Student Name: Student Number: Section Number: 901

PSYC 218 901 2023 Winter – Lab Assignment 2

Correlation

INSTRUCTIONS: This assignment focuses on correlation. You should review Chapter 3 of "A Student
Guide to SPSS" before trying to complete this assignment. Use the SPSS file “Assignment 2 Data.sav' to
complete the assignment. The data contained in the SPSS file are from the online survey your class
completed. The exact wording of each question and the meaning of the values of coded variables can
be found in the Variable View window. (Review the Variable View section of Chapter 1 of "A Student
Guide to SPSS", if necessary).

Marking of lab assignments will be very strict. If you did not complete the Qualtrics survey on time, you
will lose 1/4 of the total assignment grade (5.5 points). To avoid receiving other deductions, type your
answers in the spaces provided. You may insert additional spaces after any question as needed. In
addition, use proper symbols and notation (e.g., , s2, z, r) in all your answers, and properly round all
your answers to 2 decimal places. You will lose marks for each and every failure to follow these
directions.

This lab assignment is due at the on Feb 15. Submit your assignment via Canvas. Do not email your
assignment. You will lose 1/8 of the total assignment grade (2.75 points) for each day it is late. An
assignment will be considered one day late as soon as the deadline passes.

Academic Integrity Acknowledgement: I, report that all of the following work is my own. I have worked
independently. I have not used wording/answers from my peers, the internet, or any other non-
permitted sources. I understand that evidence of non-independent work will result in a grade of zero on
this assignment.

1. Answer the following. [4 points]

a. Outliers (or extreme scores) are often defined as scores that are more than 3 standard
deviation units away from the mean. Outliers are sometimes the result of data entry errors
or participants' misunderstanding of survey items. Transform all the ‘hrsstudy’ scores to z
scores. Outlier is defined as being greater than 3 standard deviations from the mean.
Identify and report the CogLabID(s) and z score(s) of any outlier(s) in the data set for the
variable ‘hrsstudy’. (The sort cases function in SPSS may come in handy here. Note: Missing
scores are not outliers.) (1 point)
The outliers are 218PSYC901-100 with z = 3.33 & 218PSYC901-98 with z = 3.33

b. Use the select cases function to select only those participants with fewer than 45 hours per
week of studying. Next, create a scatter plot of the variables 'meangrade' and 'hrsstudy'.
Plot the 'meangrade' variable on the Y Axis. Copy and paste the scatter plot from your SPSS
output into this assignment, in the space below. (1 point)

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 Student Name: Student Number: Section Number: 901

PSYC 218 901 2023 Winter – Lab Assignment 2

Correlation

c. Does the relationship shown in the scatter plot in question 1b appear linear? (0.5 point) Is it
appropriate to calculate Pearson's r for the variables shown in the scatter plot? (0.5 point)
Yes, it appears to be linear although there might be a very small relationship. The Pearson’s r can be
used to calculate this.

d. Be sure to keep on the filter that you added in question 1b (i.e., continue to select only
participants with ‘hrsstudy’ less than 45) when completing the rest of the assignment. Why
is it important that you do this? (1 point)
It’s important because those participants that studied above 45 hours were extreme values ans
since mean and standard deviation are impacted by extreme values these can impact the
correlation too.
2. Calculate and report the correlation coefficients for the given pairs of variables in questions a to f.
In each part, be sure to use the proper notation to identify the type of correlation coefficient. Then
answer the questions in parts g to l. [9 points]

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 Student Name: Student Number: Section Number: 901

PSYC 218 901 2023 Winter – Lab Assignment 2

Correlation

a. 'motivation' and 'wellprepared' (0.5 pt) d. ‘extrovert’ and 'extracurric' (0.5 pt)
r =-0.24 r = 0.13
b. 'happy' and ‘exercise’ (0.5 pt) e. ‘thedress’ and ‘yannylaurel’ (0.5 pt)
r = -0.12 r = -0.08
c. 'hotdog' and 'friends' (0.5 pt) f. 'coffee' and 'spicyfood' (0.5 pt)
r = 0.16 r = 0.03
g. Interpret the correlation you reported in question 2a. (0.5 point) What conclusions can you
draw? (0.5 point)
There is a weak negative linear relationship between ‘motivation’ and ‘wellprepared’
meaning that there is a weak correlation between ‘motivation’ and ‘wellprepared.’
h. Interpret the correlation you reported in question 2b. (0.5 point) What conclusions can you
draw? (0.5 point)
There is a weak negative relationship between ‘happy’ and ‘exercise’ meaning that
increases in happiness levels cannot be linked to increases in exercise.
i. Interpret the correlation you reported in question 2c. (0.5 point) What conclusions can you
draw? (0.5 point)
There is a weak positive relationship meaning that increases in whether a hotdog is
considered a sandwich and having many friends can be correlated.
j. Interpret the correlation you reported in question 2d. (0.5 point) What conclusions can you
draw? (0.5 point)
There is a weak positive relationship meaning that increases in extraversion correlate with
increases in extracurricular activity.
k. Interpret the correlation you reported in question 2e. (0.5 point) What conclusions can you
draw? (0.5 point)
There is a weak negative correlation which means that the two variables have almost no
relationship.
l. Interpret the correlation you reported in question 2f. (0.5 point) What conclusions can you
draw? (0.5 point)
There is a weak positive relationship meaning that there is a tiny correlation with increases
in ‘coffee’ and ‘spicy food.’
3. Answer the following. [4.5 points]

a. Calculate and report the correlation between 'meangrade' and 'hrsstudy'. (0.5 point)

r = 0.22
b. Calculate and report the correlation between 'hrsstudy' and 'motivation'. (0.5 point)
r = -0.26
c. Calculate and report the partial correlation between 'meangrade' and 'hrsstudy', after
controlling for 'motivation'. (1.5 points)
r12.3 = 0.11

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 Student Name: Student Number: Section Number: 901

PSYC 218 901 2023 Winter – Lab Assignment 2

Correlation
d. Based on the results of questions 3a, 3b, and 3c what can you conclude about the influence
of motivation on the correlation between students' mean grades ('meangrade') and the
number of hours per week on average they spent studying ('hrsstudy')? (2 points)
Controlling for motivation, reduces the correlation making it weaker meaning that adding
the variable of motivation strengthens the relationship between ‘meangrade’ and ‘hrsstudy’

4. Use the select cases function to select only those subjects who reported more than 8 hours of
sleep per night. Continue to remove any outlier(s) we identified in Question 1a. Answer the
following. [4.5 points]

a. Calculate and report the correlation between 'satisfied' and 'hrssleep'. (0.5 point)
r = 0.17
b. What percentage of the variability in 'satisfied' was accounted for by ‘hrssleep’ before you
selected only subjects who reported more than 8 hours of sleep per night? (1 point)
7.27% of the variability in satisfaction was accounted for by ‘hrssleep.’
c. What percentage of the variability in ‘satisfied’ is accounted for by ‘hrssleep’ after you
selected only subjects who reported more than 8 hours of sleep per night? (1 point)
2.80% of the variability in ‘satisfied’ is accounted for ’hrssleep’ after selecting those subjects
that reported more than 8 hours of sleep per night.
d. What phenomenon is illustrated by the difference between your answers to questions 4b
and 4c? Alternatively, why are the values of the correlation coefficients so different in the
two cases? (2 points)
By putting on a filter that only accounts for a subgroup of the data, we are using the
phenomenon of range restriction that looks at less data than if we were examining all the
data which is why the variability (r square) value has decreased from 7.3% to 2.8% when we
selected only cases with more than 8 hours of sleep.

For TA use:
Total = /22 points
Late Deductions (2.75 points for each day late) =
Survey Deductions (5.5 points for failure to complete on time) =

Final Assignment Grade = /22

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