PSY5024 Intermediate Statistics

Homework 1

(75 marks)

1. Describe the conceptual terms below regards to assumptions of statistical tests. Your
answer should illustrate why they are important for statistical testing.
(30 marks)
• Normality
• Homogeneity of variance
• Sphericity
• Homogeneity of regression slopes
• Independence of covariance and treatment effect
• Multicollinearity

2. Please use the study information below to answer the research questions:

A two-year longitudinal study investigated the cognitive effects of a children’s television

show, Sesame Street. Demographic details and viewing information were collected for 240
children. Children were in two treatment conditions where they were either encouraged or
discouraged to watch the show. Seven measures of pre and post tests were collected to
indicate the level of vocabulary development. As a control measure, he had administered
the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test as a pretest measure of vocabulary maturity. The
table below provides you with information on the variables in this study.

Key Variables
SPSS Variable Label Other
Name information
Demographic Details
id Subject ID
site Where children were from
sex Gender
age Age in months
Viewing Information
viewca frequency of viewing (categorical)
setting setting in which Sesame Street was viewed
viewenc treatment condition
Test Scores
prebody pretest on knowledge of body parts
prelet pretest on letters
preform pretest on forms
prenumb pretest on numbers
prerelat pretest on relational terms High scores=
preclasf pretest on classification skills higher
postbody posttest on knowledge of body parts performance
postlet posttest on letters
postform posttest on forms
postnumb posttest on numbers
postrelat posttest on relational terms
postclasf posttest on classification skills
peabody mental age score obtained from administration of the Peabody
Picture Vocabulary test as a pretest measure of vocabulary
maturity

1
Research questions:
For each of the following research questions, use the appropriate statistical test covered in
class. For each test, please test for violation of assumptions and use the appropriate
procedure/test to overcome these violations. Report also the relevant effect sizes.

a. Is there a relationship between peabody scores and pretest scores on numbers?

(6 marks)

b. Using the appropriate test, check if there are any gender differences in prebody.
(6 marks)

c. Is there a relationship between prebody and postbody after controlling for Peabody?
(18 marks)

d. Is there improvement on knowledge of body parts from prebody1 to postbody2?

(15 marks)