Description

Assignment Details

Upon successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1.    Proficiently manage data

2.    Critically appraise evidence and present reports that can inform practice

3.    Design professionally relevant and ethical research studies using appropriate methodology

4.    Conduct advanced quantitative analyses using appropriate software

The first assignment assesses learning outcomes: 1 and 3.

This is a multiple part assignment where,

1. You will analyze a given data set to explore answers to a given set of questions/problems
2. Critically evaluate the outcome using relevant literature

A set of data collected from a group of 275 individuals (n = 275) will be given to you on an Excel sheet. The dataset includes the following details

-          Participant code

-          Sex

-          Age

-          Relationship status

-          Whether or not they have children below the age of 18

-          Highest completed level of education

-          Whether they smoke or not

-          A 10 items locus of control scale (LC Scale where higher the score is higher the internal locus of control is and lower the score is, lower the internal locus of control is)

-          An 18 item life satisfaction scale (LS where higher the score is, higher the life satisfaction is)

You will first code the data and input into an SPSS file. You will then manage the data calculating totals as required. You will analyze the dataset using IBM SPSS, and present the results in APA format

The word count for this assignment is 2500 words (+/- 10%). Word count excludes statistics, tables and graphs, in-text citations and reference list. You may decide how you want to divide the words among the sections.

Study title: Life Satisfaction and Locus of Control among Smokers and Non-Smokers

Part 1

-          Write a 300 word summary outlining the study and the data collected

 Part 2

-          Provide a summary of the descriptive statistics of the demographic data. Present these information using APA format

-          Also provide a detailed summary of the average scores on the two scales.

-          In the last section of part 1, provide an analysis of the average scores on the two scales based on demographic data. For example, do men display a greater internal locus of control compared to women? Do people who have higher educational qualifications display a higher life satisfaction?

-          Provide commentary on any interesting findings that come out of this section. You may use past literature to do so

Part 3

-          Research suggests that men are more likely to smoke than women. Based on the given data, do you agree? Please present the relevant results in APA format. Provide a one paragraph commentary about your findings

Part 4

-          According to research, people in stable relationships display a higher life satisfaction. This is found to be true among highly educated people too. In other words, more educated you are, higher the life satisfaction. Furthermore, studies show that people who don’t smoke also display higher life satisfaction than those who do. Based on the data given, do you agree? Please present the relevant results in APA format. Provide a detailed commentary about your findings. Are there any interesting patterns? Could this output be relevant to the local context? (give main effects and interactions of all three independent variables)

Part 5

-          Even though many would believe that having a child decreases the chances of engaging in a risk behavior such as smoking, statistics show that these two variables are not related. In other words, having a child does not predict non-smoking behaviour. Conduct the relevant statistical test to explore whether those who have children are less likely to smoke compared to those who don’t.

Part 6

-          Are there any significant links between locus of control and life satisfaction? Is having a higher internal locus of control a predictor of life satisfaction?

Part 7

-          Provide an overall summary of the findings (you do not need to repeat statistics here)

-          Discuss the implications of the study