Question 5: Short answer questions

Consider the following hypothetical scenario:

In a longitudinal study, researchers measured a sample of high school student’s attitudes towards mathematics across four consecutive years (year 7 to year 10). Attitude was measured using the SMAS questionnaire, with higher scores indicating higher levels of positive attitude towards mathematics. The researchers predicted that attitude score would decrease from year to year.

Answer the questions below in your script book. Note: you will need to interpret the output provided on the below to answer these questions.

A. What are the DV and IV for this scenario?

B. What are the specified hypotheses / aims?

C. Using the appropriate output provided, sketch a means plot for this scenario. Make sure to label your chart.

D. What type of contrasts would be more appropriate to analyse the research question?

Explain your answer by describing what this contrast is designed to do

E. What can we say about the assumption of sphericity? Report the appropriate statistics to support your answer

F. What overall conclusion can we reach? Report the relevant, degrees of freedom, F-ratio, pvalue and effect size.

G. Describe the effect size given in the output in regards to size.

H. Are the planned contrasts significant? Report the relevant, degrees of freedom, F-ratio, pvalue, and effect sizes for each contrast.

I. Are the contrasts in the direction that we are expecting?

J. Using you answers to the previous questions and / or the output provided, write a conclusion which relates to the original hypotheses of this scenario.

SPSS Output for the report