Exercise3

Exploringdata.

TheseexerciseshavebeenpreparedforuseinconjunctionwithChapter3ofthe5theditionofSPSSfor
PsychologistsbyBrace,KempandSnelgar(2012)

1. LoadthedatafileEx3Q1.sav.Thisdatafilewascreatedinresponsetooneofthequestionsin
Exercise2.ItrecordsthemathematicalabilityofchildrenwhospeakEnglishorIndonesianas
theirfirstlanguage.Yourtaskisto:
a. UsetheExplorecommandtodiscoverthemeanmathematicalabilityscoreforthe
IndonesianspeakingchildrenandfortheEnglishspeakingchildren.Whichgroupof
childrenhasthehigherscore?
b. PrepareStemandLeafPlotsshowingthemathematicalabilityscoreoftheEnglishand
Indonesianspeakingchildren.
c. UsetheFrequenciescommandtoproduceahistogramoftheageofthechildren(both
IndonesianandEnglishspeakingplottedtogether).
EdittheXaxislabelandgivethechartanappropriatetitle.

2. LoadthedatafileEx3Q2.sav.Imaginethisdatafilewaspreparedbyacolleagueundertakinga
studytoinvestigatewhetheradultslearnamazemorequicklywhentheyactivelyexploreitthan
whentheypassivelyobserveanotherpersonexplorethemaze.Participantswere
undergraduatestudentsandwerealloweduptoamaximumof30minutestolearneachmaze.
Yourtaskisto:
a. ChecktheVariableViewofthedatafilecarefully.Makesurethatthevariableshave
beensetupcorrectly.Correctanyerrorsyoufind.
b. UseeithertheExploreorFrequenciescommandtocheckthedatalooktoseewhether
thereareanyvaluesoutsidetheexpectedranges.
c. Explainhowyouwouldcorrecttheerrorsyoufind.
d. Savethecorrecteddatafile.

3. Usingyourcorrecteddatafilefromquestion2(above),useSPSSto:
a. Findthemeantimetolearnthemazeunderactiveandpassiveconditions.
b. Drawachartshowingthesemeantimes.Labeltheaxesofthechartappropriately.

Brace, Kemp & Snelgar (2012). SPSS for Psychologists

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