SPSS Assignment 2
- Describe in your own words what type of research situations call for a researcher to use an ANOVA analysis.
ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) is most appropriate where researchers need to compare more than three conditions or groups to determine if their means significantly vary from each other. The statistical technique of choice for research designs where researchers need to determine how more than one level of categorical independent variable has an impact on a continuous dependent variable is ANOVA. For example, a researcher would use ANOVA to compare three approaches to teaching how well pupils fare on their exams to determine how varying doses of drugs impact recovery in patients or how varying methods of advertising impact consumer spending: SPSS Assignment 2.
ANOVA is so beneficial in that it guards against Type I errors that would have occurred if numerous t-tests had been employed in their stead. ANOVA can even analyze more than one independent variable (factorial ANOVA) or repeated measures at more than several points in time (repeated measures ANOVA), so it is a tool that is used widely for complicated research designs.
2a) Use the Compare Means function (select Analyze, select Compare Means and Proportions, and then select Means) to compare the means of the three Sound conditions on Anxiety and Performance.
2b) Based on these results, on which variable does it appear most likely that significant differences might exist based on the Sound condition?
Based on these results, it would appear that the largest differences would be in performance on the math test in accordance with the Sound condition. Mean performance scores for all three background music conditions exhibit large variability: individuals in the Classical music condition reported largest mean performance (M = 67.71), followed by individuals in the Rock music condition (M = 60.00), while individuals in the White Noise condition reported lowest performance (M = 59.14).
On the other hand, the level of anxiety for all three conditions was relatively consistent with only small variability, which would suggest that the Sound condition may have larger effects on performance on the math test than on the level of anxiety. Differences in performance thus suggest that background music may have larger effects on affecting individuals’ performance on the math test than on the level of anxiety.
- Conduct a one-way ANOVA on both Anxiety and Performance using Sound as the independent variable. That is, conduct two separate one-way ANOVAs, one with Anxiety as the dependent variable and one with Performance as the dependent variable.
- Based on these results, were either of your ANOVAs significant? How can you tell? Use a cutoff level of 0.05 for your decision.
Based on the results of ANOVAs, testing of the level of anxiety in the test was not significant given that the p-value of 0.824 is greater than the cut-point level of 0.05. This implies that background music did not have an impact on the level of anxiety of participants in the test, given that there were no appreciable differences across the groups. Alternatively, performance in general testing of mathematics was significantly tested by ANOVA through a p-value of 0.020, which is less than the cut-point level of 0.05.
This implies that background music significantly impacted performance, given that at least the music condition was different from other conditions in terms of scores in mathematics tests. Therefore, background music did not have an impact on the level of anxiety but was found to have an impact on performance in mathematics, reiterating that sound condition was of importance in impacting the results of participants in their tests.
4a) Remember that in a one-way ANOVA, we are only looking at the impact of one variable on the dependent variable. Factorial ANOVAs, on the other hand, assess the impact of multiple independent variables. Conduct a factorial ANOVA on Performance using both Sound and Experience as independent variables.
Be sure to choose the option to view the estimated marginal means (by selecting “EM Means” instead of “Options”) for all of your main effects and interactions. This choice will allow you to easily interpret the results
4b) Write the results of the ANOVA. For help, refer to the “How to Present the Results of a Two-Way ANOVA” section of the webpage, Two-Way ANOVA: Examples and When to Use It.
A two-way factorial analysis of variance was employed to analyze how background music type (Rock, Classical, White Noise) and pre-existing experience in mathematics (High, Low) influenced performance on a general mathematics test. There was found to be a significant background music type and pre-existing experience in mathematics effects on performance. There was found to be a significant influence on performance by background music type, F (2, 35) = 7.339, p = .002, where people listening to music that was of the Classical style performed significantly higher than people listening to music that was of the Rock or White Noise style.
There was found to be a significant influence on performance by pre-existing experience in mathematics, F(1, 35) = 39.481, p < .001, where people with pre-existing high experience in mathematics significantly performed higher than people with pre-existing low experience in mathematics.
The results also showed that there was a significant interaction between background music type and pre-existing experience in mathematics, an F(2, 35) = 3.456, p = .043. This would imply that background music’s influence on performance was mediated by pre-existing experience in the mathematics of people. To put it more concretely, the helpful effects of music that were of the Classical style on performance were more pronounced for people with pre-existing high experience in mathematics, while music condition was of lesser influence for people with pre-existing low experience in mathematics. Overall, these results illustrate that background music and pre-existing experience in mathematics influence performance on a mathematics test, whose impact was in an interactive way.
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Question
Before You Begin the Assignment
- Read Chapter 14 in your Beginning Behavior Research: A Conceptual Primer textbook and Chapter 13 in your Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics
- Review the video tutorial for an overview of conducting ANOVA analyses in SPSS.
- Access and open the Test Performance SPSS data set.
To Submit Your Assignment
- The best way to paste your output into this assignment document is to do the following:
- Select Copy when copying from the SPSS output.
- To paste in Word, your document must be open within the VDI. Use a shared drive (such as OneDrive) or access your learning environment within the virtual desktop to download this document.
- Select Paste and then resize the image to fit the screen in Word.
An Overview of the Data Set
This data set represents hypothetical data from a study that examined how background music affected performance on a math test. Specifically, participants were randomly assigned to take a general math test with rock music, classical music, or white noise playing in the background. Further, participants were classified as being either high or low in math experience based on the number of college math courses they had taken.
Here is some more information about the variables in this hypothetical data set:
- Number: Participant’s ID number
- Sound: The type of background music participants heard while taking the test; 1 = rock, 2 = classical, and 3 = white noise
- Experience: Participants who had taken three or more college math courses were classified as being high in math experience, whereas participants who had taken fewer than three were classified as being low; 1 = high and 2 = low
- Anxiety: Anxiety during the test, with possible scores ranging from 0 to 50; higher scores indicate higher levels of anxiety
- Performance: Performance on the general math test, with possible scores ranging from 0 to 100; higher scores indicate better performance on the test
SPSS Assignment 2
Questions
1) Describe in your own words what type of research situations call for a researcher to use an ANOVA analysis.
[Insert your answer.]
2a) Use the Compare Means function (select Analyze, select Compare Means and Proportions, and then select Means) to compare the means of the three Sound conditions on Anxiety and Performance.
[Paste your output.]
2b) Based on these results, on which variable does it appear most likely that significant differences might exist based on the Sound condition?
[Insert your answer.]
3a) Conduct a one-way ANOVA on both Anxiety and Performance using Sound as the independent variable. That is, conduct two separate one-way ANOVAs, one with Anxiety as the dependent variable and one with Performance as the dependent variable.
[Paste your output.]
3b) Based on these results, were either of your ANOVAs significant? How can you tell? Use a cutoff level of 0.05 for your decision.
[Insert your answer.]
4a) Remember that in a one-way ANOVA, we are only looking at the impact of one variable on the dependent variable. Factorial ANOVAs, on the other hand, assess the impact of multiple independent variables. Conduct a factorial ANOVA on Performance using both Sound and Experience as independent variables.
Be sure to choose the option to view the estimated marginal means (by selecting “EM Means” instead of “Options”) for all of your main effects and interactions. This choice will allow you to easily interpret the results.
[Paste your output for Test of Between-Subjects Effects only.]
4b) Write the results of the ANOVA. For help, refer to the “How to Present the Results of a Two-Way ANOVA” section of the webpage, Two-Way ANOVA: Examples and When to Use It.
[Insert your answer.]
RESOURCES:
- Video
- SPSS Tutorial Video 2: ANOVA 1
- Textbook:
- Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics, Chapter 14
- .This chapter is an overview of how to conduct factorial ANOVA analyses in SPSS.
- Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics, Chapter 14









