Description

You are the new director of institutional research at a small state university, and you have been assigned the task of analyzing information for the dean of the School of Education regarding the performance of their undergraduate students on the often-controversial Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Many educators believe the GRE is a poor evaluator of undergraduate performance as well as a poor predictor of graduate school performance. The dean is considering eliminating the GRE from graduate school admissions requirements.

The dean has already collected data on four variables: 1) gender, 2) grade point average (GPA), 3) GRE score, and 4) graduate degree completion frequency. Your job is to develop a proposed analysis to assist the dean to make an informed decision regarding the future use of the GRE.

You should also discuss the assumptions of each test. No data are required to be presented. This is similar to a question that you will encounter in your Doctoral Comprehensive Exams. You should provide information that shows your understanding of the different types of analyses, as well as possible outcomes of the analyses. In addition, you have to include in your discussion the possible conclusions based on the possible results: rejecting the null and not rejecting the null.

Using this information, develop the following foundational components for a proposed analysis. In your proposal, you will compose four research questions and an analysis of your results and recommendations. For each research question, you need to address:

·       Corresponding null and alternative hypotheses.

·       Type of statistical analysis to be employed to determine the significance.

·       Assumptions of each test.

·       Explanations of potential outcomes identifying both non-significant and significant relationships as related to both null and alternative hypotheses—you want to actually calculate results.

·       Recommendations based on non-significant and significant findings.

The four types of research questions are:

1.     A relationship research question involving GPA and GRE scores.

2.     A relationship research question involving gender, GPA, and GRE scores.

3.     An effect research question involving gender and GRE scores.

4.     An effect research question involving gender, GRE score, and degree completion frequency.

Finally, complete your analysis plan with a written of your potential results and recommendations for the dean based on your findings. Remember, there are additional resources available in the Supplemental Resources under Course Resources from the course home page.