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Psychology 250 - Homework 2 - Page 1

This document provides instructions for students to complete Homework 2 for Psychology 250, which involves using SPSS to conduct descriptive statistics and z-score transformations on a dataset containing height and weight information for 228 participants. Students are asked to find descriptive statistics for the full sample and their same-sex subset, and to identify the tallest/lightest and most similar-sized students based on z-scores for height and weight.

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Xandre Dmitri Clementsmith
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88 views

Psychology 250 - Homework 2 - Page 1

This document provides instructions for students to complete Homework 2 for Psychology 250, which involves using SPSS to conduct descriptive statistics and z-score transformations on a dataset containing height and weight information for 228 participants. Students are asked to find descriptive statistics for the full sample and their same-sex subset, and to identify the tallest/lightest and most similar-sized students based on z-scores for height and weight.

Uploaded by

Xandre Dmitri Clementsmith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Psychology 250 - Homework 2 - Page 1

Psychology 250: Psychological Statistics


Dr. Widholm
Homework 2: SPSS - Descriptive Statistics and z Score Transformations (20 Points)

I have abided by the College of Charleston’s Honor Code while working on this assignment. I am
allowed to work with other students on this homework assignment and check my work with theirs.
However, signing below indicates that I have conducted the analyses independently, and that the
work I am turning in is my own.

Name __________________________________ Signature: ____________________________

Go to the OAKS portal and download the SPSS data file (Height_Weight_Data) that I have posted
for this assignment (SPSS Data Sets) onto your computer or flash drive. If you “mess up,” a clean
copy of the data is always available online. Assignments must be stapled (1 point penalty)

Double-click the file to open the SPSS data editor (it’s slow). The data set has three columns
representing sex, height, and weight variables. If you hold the mouse over a column name, a label will
pop up (this is useful in determining what “1” and “2” represent in the sex column). The data set has
many rows, 228 to be exact, each holding three pieces of information for a group of participants. Click the
Variable View tab at the bottom of the screen and note the scale of measurement (under “Measure”
column) of each variable (remember, “Scale” measurement in SPSS includes both interval and ratio
measures).

Return to the Data View (click the bottom tab) and note that the cases (individuals) are currently sorted by
height.

1. Perform descriptive statistics on the height and weight variables using Frequencies option.
a. While in the Data Editor, go to the menu bar and click Analyze – Descriptive Statistics -
Frequencies. Click the Height variable and move it to the right window by pressing the
arrow key. Click the Weight variable and move it to the right window by pressing the arrow
key. Uncheck the small Display frequency tables box (do not include a frequency
distribution table).
b. * Click the Statistics button at the top of the screen and select only those statistics that are
requested on the other side of this handout. This will create a table that includes the basic
descriptive statistics needed to describe the sample. Press the Continue button, and then
press the OK button. It may take a minute or two for the analysis to run.

Record below, to 2 decimal places, the following statistics for the entire sample. If these values appear
in your output as whole numbers, then double-click the table, right-click the cell, choose “Cell Properties,”
and set “Decimals” to 2. There is no need to save the output.

Descriptive Statistic Height Weight

Mean

Standard Deviation
Psychology 250 - Homework 2 - Page 2
2. Now, we are going to reanalyze the data by your sex, and this will require you to sort the cases.

In the data set, go to the tool bar and click Data - Sort Cases. Move the sex variable to the Sort by
window. If you are a female, the Sort Order should be Ascending; if you are a male, the Sort Order
should be Descending. Click OK and delete the Output window that appears. Note that the original data
set has now been resorted by sex: Students of your sex are in either the first 180 rows (female) or the
first 48 rows (male). Select the students who are not your sex and delete them! What remains is either
a large set (female) or a small set (sorry, guys) of data. Use File – Save As to save this new data set with
a different name. Delete the Output window that appears.

3. Create a table of descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, standard error of the mean
and range) for the height and weight of this new set of same-sex students – BUT, do it differently
than before.

a. Go to the tool bar and click Analyze – Descriptive Statistics – Descriptives. Move the
height and weight variables to the variable window, click the Options button, select the
mean, standard deviation, standard error of the mean (S.E. Mean) and range as the
descriptive statistics (leave “Display Order” set at “Variable List”), and press Continue.

You are now back in the “Descriptives” window. Check the box that is labeled “Save standardized values
as variables” – this is an important step, because it will transform every person’s height and weight into a
z score! Press OK, type your name and sex in the “Descriptives” title of the output, and attach a
printout of the table to this handout.

4. Look at your data file – it now has two new columns containing z scores for the height and
weight of the sub-sample of same-sex individuals. Use these new columns to answer the questions
below (HINT: Remember the Data – Sort Cases commands you learned earlier? They’ll be helpful here.)
Give all z score answers to 5 decimal places.

Sort the data by “Zheight” (z-score height) (Note: If the sex variable is in the “Sort by” window, return
it to the left window before sorting by Zheight.):

The z score of the tallest same-sex student is _______________

The z score of the same-sex student with the height closest to my own is _______________

(My own height, in inches, is __________)

Now, resort the data by “Zweight” (z-score weight) (Note: Don’t forget to return the previously-sorted
variable to its home before sorting by Zweight.)

The z score of the lightest same-sex student is _______________

The z score of the same-sex student with the weight closest to my own is _______________

(My own weight, in pounds, is __________)

Don’t worry – I’ll keep your height and weight data private and confidential!
Hope you enjoyed this exercise….

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