Connecting students to knowledge
and its application
Southern Utah University
Lynn White, Ph.D.
Statistics Lab
Description and Objectives
This laboratory course is designed to give you hands-on experience analyzing and interpreting data. To do this, you will need to apply the facts, theories, and concepts you learn about in PSY 3010, Statistics for Psychology. By applying the material learned in PSY 3010, you will take your learning to a whole new level – empowering you far more than what a lecture-based course could do.
By the end of the laboratory course, successful students will be able to:
1) enter and code variables into SPSS (a statistical software program)
2) enter data sets into SPSS
3) execute and interpret descriptive statistics and inferential tests using SPSS
4) use a powerpoint presentation to disseminate your empirical research results
How will we do this?
GUIDED LAB ANALYSES AND ASSIGNMENTS
I have collected data on digital well-being and optimism for the future, both before and after COVID hit and the campus closed in March 2020. You will watch video tutorials showing you how to analyze the pre-COVID data. You will then do the same analysis on the post-COVID data. We recently fond well-being took a nosedive. Has it rebounded? Guess we'll find out, eh?
TEAM PROJECT AND ASSIGNMENTS
You will be on a team to analyze, interpret, and share the results from one of six important, if not controversial, surveys. You will analyze and interpret this data using the same tests you learned through the guided analyses. The six surveys are: gun violence, climate change, immigration, discrimination (everywhere except in our backyard), transgender discrimination, and COVID vaccine myths.
The Dreaded SPSS test
I say "dreaded" but by this time, you should all be "experts" using SPSS. To ease the anxiety you might otherwise feel, there will be two versions. If you take both, I will take your highest score. Also, the test is open notes, open book. If you do well, you should include "Competent with SPSS statistical software, analyses, and interpretation" on your resume or CV. Impressive!!