Overview
This unit will give you the analytic skills necessary to carry out advanced applied research. There is both theory and computer 'hands-on' experiential exercises. The primary aim of the unit is to introduce you to a variety of univariate and multivariate analytic techniques (e.g., t-test, ANOVA, ANCOVA, Regression, GLM) as well as developing skills in applying appropriate analyses relevant to a specific research design. It builds on earlier units by introducing more advanced statistical techniques and requires the use of industry standard software packages such as SPSS. Online tutorial sessions allow the chance to practice core SPSS skills.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
PSYC12047 and PSYC12048.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Staff self-reflection, students via Moodle and email.
Two Zoom workshops per week were positively received.
Maintain this level of interaction to negate the need for a residential school.
Feedback from Staff self reflection, students via Moodle and email.
Present less analysis options, focus on need to know, versus nice to know.
Clearly signpost what is essential to know and provide step-by-step instructional materials for this. Identify what is nice to know (e.g. for students going on to honours) and provide some advanced extra materials for students wanting more depth.
Feedback from Staff self reflection, students via Moodle and email.
Main textbook continues to polarize opinions, with many students really liking it, but others finding the content too detailed.
The main textbook will be retained as many students find it helpful for understanding statistical theory. Moreover, it is used in similar units across Australian universities. A supplemental textbook will be recommended, providing more step-by-step instructions on using SPSS.
- Prepare data sets suitable for analysis in SPSS
- Utilise advanced working knowledge of appropriate statistical tests for analyses in SPSS
- Write-up the results of advanced analyses in scientific APA style.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Research Assignment - 40% | |||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 15% | |||
| 3 - Report - 45% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | |||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 1 - Research Assignment - 40% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 15% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Report - 45% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics
- 5th Edition (2017)
- Authors: Andy Field
- Sage
- London London , UK
- ISBN: 9781526419521
- Binding: Paperback
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)
- 7th Edition (2019)
- Authors: American Psychological Association
- American Psychological Association
- Washington Washington , DC , USA
- ISBN: 9781433832161
- Binding: Paperback
SPSS Statistics: A Practical Guide
- 4th Edition (2018)
- Authors: Peter Allen, Kellie Bennett, Brody Heritage
- CENGAGE
- Australia
- ISBN: 9780170421140
- Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
If you prefer to study with a paper copy, they are available at the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code). eBooks are available at the publisher's website.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- IBM SPSS Statistics Graduate Pack (standard or premium) edition. Preferably the latest version 26
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
- American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
- American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
d.j.walker@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 13 Jul 2020Module/Topic
Introduction to Statistics and SPSS
Chapter
Field Ch 1-5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 20 Jul 2020Module/Topic
Comparison of Means T tests
Chapter
Field Ch 10 and 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Minor Data Analysis assessment dataset available
Week 3
Begin Date: 27 Jul 2020Module/Topic
Comparison of Means One-Way ANOVA part A
Chapter
Field Ch 12 and 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 03 Aug 2020Module/Topic
Comparison of Means One-Way ANOVA part B
Chapter
Field Ch 15 and 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 10 Aug 2020Module/Topic
Factorial ANOVA (Introduction)
Chapter
Field Ch 14 and 15
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 17 Aug 2020Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 24 Aug 2020Module/Topic
Further ANOVA (e.g. Mixed Designs)
Chapter
Field Ch 16
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 31 Aug 2020Module/Topic
Categorical data
Chapter
Field Ch 19
Events and Submissions/Topic
Mini-Report assessment dataset available
Week 8
Begin Date: 07 Sep 2020Module/Topic
ANCOVA
Chapter
Field Ch 13
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 14 Sep 2020Module/Topic
Chapter
Field Ch 8 and 9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 21 Sep 2020Module/Topic
Bringing it all together
Chapter
No set textbook chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 28 Sep 2020Module/Topic
Mini-report preparation (Discussion writing)
Chapter
No set textbook chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 05 Oct 2020Module/Topic
Mini-report preparation (self study)
Chapter
No set textbook chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 12 Oct 2020Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 19 Oct 2020Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
You will be given a dataset that requires a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) covered in the unit. You will be required to enter the data into SPSS, analyse it and write up concisely using APA style.
Week 4 Monday (3 Aug 2020) 11:55 pm AEST
Week 6 Monday (24 Aug 2020)
Within 2 teaching weeks of submission
The % of marks awarded will be split among the following criteria : appropriate analysis, assumption testing, correct interpretation of statistical output, statistics written concisely in APA format, additional statistics, e.g. effect size, confidence intervals.
- Prepare data sets suitable for analysis in SPSS
- Write-up the results of advanced analyses in scientific APA style.
- Communication
- Information Technology Competence
2 Research Assignment
The assessment will be provided in week 3. You will be asked to complete a series of short answer questions. You will need to enter data into SPSS, run statistical tests and interpret the output in order to find answers to these questions.
Week 8 Monday (7 Sept 2020) 11:55 pm AEST
Week 11 Monday (28 Sept 2020)
Within 3 weeks of submission (detailed feedback)
Each of the short answer questions will be worth a proportion of the total marks for assessment. The amount each question will be worth will be explicitly stated on the assessment. Marks will reflect the CQUniversity grades descriptor and range. For example, 4 marks out of 5 = 80%, which is a Distinction grade; whilst 3 marks out of 5 = 60% which is a Pass grade.
- Prepare data sets suitable for analysis in SPSS
- Utilise advanced working knowledge of appropriate statistical tests for analyses in SPSS
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
3 Report
A synopsis of a research problem with accompanying data set (s) will be provided by week 7. You are to select the appropriate procedures from the material taught in the unit and analyse the data using SPSS. You will write up a report on the results (a skeleton outline will be given for guidance), using graphs and/or tables as required. You will also interpret and discuss the results in light of the research problem provided. The submission will thus be in the form of an abbreviated APA-style report, with a 'Results' and 'Discussion' section.
Week 12 Monday (5 Oct 2020) 11:55 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (23 Oct 2020)
Within 3 weeks of submission (detailed feedback)
1. Appropriate selection and application of the relevant statistical procedures and techniques,
including any required screening and/or data pre-processing (15%)
2. Appropriate presentation and interpretation of the results, including the use of well-formatted
graphs and/or tables as required (25%)
3. Appropriate critical discussion and explanation of the results in light of the research
question (s), including an acknowledgement of any strengths and weaknesses of the analysis (50%)
4. Written expression and use of references (10%)
- Utilise advanced working knowledge of appropriate statistical tests for analyses in SPSS
- Write-up the results of advanced analyses in scientific APA style.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
