Assessment 2: Analysis Portfolio This is assessment component made up of two sections. Section 1 is a series of qualitative research methods questions that will (a) test your knowledge of qualitative methods in general and (b) test your ability to conduct and report the results of a thematic analysis (25 marks) Section 2 is made up of a set of statistics exercises (75 marks) You should complete both sections and attempt all questions. Section 1 : Qualitative Analyses (a) Qualitative Research Methods Answer the following questions: Study 2 A researcher has conducted a series of in-depth interviews using a semi structured interview schedule with students about their experiences of leaving home and moving to university. Each interview lasted approximately 1-hour and was recorded using a Dictaphone with the consent of each the interviewee. a. Describe the differences between a semi structured and a structured interview (4) b. State one advantage of using a semi structured interview (1) . c. State one advantage of using a structured interview (1) d. Give one example of a semi structured interview question that the researcher might ask (1) (b)Thematic Analysis During the qualitative methods section of the module you conducted a thematic analysis on a data set provided by the HEA. (a) State the research question used to guide your analysis. (4) (b) State two themes that emerged during your analysis; each theme should be supported by at least one extract and an analysis of this extract. (10) (c) Include a brief statement about how your analysis relates back to your research question. (4) (25 Marks) Section 2: Quantitative Analyses In this section you will be presented with three psychological studies. For each study you will be asked a series of questions designed to test your knowledge of research design and where appropriate your knowledge of data analysis and your ability to report and interpret the results of psychological studies. You should attempt each question. For each study requiring data analysis you are required to conduct and then report the findings of an appropriate analysis of the data provided. You should screen the data prior to any analyses and routinely report appropriate estimates of effect size. You should include any calculations and all SPSS outputs (data screening checks and statistical analyses) as appendices. Include the appendix (if appropriate) after each question. Study 1 Researchers were interested in the relationship between the proportion of smokers in a country in 1930 and the number of deaths (in males) per million from lung cancer in 1950. The researchers predict a positive relationship between the two variables. The raw data can be found in the table below. Country Mean yearly cigarette consumption (1930) Male death rate (per million) from lung cancer (1950) Iceland 240 60 Norway 250 90 Sweden 310 120 Denmark 370 160 Australia 450 160 Holland 450 240 Canada 500 150 Switzerland 530 250 Finland 1110 350 Great Britain 1130 460 United States 1280 190 Table 7: The mean yearly consumption of cigarettes in 1930 and the deaths from lung cancer in 1950 in males in 11 countries. i. What type of research design is this study? 1 ii. Name the variables in this study. 2 iii. State the Research Hypothesis (H1) for this study 4 iv. Create a Word table of descriptive statistics for these data. 4 v. Create a scatterplot to explore the relationship between the two variables. 6 vi. Conduct an appropriate inferential test of the null hypothesis. Fully describe the details of the inferential test. 3 What conclusion can you come to? 2 Give the statistical justification for this conclusion. 3 (25 Marks) Study 2 A psychologist is interested in seeing whether there is a link between political party membership and legislation to ban fox-hunting. She collects opinions from 200 members of the Labour Party and 200 members of the Conservative Party. The data are shown in the following table: For Against Undecided Conservative 68 22 110 Labour 92 18 90 What is the level of measurement of the data found in this study? (1) Produce a Word table of descriptive statistics for this study. (7) State an appropriate the Null Hypothesis for this study: (4) State an appropriate Research Hypothesis for this study: (4) Conduct an appropriate statistical test on the data to test the research hypothesis. Fully describe the details of the inferential test you have conducted. (3) What conclusion can you come to? (2) Give the statistical justification for this conclusion. (4) (25 marks) Study 3 You are interested in the effects of imagery mnemonics on short term verbal recall. You have a group of 40 participants. Twenty participants are required to learn lists of words using the peg-word mnemonic and twenty participants using the method of loci mnemonic. You record each participants recall scores. You have no preconceived view as to which mnemonic will produce the greatest recall.The data can be seen below. Peg word mnemonic Method of Loci mnemonic 8 5 9 6 6 4 7 5 8 4 8 4 7 5 7 4 6 6 7 5 8 6 9 7 9 6 8 5 7 4 8 5 8 4 9 5 8 7 9 7 i. What type of research design is this study? 1 ii. What is the independent variable? 1 iii. What are the levels of the independent variable? 1 iv. What is the dependent variable? 1 v. State the Null Hypothesis (H0) 4 vi. State the Research or Experimental Hypothesis (H1) 4 vii. Create a Word table of descriptive statistics for these data. 4 ix. Conduct an appropriate inferential test of the null hypothesis. Fully describe the details of the inferential test. 3 What conclusion can you come to? 2 Give the statistical justification for this conclusion. 4 (25 Marks)
