Statistics

Activity: Evaluating Statistical Information: Product Selection

*Evaluating Statistical Information, Statistics / , , , , , /

This activity gives students practice evaluating statistical information by placing them in the role of a therapist who needs to purchase software for her practice. It also helps show students the value of understanding concepts from research/statistics in contexts other than doing research. This activity should take approximately 15-20 minutes. Students could work individually or […]

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Lab Activity: How Does Novelty Impact Food Enjoyment? (t-test for Independent Means/Samples)

08. Two-Group Design, 10. t test For Two Independent/Unrelated Samples, Research Methods, Statistics / , , , /

In this activity (created by Dr. Eliane Boucher), students will participate in a simplified version of the first study conducted by O’Brien and Smith (2019). In this study, participants were instructed to eat a familiar food (popcorn) in a conventional or an unconventional way (with chopsticks). Participants then rated how enjoyable the food was (note

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Lab Activity: Caramel Apples and the single sample t-test (SPSS)

*Statistical Software Packages, 09. Introduction to t-Tests: The Single Sample t-Test and t-Test for Dependent Means, Statistics / , , /

This is an activity (created by Dr. Maya G. Sen) that has has students collect data that they analyze (by hand and with SPSS) using a single-sample t-test. They compare the weights of a sample of Caramel Apple Pops to the population mean (i.e., the advertised weight). Materials NeededEnough Caramel Apple Pops for everyone (including

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How Going Online Can Benefit Students

Research Methods, Statistics / , , , , /

In the article “Thinking about a Gap Year”, Dr. E. Michele Ramsey reviews research that “…gives us insight into how students can benefit from learning to successfully navigate college online during Covid-19 when being on campus just isn’t a great idea.” Essentially, learning to learn online provides students with the opportunity to cultivate many employable

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Link: High Quality Instruction Post-COVID

Research Methods, Statistics / , , /

From the site: The playbook provides a path for continuous improvement of instruction along a quality-oriented continuum.  Design guides immediate and basic needs for moving a course online. It is useful for translation of face-to-face or blended courses for fully-online delivery.‍ Enhance provides options to strengthen the student learning experience. It is useful for improving face-to-face course

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Exemplar Study: Do Graphic Warnings Make Cigarettes Less Cool? (Mixed Design)

10. Within-Subjects Design, 12. Mixed Design, 12. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA), Research Methods, Statistics / , , , , , , /

This study examined the effectiveness of graphic warnings (i.e., pictures) for reducing the appeal of tobacco products. In the study, researchers exposed smokers and nonsmokers to combinations of large versus small warning labels and the inclusion versus omission of graphic pictures on three types of tobacco products. For the within-subjects component, each participant saw advertisements

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Exemplar Study: Does Cuteness Make Us Careful? (Mixed Design)

09. Introduction to t-Tests: The Single Sample t-Test and t-Test for Dependent Means, 10. Within-Subjects Design, 12. Mixed Design, 12. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA), Research Methods, Statistics / , , , , , , /

This article examined how the perception of cuteness influences behavioral carefulness, enhancing people’s ability to care for infants. While researchers took physiological measures of heart activity and skin conductance, they exposed participants to a slide show of pictures of either infant animals (kittens and puppies) previously judged as very cute or adult animals (cats and

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Exemplar Study: Can You Accurately Judge Romantic Interest? (Mixed Design)

10. Within-Subjects Design, 12. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA), Research Methods, Statistics / , , , , , , /

This study sought to determine whether a third party could discern romantic interest between two strangers. To test this, male and female observers watched video clips of speed-dating situations to determine the individual speed dater’s level of romantic interest toward the speed-dating partner. Participants observed clips of different lengths (10 vs. 30 s), and from

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Exemplar Study: Texting to Ostracize (Factorial Design)

03. Ethics: Making Ethical Decisions in Research, 11. Factorial Design, 13. Factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Research Methods / , , , , , , , , /

This study sought to determine if a woman’s appearance influences perceptions of her ability to perform a job. Undergraduates rated photographs of women as part of a 2 (Career: office assistant vs. CEO ) X 2 (Appearance: professional attire vs. sexual attire) design. Participants rated photos along several dimensions such as grade point average, organizational

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Exemplar Study: How Does Attire Influence Perceptions of Women in the Workplace? (Factorial Design)

11. Factorial Design, 13. Factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Research Methods / , , , , , /

This study sought to determine if a woman’s appearance influences perceptions of her ability to perform a job. Undergraduates rated photographs of women as part of a 2 (Career: office assistant vs. CEO ) X 2 (Appearance: professional attire vs. sexual attire) design. Participants rated photos along several dimensions such as grade point average, organizational

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Exemplar Study: Must Be Love on the Brain (Within-Subjects/Repeated-Measures Design)

10. Within-Subjects Design, 12. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA), Research Methods / , , , , , /

This research focused on the brain functioning of people in love. Participants who rated themselves as being intensely in love, viewed a photo of their beloved, did a distracter task, and then viewed a photo of a neutral acquaintance while researchers took functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI). Each participant repeated the procedure six times. When

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Exemplar Study: Can Using Obscenities Make You More Persuasive? (Multigroup Design)

09. Multigroup Design, 11. One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Research Methods / , , , , , , , /

This multigroup experiment examined the use of an obscenity on thepersuasiveness of a pro-attitudinal message and on perceptions of thecommunicator. Participants watched one of three versions of a video inwhich the speaker advocated lowering tuition at another university. In thefirst version, the speaker used the word “damn” at the beginning of themessage. In the second

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Exemplar Study: Social Exclusion and Prosocial Behavior (Multigroup Design)

03. Ethics: Making Ethical Decisions in Research, 09. Multigroup Design, 11. One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Research Methods / , , , , , , , , /

This article indicated that being excluded from social groups leads todecreases in prosocial behavior. Participants received either no feedback on apersonality measure or one of three types of false feedback that indicated afuture full of rewarding relationships, loneliness, or unfortunate accidents.Participants receiving the social exclusion feedback were unwilling tovolunteer for further lab experiments and, after

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Exemplar Study: Tipping in Restaurants (Two-group Design/Simple Experiment)

08. Two-Group Design, 10. t test For Two Independent/Unrelated Samples, Research Methods / , , , , , , , , , /

To evaluate the effect that a helpful message from a server might have on restaurant tips, the server either wrote a message about an upcoming dinner special on the back of the dining check or left it blank. Dining parties who received a check with the helpful message tipped a higher percentage of the final

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Resources: Best Books for Teaching Online

Research Methods, Statistics / , , /

This is a collection of books that can help with moving your research methods or statistics course online. Although they may not address methods and stats specifically, instructors can easily adapt the ideas in these books to their own courses. Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes by Flower Darby & James M.

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Link: Spurious Correlation Examples

*Open Science, 02. Frequency Distributions and Visual Displays of Data, 07. Correlational/Survey Research, Research Methods / , , , /

A website dedicated to creating charts depicting ridiculous correlations (like the one in the picture–clearly we must stop putting Nicolas Cage in films!). You can also pick two variables of your own from a list including topics like: interesting causes of death, sunlight by state, marriage and divorce rates. A great way for students to

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Practice: Calculating the Pearson r Correlation (Video Games and GPA)

07. Correlational/Survey Research, 14. Correlation, Research Methods, Statistics / , /

Instructors should assign this problem (about how many hours per week they played video games and their GPA) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a Pearson r correlation and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the hypotheses, calculating the correlation coefficient, making a decision

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Practice: Calculating the Pearson r Correlation (Math and Spelling Ability)

07. Correlational/Survey Research, 14. Correlation, Research Methods, Statistics / , /

Instructors should assign this problem (about scores on a math and a spelling test) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a Pearson r correlation and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the hypotheses, calculating the correlation coefficient, making a decision about the null hypotheses

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Practice: Calculating the Pearson r Correlation (Height and Running Speed)

07. Correlational/Survey Research, 14. Correlation, Research Methods, Statistics / , /

Instructors should assign this problem (about how height and running speed in the 40 yard dash) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a Pearson r correlation and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the hypotheses, calculating the correlation coefficient, making a decision about the

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Practice: Calculating the t-test for Independent Samples/Means (Temperature and Mood)

08. Two-Group Design, 10. t test For Two Independent/Unrelated Samples, Research Methods, Statistics / , , /

Instructors should assign this problem (about how temperature impacts mood) to students as in-class practice or homework after students have learned how to calculate a t-test for independent means and test for significance. The activity leads students through determining the type of statistical analysis to use, the hypotheses, calculating the t-ratio and effect size (if

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