307 / 383
312 / 391 / 243 / 391
367 / 365 / 333 / 365
325 / 384 / 269 / 384
362 / 387 / 335 / 387
354 / 389 / 323 / 455
375 / 388 / 281 / 388
352 / 404 / 304 / 404
360 / 392 / 303 / 392
374 / 415 / 293 / 415
386 / 400 / 313 / 404

Are there gender differences in the speed of completing easy and difficult abstract reasoning tasks?

Exercise 4

A psychologist was interested in examining the effect of being observed on manual dexterity, and if competition can interact with this. He suspected that competition and observation would both make people faster at completing the 3-stack Tower of Hanoi task. He measured how quickly a group of students completed the task under a series of controlled conditions. All the students did all of the conditions. They performed the task on their own, and being observed by an audience of 20 people. They performed the task at the same time as another student (i.e., just the two of them with no audience), and when they were both being observed by an audience of 20 people.

The following data were recorded from the students (time in seconds to complete the task):

Task on own / Task on own with an audience / Task in competition / Task in competition with an audience
412.93 / 303.96 / 290.69 / 260.91
391.07 / 301.38 / 318.07 / 243.60
391.47 / 306.03 / 328.87 / 242.74
406.63 / 306.74 / 305.24 / 257.32
384.64 / 300.91 / 322.42 / 266.78
413.14 / 303.30 / 242.74 / 250.07
415.98 / 309.73 / 294.53 / 227.26
402.82 / 301.31 / 315.81 / 246.67
374.01 / 312.85 / 263.66 / 236.79
397.68 / 302.35 / 306.71 / 254.75
388.59 / 300.07 / 294.62 / 253.57
416.77 / 296.77 / 291.10 / 276.61
384.35 / 303.30 / 323.66 / 271.55
397.82 / 303.60 / 311.38 / 246.61
425.90 / 307.20 / 284.27 / 235.72
419.19 / 307.41 / 286.05 / 256.43
416.16 / 296.62 / 312.04 / 349.86
403.84 / 311.47 / 273.51 / 262.71
405.68 / 287.41 / 305.60 / 253.55
405.05 / 297.05 / 305.68 / 277.64

Do observation and competition pressure make students quicker at completing the Tower of Hanoi Task?