Lab Assignment 1

Kaatje Tiedemann: 14035103

Alice Bajerska-Nowak: 14014963

Enid Mclean: 14248840

Amber Dey: 13909355

Syntax Exercise 1

In order to answer the research question of whether student’s cognitive level was related to

their socioeconomic status, we used a χ2 test of independence to test the null hypothesis that

there was no relationship between student’s cognitive level (23.75% preProf, 23.32% PreUni,

27.13% vocHigh and 25.78% vocLow) and their socioeconomic status (41.99% ProfUni,

34.50% vocHigh, 23.50% vocLow). Results showed a significant association, χ2 (6, N=

10540) = 1759.425, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .289, which had a moderate size. Therefore, using

α = .05 as criterion for the level of significance, we rejected the null hypothesis in favor of

the alternative hypothesis that student’s cognitive level differed depending on their

socioeconomic status. Concluding, students’ cognitive level is moderately related to their

socioeconomic status.

Syntax Exercise 2

To answer the research question of whether students who have more knowledge about

citizenship (M = .77, SD = .18) also have more citizenship skills (M = 3.04, SD = .39), we

tested the null hypothesis that the true correlation between knowledge and skills was zero.

We found that the correlation, r(N = 15645) = .196, p < .001, 95% [0.18, 0.21], was positive.

It was small in size, but different from zero. Using α = .05 as criterion for significance, we
rejected the null hypothesis in favor of the alternative hypothesis that students who have more

knowledge about citizenship also have more citizenship skills. The variables shared r2 =

38.41% of their variance. Results show that there is a positive, small in size association

between students’ knowledge about citizenship and their citizenship skills.