Critical of an article (SPSS) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Critical of an article (SPSS) - Assignment Example The study attempted to measure the effects of two independent variables - the subjects' performance standard, and the standard of the class – on the type of comparison made by the subjects towards particular and generic others. It was hypothesised that: 1. Across all classes, students would show a preference for comparing upwards with a particular other. 2. Subjects in the threat condition would make a downward comparison to a particular other. 3. Across all classes, students would make a downward comparison to a generic other. 4. Students in the threat condition were less likely to make a downward comparison to a generic other. Thus, the effects and interactions of the two independent variables were observed on two dependent variables. The first independent variable – the subjects' performance standard – had two levels for the study – high and low. The second independent variable was the performance standard of the class; also divided into two levels â₠¬â€œ high and low. Thus, four experimental groups were formed: i. Student with high performance in high performance group. (Uniform) ii. Student with high performance in low performance group. (Advantage) iii. Student with low performance in low performance group. (Uniform) iv. ... A variety of statistical procedures were carried out in order to test the hypotheses put forth. The study used Two Way ANOVA's, student's t – tests, correlations and the chi square test. Initially, all the sets of scores for the particular comparison other were inter-correlated, and since the correlations were quite high, one comparative index was created for all these scores. The Cronbach's Alpha, - an estimate of reliability, showed that the index would have a high reliability, and could be used without too many concerns. A similar index was also computed for the scores on comparison with a generic other. The Chronbach's Alpha was very high for this index as well. Such systematic evaluations of reliability are important since the data was collected in rating form on a set of dimensions for each dependent variable. Under such circumstances, the consistency and generalisability of the data is best evaluated through reliability testing. Next, for the actual testing of the hypot heses, two ANOVA's were computed. Each was a 2 by 2 ANOVA, and the interaction effects were analysed in order to test the hypotheses. Although none of the hypotheses predicted any main effect differences; in order for the hypotheses to be truly verified, one would see significant main effects as well as the interaction effects. The first 2 by 2 ANOVA was conducted on data about comparison to a particular other. This analysis went towards responding to the first and second hypotheses. The statistical analysis showed that the main effects for both variables were significant; but the one for standard of class (p < 0.001) was much stronger than the one for the standard of subject's performance (p