Scenario
At Madison Middle School, the sixth grade language arts teachers are unhappy with the curriculum. However, there’s a disconnect, as standardized test scores show improvement from previous years. You, a district reading specialist, have been called in to investigate the situation. Sixth grade reading scores have improved moderately from 2014 to 2018. These increases amount to 0.23 standard deviation (SD) during the five-year period for which reading scores were recorded. In general, a 0.50 SD increase represents an increase from the 50th to the 69th percentile for data that are normally distributed. This compares to a percentile increase from the 50th to the 60th when the corresponding increase in standard deviation is approximately 0.25.
In EDD8030, you made a decision to conduct in depth interviews with the language arts teachers. The purpose of this was to help the school decide if they would keep, replace, or modify the existing program. In your analysis, you identified codes, coding categories, and emergent themes. These were some of the conclusions you made as a result of the thematic analysis included these observations:
Teachers feel frustrated because they feel like this program was handed to them without their feedback or buy-in. The more experienced teachers seem like they might feel like this is condescending, and their expertise is being dismissed.
Training teachers on how to implement the new curriculum seems to be a major issue. It appears that the faculty members who were tasked with conducting the training were not given enough time to do this effectively. Teachers feel like they aren’t able to get questions answered on whether they’re implementing the program correctly.
So now, in addition to the qualitative data you obtained and the corresponding analysis you conducted, you revisit this issue and seek to obtain and analyze quantitative data in an effort to gain a more complete picture of the issues facing Madison Middle School.
Instructions
Use the Applying Inferential Statistics [DOC] template to arrange your assessment in a single document with two headings:
Part 1: Paired Samples t Test.
Part 2: Independent Samples t Test.
Part 1: Paired Samples t Test
Complete the following under the heading “Part 1: Paired Samples t Test.”
Using the data set provided, Madison Middle School Test Scores [XLSX], conduct statistical analysis to test the following null hypothesis.
There is no statistically significant difference between students’ reading scores before and after the intervention is provided to students.
Based on your results, choose to either reject the null hypothesis or fail to reject the null hypothesis.
Analyze the statistical meanings of the SPSS output for your paired samples t test.
Formulate a research question for which the paired samples t test could provide an appropriate answer, including the following:
Identifies the independent variable and the dependent variable, and infers and identifies the population from which the sample was drawn.
Includes the null hypothesis, reports the SPSS calculated p value (the Sig. value) and decides to either reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis.
Explains why the decision to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis was made.
Data Set Legend
The following legends are used in the sandbox data set:
Gender: 0 = Male; 1 = Female.
Race: 1 = Asian/Pacific Islander; 2 = African American; 3 = Hispanic/Latino; 4 = White/Caucasian.
Socioeconomic status (SES): 1 = 75,000–100,000; 2 = 50,000–69,999; 3 = 20,000–49,999.
School type: School 1 and School 2.
Academic program: 1 = program 1; 2 = program 2; 3 = program 3.
Part 2: Independent Samples t Test
As you continue your analysis of the sixth grade language arts issues, you are contacted by the district math specialist who wants your help in determining whether there are significant differences in the sixth grade math placement scores based on gender. Because of your expertise in research design, you help the math specialist design a study in which 50 students (25 males and 25 females) are selected who completed the sixth grade math placement exam.
Instructions
Using the data set provided, Madison Middle School Test Scores [XLSX], conduct statistical analysis to test the following null hypothesis:
There is no statistically significant difference in the math scores when the scores are grouped and compared by gender.
Based on your results, choose to either reject the null hypothesis or fail to reject the null hypothesis.
Analyze the statistical meanings of the SPSS output for your independent samples t test.
Formulate a research question for which the independent samples t test could provide an appropriate answer, including the following:
Identifies the independent variable and the dependent variable, and infers and identifies the population from which the sample was drawn.
Includes the null hypothesis, reports the SPSS calculated p value (the Sig. value), and decides to either reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis.
Explains why the decision to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis was made.
Data Set Legend
Following legends are used in the sandbox data set:
Gender: 0 = Male; 1 = Female.
Race: 1 = Asian/Pacific Islander; 2 = African American; 3 = Hispanic/Latino; 4 = White/Caucasian.
Socioeconomic status (SES): 1 = 75,000–100,000; 2 = 50,000–69,999; 3 = 20,000–49,999.
School type: School 1 and School 2.
Academic program: 1 = program 1; 2 = program 2; 3 = program 3.
