Essay PSY2202: Research Methods in Psychology 2 – Null Hypothesis Research – Psychology Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Part A: Research Scenario (24 points) 

In the research scenario presented below, you are required to provide answers to various questions, asked to comment on what might be wrong with the design employed, and provide suggestions on how the study design can be improved. 

Part A, Section 1: Background 

A researcher wanted to investigate the relationship between saving money and marital satisfaction. He reasoned that married people who were economically well off would have fewer arguments about money and hence, lead happier lives. To investigate this, he identified a group of 20 couples who regularly saved money and a group of 20 couples who rarely, if ever, saved money and asked both groups to fill out the Manchester Marital Satisfaction scale. The researcher analysed the results and found that the group who regularly saved money were more satisfied with their marriages than the other group and concluded that saving money directly results in an increase in marital satisfaction. 

Part A, Section 2: Assignment Task 

Answer the following questions. 

1. State the Null hypothesis (Ho) for this research scenario. (2 points) 

2. State the Alternative hypothesis (Ha) for this research scenario. (2 points) 

3. What is (are) the ‘Independent Variable(s)’ and the levels of the IV? (4 points) 

4. What is (are) the ‘Dependent Variable(s)’? (2 points) 

5. Why are the researcher’s conclusions not justified? (10 points) 

6. How may this research be recast in terms of an experimental design? (4 points) In answering the questions, 

• it is in your best interests for your answers to be as precise and succinct as possible; 

• type the number of each question and format your answers using the questions as your headings (e.g., 1. Null hypothesis; 2. Alternative hypothesis; 3. IV and levels, etc.); 

• leave a line space between the answer to each question. 

There is a ONE (1) page limit for answers to Part A. Use Times or Times New Roman 12- point font (Times is the font used in this assignment). Block justify your text (just like the text in this document); do not use left- or right-justification. You may use either single- or double-line spacing. 

Part B: Research Analyses – t-test 

Part B, Section 1: Background 

An educational psychologist believed that daily instruction in phonics (i.e., how to sound out letters phonetically) would help Year 4 primary school children improve some aspects of their reading ability. She arranged for a Year 4 class of 15 students to receive a daily 40- minute practice session in phonics by a registered phonics instructor for eight weeks. A control classroom of 15 Year 4 students followed the same curriculum but without the phonics sessions. At the end of the eight-week period, all students were given a Degree of Reading Ability (DRA) test designed to measure their reading fluency. The higher the DRA score, the higher the reading fluency. The data for the two groups are provided below. 

Table 1 DRA scores for Year 4 students 

Phonics Group Control Group 31 65 41 18 5 37 93 60 2 58 12 24 78 60 0 2 32 3 17 29 60 0 30 2 62 1 79 4 62 42 

Part B, Section 2: Assignment Task 

Write up the analyses as you would in the Results and Discussion section of a journal article, including the report of a central tendency measure, a variability measure, and the outcome of the t-test (30 points). The centred heading you should use at the top of the page is Results and Discussion (exactly like this). You should also create and embed a graph of the data (15 points). Follow this up with discussion (20 points) in which you: 

(a) present some conclusions about the relationship between phonics and reading ability; (b) discuss the shortcomings of the study’s design and the possible confounds; (c) provide some suggestions for improvement of the study’s design. 

Please read the following formatting instructions. The Results and Discussion section of this question has a ONE (1) page limit. Failure to read, understand, and follow these instructions will lead to lost marks! 

• The Results and Discussion section must be formatted according to current APA style (7th Edition of the APA Publication Manual) and typed on A4 paper. (Tip: ensure that 

your Page Setup is for A4 paper size.). No handwritten assignments will be accepted. Use Times or Times New Roman 12-point font (Times is the font used in this assignment), double-spaced, with 2.54-cm margins left and right, top and bottom. Block justify your text (just like the text in this document); do not use left- or right- justification. If you follow these instructions, you should have a maximum of 25 lines per A4 page. In other words, do not include more than 25 lines per A4 page. 

• Your Results and Discussion section should be no more than ONE (1) page long. If you go over the 1-page limit or format your Results and Discussion section in a way that looks like it goes over the 1-page limit, then the lines you write in excess of the 1- page limit will not be read or considered. In addition, you will be automatically penalised a minimum of 7 points. No appeals – none whatsoever, for any possible reason – to this automatic 7-point penalty will be accepted. In other words, you must check that your Turnitin submission is formatted exactly how you intend it to be. 

• The graph must be formatted in APA style, with an appropriate APA-formatted caption. The graph may be either hand-drawn or computer-drawn. For example, it is perfectly acceptable to hand-draw the graph, scan and insert the hand-drawn graph into your document as a picture file, and then format the caption for the graph in APA style. The graph and caption must be formatted within the 1-page Results and Discussion section, just like it would appear in a journal article. 

• For examples on how to format a graph in APA style, examine a range of recent (i.e., within the past five years) journal articles from APA-branded journals. You may download sample APA journal articles from the ECU Library or by visiting www.apa.org 

To be clear and unambiguous: Everything you write in your Results and Discussion section for this question – headings, graph, words, everything – must be within the 1-page limit.