Subject Code & Title :- PY4210 Research And Statistics for Psychology
Group or individual :- Individual
Weighting :- 30%
Requirements for successful completion of this assessment item :-
You must achieve a minimum of 50% after deduction of any late penalties, in order to pass this assessment item.
Aligned subject learning outcomes :-
1.Identify and define a range of methodological and philosophical principles in research design analysis and interpretation;
2.Synthesize analyse and interpret quantitative data to generate solutions to research questions.
PY4210 Research And Statistics for Psychology Assignment 2 – Australia

ASSESSMENT ITEM 2: DESCRIPTION

Rationale for the assessment
Psychologists need to understand research design and statistics. Research allows us to make contributions to the field of psychology.With in research statistical analysis allows us to make sense of and interpret data we collect to answer our research questions. It is also part of our role as psychologists and researchers to communicate and share our findings.By communicating our findings we can inform policy and make an impact upon the world around us. This assessment provides foundational skills in these areas.

You will be provided a research scenario and will answer a series of questions regarding the design and statistical analysis required for the research project.

Background to the study
You have commenced an internship as a research psychologist. One of the research projects include the impact of discrimination on LGBTQ communities. The research project came about as a response to the National Mental Health Commission’s mental health and suicide prevention. A significant knowledge gap remains due to lack of inclusion of sexual orientation gender identity and intersex status in population research and data collection with in mental health service and in national population-based data collections e.g., the Census.

You were tasked to conduct a survey among LGBTQ groups and services across Australia to find out the health well being and needs of the LGBTQ populations. The aim of the research project is to address this knowledge gap.

PY4210 Research And Statistics for Psychology Assignment 2 – Australia

Research methods
After gaining ethical approval from the relevant human ethics research committee, you commenced your research project. An online survey was distributed via social media through your personal networks (e.g.,
Facebook Twitter Reddit. Participation was voluntary and participants had to be 18 years old and over. Of the 1100 prospective participants who were contacted approximately 20% responded to the survey how ever only 103 supplied sufficient data for you to work with the rest of the data had substantial missing information.

Participants were required to rate their psychological distress and experiences of discrimination in the previous month. Psychological distress was measured using six questions about emotional states in the past 30 days using a five-point likert scale of None of the time (1) to All of the time (5) The total possible score range is from 6 to 30 Higher scores on these scales reflect higher levels of psychological distress.

To measure experiences of discrimination participants were provided a list of situations where they experienced acts of discrimination, harassment and violence. Participants were then asked to indicate which incidents they might have experienced in the past 30 days and the frequency of these events using a five-point likert scale of Never (1) to Very frequently (5). The total possible score range is from 7 to 35. Higher scores on these scales reflect higher frequency of experienced discrimination.

Items for the scales were taken from established measures but were shortened to reduce the administered time for the test. Socio demo graphic factors were also collected.

PY4210 Research And Statistics for Psychology Assignment 2 – Australia

The survey below demonstrates data that was collected for the research study.Note that the values in RED align with the values set up in the SPSS dataset for this task:

7.Psychological Distress scale.The following questions ask about how you have been feeling during the past 30 days. For each question please circle the number that best describes how often you had this feeling. < Total scores between 6 and 30>

8.Experiences of discrimination scale. The following questions ask whether you have experienced the following incidents during the past 30 days. For each question please circle the number that best describes the frequency of these events. < Total scores between 7 and 35>

9.Have you accessed mental health services in your community?
1 Yes 
2 No 

10.Have you found these mental health services helpful?
0 Not applicable 
1 Yes 
2 No 

Your task is to complete the questions provided below.

PY4210 Research And Statistics for Psychology Assignment 2 – Australia

Instructions:

• Provide your response for each of the following questions. Where you are asked to include your output files you should copy and paste the tables from SPSS into the Word document with a clear label for each question to assist the marker who is marking your response.

• Failure to include your output files for EVERY QUESTION THAT REQUIRES IT will result in an incomplete
submission and a fail result for this assessment.

Research Design and Ethics

Question 1.
What type of research design has been used in the research scenario?

Question 2.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the research design that has been used in the research scenario?

Question 3.
Describe the population you wish to study and identify the sampling technique used in the research method.

Question 4.
Think about the research scenario and identify all the ways that the integrity of the study might have been compromised. For each issue identified please explain why this issue compromises the integrity of the study and propose improvements to the research design. Please provide justifications of how and why your suggestions will improve the current research design.

Question 5.
What are the ethical concerns what you as the researcher should have considered when conducting this study? Please provide justifications on why these are ethical concerns.

Descriptive Statistics

Question 6. Use SPSS to run descriptive statistics to populate the following table showing some socio- demographic information of the sample.

Note: Please provide the Total Frequency (n) in 0 decimal places and the Total Percentage (%) in 1 decimal place to adhere to APA formatting reporting of results. If there is no missing data please write NA.

Question 7. Use SPSS to run descriptive statistics on the participants age and their community engagement score. How would you write the results in a paragraph using APA 7 Format?

Question 8. Use SPSS to run descriptive statistics to populate the following table showing the descriptive statistics for the variables of interest

Note: Please provide the mean and standard deviation in 2 decimal places adhere to APA formatting reporting of results.

Include your SPSS output file: Your submission for questions 6, 7 and 8 must include a copy of your out put providing evidence of commands, statistical test results and any tables/graphs used to derive the results. Failure to include your SPSS output will result in an incomplete submission and a fail result.

Inferential Statistics
Background:
Below you are presented with two scenarios. For each scenario there are a series of questions pertaining only to that particular scenario. Please answer ALL the questions for each section.

Scenario A
You as a researcher are interested in whether there is a difference in participants experiences of discrimination based on their transgender status.

Question 9.
Name the independent variable(s) and the dependent variable(s) and describe how these variables were operationalised

Question 10.
How would you write a hypothesis in this research scenario?

Question 11.
What is the appropriate statistical test? Provide a reason for your choice.

Question 12.
What assumptions do you need to check before you run the inferential analysis?

Question 13.
Run the assumption testing and provide justification on whether the assumptions have been met or not.

Question 14.
Run the appropriate statistical test in SPSS and present the findings in APA 7 format.

Include your SPSS output file: Your submission for questions 13 and 14 must include a copy of your out put providing evidence of commands, statistical test results and any tables graphs used to derive the results. Failure to include your SPSS output will result in an incomplete submission and a fail result.

PY4210 Research And Statistics for Psychology Assignment 2 – Australia

Scenario B
You as the researcher are interested in whether there is a difference in the participants level of psychological distress based on the participant’s relationship status. You have no specific expectations of where the differences will be found.

Question 15.
What is the independent variable (IV)? How many categories does it have ?

Question 16.
What is the dependent variable (DV)? How was this variable operationalised

Question 17.
How would you write a hypothesis in this research scenario?

Question 18.
What is the appropriate statistical test? Provide a reason for your choice.

Question 19.
What assumptions do you need to check before you run the inferential analysis?

Question 20.
Run the assumption testing and provide justification on whether the assumptions have been met or not.

Question 21. Run the appropriate statistical test in SPSS and present the findings in APA 7 format.

Include your SPSS output file: Your submission for questions 20 and 21 must include a copy of your output providing evidence of commands, statistical test results and any tables/graphs used to derive the results. Failure to include your SPSS output will result in an incomplete submission and a fail result.