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STAT1020: Statistical Reasoning and Literacy
Assignment 1
Sem 2 2019
Solutions should be written in clear English with all appropriate, and concise wording.
This is an individual assignment, NOT a group assignment. If you work collectively with other
students on this assignment you may be penalised for plagiarism. See the course outline for
more information.
_______________ ______________________________________________________
PART A
–
Case Study
(18
marks total)
The questions that make this assignment are all concerned
with the following paper:
Nail-Chiwetalu, B., Ratner,
N.B. (2007).
An assessment of the informationseeking
abilities and needs of
practicing speech-language pathologists. Journal
of the Medical Library Association, 95 (2),
182-188.
This paper is available on the STAT1020 Blackboard site; it can be found in the Assignment
1
link on Blackboard.
You can also
download the paper using the library facilities.
Make sure
to
read through the paper
and
when answering your questions, refer to the appropriate page,
table or graph from
which your response arises.
1)
In your own words, what is the main aim of the study described in the paper?
(2 marks)
2) Describe how the authors collected the information. (1 mark)
3) Is this an observational or experimental study? Justify you answer. (1 mark)
4) How many people actually participated in the study? What is this number expressed as
a response rate? (1 mark)
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5) Do you think the sample size collected will introduce problems in the ability to
generalise results from this study to the wider population? Provide at least one reason
why you came to this conclusion. Think about some potential reasons that some would
not have responded to the original survey? Do you think these reasons could affect the
overall result of the study?
(3 marks)
6) The frequency of use and helpfulness of information formats is presented in Table 1
and is reproduced below.
i. What type of Variable is Information Formats? (1 mark)
ii. Which graphical display would be useful to display this information
graphically? (1 mark)
iii. Please create this graph (by hand or excel is fine) using percentages for each
information format. (2 marks)
7) For the information presented in Table 3,
i. Identify the type of variable that “Importance Ranking” is. (1 mark)
ii. For each of the barriers identified, which appear to be ranked as most
important? Provide evidence of how you arrived at your conclusion. (2 marks)
iii. Which graph would be most useful to depict the information presented in Table
3? (1 mark)
iv. Create the graph you have suggested in Part iii. Using only the first three
barriers listed (Lack of Time, Locating appropriate Information and Using
Search Techniques) as well as the information presented in Ranked 1, Ranked 2
and Ranked 3. A graph by hand is suffice. You can also use any software if you
wish. Think about how to represent the numerical information so that the
graphical display is most informative. (2 marks)
Continuing education 159/206 Most helpful
Personal contacts 120/206 Most helpful
Websites and pages 111/206 Less helpful
Books and textbooks 75/206 Helpful
Journal articles 67/206 Helpful
Professional newsletters 63/206 Less helpful
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) division newsletters 19/206 Helpful
ASHA email discussion lists 18/206 Less helpful
Continuing education 159/206 Most helpful
Personal contacts 120/206 Most helpful
Websites and pages 111/206 Less helpful
Books and textbooks 75/206 Helpful
Journal articles 67/206 Helpful
Professional newsletters 63/206 Less helpful
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) division newsletters 19/206 Helpful
ASHA email discussion lists 18/206 Less helpful
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PART B – Graphs (12 marks total)
8) A researcher wants to test a new approach designed to increase the vocabulary among
children with autism. For the experiment, 36 children were randomly assigned to one of
three different treatments; Community referrals with No Additional Intervention, Low-
Intensity Intervention, and High-Intensity Intervention). After a fixed period of time, the
increase in the children’s vocabulary was measured (with the units being the number of
additional words spoken over a specified time interval).
Descriptives
Group Statistic Std. Error
Increase High Mean 27.65 .372
Median 27.50
Variance 1.66
Std. Deviation 1.35
Minimum 26
Maximum 30
Range 4
Interquartile Range 2
Low Mean 21.32 .484
Median 21.00
Variance 2.81
Std. Deviation 1.58
Minimum 19
Maximum 25
Range 6
Interquartile Range 2.5
No Mean 21.40 .500
Median 21.40
Variance 3.00
Std. Deviation 1.63
Minimum 19
Maximum 25
Range 6
Interquartile Range 2
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i. Describe the distribution of ‘increase in vocabulary’ for only the HIGH Intensity group. In your description include all aspects of a distribution.
(2 marks)
ii. Using the graphical and numerical output shown above, summarise the increase in vocabulary by comparing the shape, centre and spread of the three interventions. In your comparison, make sure your comments are in terms of the impact of the three interventions. (4 marks)
9) Psychologists have long been interested in the relationship between optimism levels and psychological well-being. As part of their study, the psychologists have accumulated data to show that there are positive effects of optimism on well-being.
Researchers investigated the relationship between optimism and psychological well-being of first-year university students using a scale developed to measure optimism and another to measure psychological well-being.
We wish to investigate how well this measure of psychological well-being could be predicted based on the measure of optimism.
i) From the scatterplot above, scribe the relationship between optimism and psychological well-being. (2 marks)
ii) Given a correlation coefficient of r = 0.80, is the magnitude and direction of this correlation consistent with your findings of part a)? Give reasons why?
(2 marks)
iii) Do your findings in a) and b) confirm that having a high level of optimism causes an improved psychological well-being? (2 marks)
** This is the end of Assignment 1 **
Psychological Well-Being
Level of Optimism
