Identifying Relationships Between Variables

Example Research Problem

One of the hypotheses tested by the authors of Alcohol Consumption and College
Life was that there is a correlation between gender and consumption of alcohol
!he hypothesis was that men consume more alcohol per wee" than women !o
test this hypothesis the authors performed a#
COMPARISON OF MEANS FROM INEPENEN! SAMP"ES $ E%aluating an
assertion about a relationship between %ariables using means or proportions
!esting for Independen#e Between Al#ohol Cons$%ption and Se&
S!EP '( &etermine the population parameter and formulate the hypotheses
Null Hypothesis '
(
#
m
)
f
Alternative Hypothesis '
a
#
m
*
f
one tail test di%ide +ig ,-.tailed/ by -
where
m
) men0s a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic drin"s

f
) women0s a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic drin"s
S!EP )( Conduct the test
+et ) (1
2n +P++ choose Analy3e*Compare 4eans*2ndependent.+amples T Test
and define groups as 5ender ,( 6/
SPSS O*!P*!
Analy+e,Co%pare Means,Independent Sa%ples ! !est
1
-ro$p Statisti#s
17 -689 --6- -:;
:6 7;( 71( 7:
5ender
4ale
<emale
=ee"ly Consumption
> 4ean +td &e%iation
+td Error
4ean
Independent Sa%ples !est
;17;1 ((( 1786 6?9 ((( 6?19 -1- :18 6:1?
?8(( 9?61; ((( 6?19 ;(; 81( -(9-
E@ual %ariances
assumed
E@ual %ariances
not assumed
=ee"ly Consumption
< +ig
Le%ene0s !est for
E@uality of Aariances
t df +ig ,-.tailed/
4ean
&ifference
+td Error
&ifference Lower Bpper
:1C Confidence
2nter%al of the
&ifference
t.test for E@uality of 4eans
Note( +P++ calculates two +ig ,-.tailed/D one for Equal variances assumed and
one for Equal variances not assumed !o decide which +ig ,-.tailed/ to useD
conduct the "e.ene/s !est for E0$ality of Varien#e
!he hypotheses are# '
(
#
-
m
)
-
f
'
a
#
-
m

-
f

+et ) (1 and reEect '
(
if Le%eneFs +ig G
((( G (1 reEect '
(
the %ariances are not e@ual
!o complete the 2ndependent +amples ! testD compare +ig ,-.tailed/H- for Equal
variances not assumed to
p.%alueH- ((( G (1 reEect '
(

NO!E( !hese results are highly significant because the testFs obtained level is
almost 3ero
S!EP 1( +tate the results
!he statistical e%idence indicates that menFs a%erage wee"ly consumption of
alcoholic drin"s is greater than womenFs
2
Example Research Problem ,cont/
Another hypothesis the authors of Alcohol Consumption and College Life tested
was that there is a correlation between age and consumption of alcohol !he
hypothesis was that students -6 years and older consume more alcohol per wee"
than those who are under -6
!esting for Independen#e Between Al#ohol Cons$%ption and Age
S!EP '( &etermine the population parameter and formulate the hypotheses
Null Hypothesis '
(
#
6
)
-
Alternative Hypothesis '
a
#
6
*
-
one tail test di%ide +ig ,-.tailed/ by -
where
6
) a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic drin"s by students -6 and
older

-
) a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic drin"s by students under
-6
S!EP )( Conduct the test
+et ) (1
2n +P++ choose Analy3e*Compare 4eans*2ndependent.+amples T Test
and define groups as Age ,6 -/
SPSS O*!P*!
Analy+e,Co%pare Means,Independent Sa%ples ! !est
3
-ro$p Statisti#s
:1 :1? 6(-: 6(9
1; 68:? --77 ;6;
Age
G-6
-6I
=ee"ly Consumption
> 4ean +td &e%iation
+td Error
4ean
Independent Sa%ples !est
69?(1 ((( .;?16 6?9 ((6 .:?6 -7; .6?7: .?(-
.-81( 9?(9- ((9 .:?6 ;;( .69(( .-86
E@ual %ariances
assumed
E@ual %ariances
not assumed
=ee"ly Consumption
< +ig
Le%ene0s !est for
E@uality of Aariances
t df +ig ,-.tailed/
4ean
&ifference
+td Error
&ifference Lower Bpper
:1C Confidence
2nter%al of the
&ifference
t.test for E@uality of 4eans
Conduct "e.ene/s !est for E0$ality of Varien#e
!he hypotheses are# '
(
#
-
6
)
-
-
'
a
#
-
6

-
-

+et ) (1 and reEect '
(
if Le%eneFs +ig G
((( G (1 reEect '
(
the %ariances are not e@ual
!o complete the 2ndependent +amples ! testD compare +ig ,-.tailed/H- for Equal
variances not assumed to
p.%alueH- )((9H- ) ((; G (1 reEect '
(

NO!E( !hese results are highly significant because the testFs obtained level
is((;
S!EP 1( +tate the results
!he statistical e%idence indicates that the a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic
drin"s by students -6 and older is greater than that of student who are under -6
4
Example Research Question
As part of the soccer studyD the research team hypothesi3ed that more boys played
soccer than girls !he results from the comparison of proportions ,ieD a comparison of
means for a yesHno %ariable/ appear below =as the team correct in its hypothesisJ
5
:1 ?((( ?:-1 1(1;E.(-
6(1 9-89 ?811 ?7;8E.(-
5ender
<emale
4ale
Played
+occer
> 4ean
+td
&e%iation
+td Error
4ean
-ro$p Statisti#s
991 ?69 .;;(- 6:8 ((6 .--89 9:--E.(- .;916 .:-6E.(-
.;;(( 6:1?-( ((6 .--89 9:-7E.(- .;91- .:-(E.(-
E@ual
%ariances
assumed
E@ual
%ariances
not
assumed
Played
+occer
< +ig
Le%ene0s !est for
E@uality of Aariances
t df
+ig
,-.tailed/
4ean
&ifference
+td Error
&ifference Lower Bpper
:1C Confidence
2nter%al of the 4ean
t.test for E@uality of 4eans
Independent Sa%ples !est
Example Research Problem
One of the hypotheses tested by the authors of Alcohol Consumption and College
Life was that there is a correlation between religiosity and consumption of
alcohol !he hypothesis was that students who are less religious consume more
alcohol per wee" !o test this hypothesis the authors performed a# ONE23A4
ANOVA $ E%aluating an assertion about a relationship by testing a hypothesis
about multiple groups
!o do so their @uestionnaire as"ed#
K- &uring a typical wee"D how many days per wee" do you consume alcoholic
be%eragesJLLLLLLL
K; On a%erageD how many drin"s do you consume each time you drin"J
LLLLLLL
K9 On a scale of one to fi%eD with fi%e being %ery religiousD how religious are
youJ
Aery Religious ) 1 ? ; - 6 ) >ot Religious
6 !o do the analysisD the authors multiplied the responses to K- and K;D and
used +P++ to generate a fre@uency table of the productD which they labeled
=ee"ly Consumption
- !hen they performed a one2way ANOVA to determine if there was a difference
in the a%erage number of drin"s consumed by students within each of the 1
religious categories
One2way ANOVA
S!EP '( &etermine the population parameter and formulate the hypotheses
Null Hypothesis '
(
#
6
)
-
)
;
)
?
)
1
Alternative Hypothesis '
a
#
6

-

;

?

1
where
6
) a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic drin"s by students who
rated their religiosity as 6M

-
) a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic drin"s by students who
rated their religiosity as -M
N

1
) a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic drin"s by students who
rated their religiosity as 1
6
S!EP )( Conduct the test
+et ) (1
2n +P++ choose Analy3e*Compare 4eans* One.way A>OAA
SPSS O*!P*!
Analy+e,Co%pare Means,One2way ANOVA
p.%alue ((( G (1 ReEect '
(
NO!E( !hese results are highly significant because the testFs obtained level is
almost 3ero
S!EP 1( +tate the results
!he statistical e%idence indicates that a%erage wee"ly consumption of alcoholic
drin"s is different among the different le%els of religiosity
7
ANOVA
=ee"ly Consumption
9(9191; ? 6169?6; 9?(7 (((
;;8?;(-- 6?; -;999?
;::(8979 6?7
Oetween 5roups
=ithin 5roups
!otal
+um of
+@uares df 4ean +@uare < +ig
!est of 5o%ogeneity of Varian#es
=ee"ly Consumption
9711 ? 6?; (((
Le%ene
+tatistic df6 df- +ig
IN!ERPRE!IN- !5E RES*"!S
6 !he hypothesis test indicates that there are differences between the mean
le%els of alcohol consumptionD but one.way A>OAA itself does not gi%e between
religiosity group comparisons
- 2n +P++D One.=ay A>OAA Post 'oc gi%es the between religiosity group
comparisons
; !he choice of post hoc analysis depends upon the results of a "e.ene/s !est
for 5o%ogeneity of Varien#e
!he hypotheses are# '
(
#
-
6
)
-
-
) N )
-
1
'
a
#
-
6

-
-
N
-
1
+et ) (1 and reEect '
(
if Le%eneFs +ig G
((( G (1 reEect '
(
the %ariances are not e@ual
? !o calculate the post hoc results in +P++ choose Analy3e*Compare 4eans*
One.way A>OAA*Post 'oc and select one of the Post Hoc Multiple
Comparisons or Equal !ariances Not Assumed"
8
SPSS O*!P*!
Analy+e,Co%pare Means,One2way ANOVA,Post 5o#,!a%ahane/s !)
>ote that a statistically significant difference , ) (1/ exist in the mean number of
drin"s consumed by indi%iduals who rated themsel%es as#
Religion - %s Religion 1 the a%erage =ee"ly Consumption of indi%iduals who
rated themsel%es as Religion - is 6:67 more than the indi%iduals who rated
themsel%es Religion 1
Religion ; %s Religion ? the a%erage =ee"ly Consumption of indi%iduals who
rated themsel%es as Religion ; is 7-9 more than the indi%iduals who rated
themsel%es Religion ?
9
M$ltiple Co%parisons
&ependent Aariable# =ee"ly Consumption
!amhane
.6-1 9(6; 6((( .-9;7 -;87
7(8 1?88 :9: .6189 ;((6
6?;; 18-1 ;8; .87( ;7;7
67:- 9(87 67( .16- ?(:7
6-1 9(6; 6((( .-;87 -9;7
8;; ;9:8 7:- .816 -169
6118 ?68; (7- .81 ;-(-
6:67P ?1?6 (6? -79 ;11:
.7(8 1?88 :9: .;((6 6189
.8;; ;9:8 7:- .-169 816
7-9P ;;8? (-6 97 6;8?
6(81P ;868 ((( ?;- 67;8
.6?;; 18-1 ;8; .;7;7 87(
.6118 ?68; (7- .;-(- 81
.7-9P ;;8? (-6 .6;8? .97
;1: ?-8: ;18 .6?8 899
.67:- 9(87 67( .?(:7 16-
.6:67P ?1?6 (6? .;11: .-79
.6(81P ;868 ((( .67;8 .?;-
.;1: ?-8: ;18 .899 6?8
,Q/ Religion
-
;
?
1
6
;
?
1
6
-
?
1
6
-
;
1
6
-
;
?
,2/ Religion
6
-
;
?
1
4ean
&ifference
,2.Q/ +td Error +ig Lower Oound Bpper Oound
:1C Confidence 2nter%al
!he mean difference is significant at the (1 le%el
P
Religion ; %s Religion 1 the a%erage =ee"ly Consumption of indi%iduals who
rated themsel%es as Religion ; is 6(81 more than the indi%iduals who rated
themsel%es Religion 1
10