Module 2 chp 3-4

A researcher presented a recent study, which showed a statistical significance between increased consumption of sugar and increased tests scores in young children. How can she explain to the chief medical officer that advertising the importance of increasing sugar in children's diets should not be broadcast in the media?

A significant result does not mean that the effect is important

In SPSS, what is the data view window?

A spreadsheet into which data can be entered.

Which of the following is the most appropriate location to enter raw data?

Data view

In your experiment (Q21) you also ask some qualitative questions to enrich the statistical data. What is the correct way to record non-numerical values in SPSS?

Define the variable as 'string'.

How is a variable name different from a variable label?

It is shorter and less detailed.

Which of the following could not be represented by columns in the SPSS data editor?

Levels of between-group variables.

Which of these variables would require coding prior to data entry?

Marital status of participants

Your CEO has just read a book on criticisms of the NHST and worries that all company data analysis is now flawed and will lead to huge financial losses. How might you reassure her?

NHST does have its flaws but if we incorporate an examination of effect sizes into our analysis, we should be able to trust our research outputs

A researcher was assessing customer satisfaction with MakeMebeautiful, a new beauty product. He had a sample size of 75 and a p-value of 0.10. Does the researcher recommend that the company stop promoting this product?

No, because the sample size is large and therefore the p values are accurate

A recruitment analyst wanted to examine the likelihood that advertising on social media is more effective than in print media for recruiting the best candidates. She conducted one study where the probability of making a Type I error was 0.05 and a Type II error was 0.2. Does her research have empirical probability?

No, to have empirical probability the likelihood of an effect being detected requires a series of repeated identical experiments, where the probability of making a Type I error is 0.05 and a Type II error is 0.2.

What is the default setting for variables in SPSS?

Numeric

Which of the following is a popular effect size for counts?

Odds ratio

Why do business analysts use SPSS rather than performing calculations by hand?

Quantitative data analysis is so complex today it is essential to use a stats package. It reduces the chance of making errors in your calculations. It equips you with a useful transferable skill.

What operation does the 'Recode into Different Variables' initiate?

Redistributes a range of values into a new set of categories and creates a new variable.

You lead a product-testing unit for a large pharmaceutical company. Your team has conducted forty trials of a new antibiotic but you are not sure if the results are conclusive enough to urge the company to start producing the new drug. A new data analyst has joined your team suggesting that meta-analysis might be a good idea, do you agree?

Yes, because the forty trials were identical and tested the same research question and therefore we can calculate an average effect size for the new drug

Your CEO has followed your advice and now wants you to measure effect sizes. You report a Pearson's r of 0.50 for the impact of Unblock Me Now drain cleaner on reducing drain blockage time. Your CEO wants to know if this is bad, as she remembers that a p-value of 0.30 is not good. What do you tell her?

You tell her that effect size and p-values are not the same and that a Pearson's r of 0.50 is a large effect, suggesting she should rollout the launch ofUnblock Me Now.

A researcher working in a Human Resources department was interested in gender and sales figures so he conducted a t-test. The mean for males was 66.25 and the mean for females was 78.24, with both groups having a standard deviation of 7. What is the effect size using Cohen's d?

-1.712

Which of the following are SPSS file types?

.sav .sps .spv

If you see in SPSS the number 8.51 E-02 reported, what is the actual value of this number?

8.51 x 10-2

A human resources manager in the IT sector was concerned about unconscious bias in recruitment panels. There were two posts and seven candidates, four men and three women. Theoretically, all the candidates have an equal probability of being hired as they all match the selection criteria. However, the manager has data that suggests that it is more likely men will be hired based on data from across the IT sector and within her own company. However, the manager has implemented many equality initiatives within her company and therefore wants to determine the probability that still no women will be hired. What formula could she use to determine this probability and assess the impact of unconscious bias in her company's recruitment?

Bayes Theorem? or is it Cronbachs alpha?

Which of the following variable names uses a "hard space"?

Birth_Date

To open a file in SPSS, you must do which of the following:

Choose Data, Output, or Syntax, according to the type of file you want to open

How would you use the drop-down menus in SPSS to generate a frequency table?

Click on Analyze → Descriptive Statistics → Frequencies

Which of the following statements is true about coding variables?

Coding variables use numbers to represent different groups of data.

An HR manager was interested in employee use of company on-site gyms across twenty sites. Different researchers collected and analysed data across each of the sites but the resultant twenty reports showed differing p-values, some sites found a statistical significance between opening hours of on-site gyms and employee usage and others did not. Which of the following would it useful for her to review?

Confidence intervals

You conduct an experiment on whether a new treatment for chronic dry mouth is more effective than the traditional treatment at relieving chronic dry mouth. Analyzing your results, you calculate a Bayes factor of 0.5. What does this mean?

Evidence suggests that the traditional treatment is 2 times more likely than the new treatment to be effective

Why might your experimental data file have 'missing data'?

Some of a participant's responses might be missing.

In SPSS, what is the viewer?

The screen in which the results of any analysis appear

Which are factors in data analysts' over-use of p-values and NHST in business and marketing research?

Time constraints within research encourages quick results. Pressure to get a significant result that CEOs can easily understand and apply. Company bonus structures incentivise 'results'.

A trainee data analyst for a large social media company, which has falling site usage, has just completed a study into factors that affect site users' satisfaction levels. However, he finds only one statistically significant factor, which he includes in his report, but he deliberately omits the other six non-significant findings. What is the term for what the data analyst has done?

p-hacking