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PSYC12047 - Introduction to Data Analysis

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will introduce you to preliminary concepts in statistics. The material covered in this unit will allow you to do research as part of your undergraduate and/or professional career/s. The goal of this unit is to provide you with the skills to perform basic statistical analyses (e.g., t-tests, ANOVA, chi-square, linear regression, etc.), as they apply in the health, human, and social sciences. It is a recommendation of enrolment in the unit that you have competency at secondary-level mathematics. Students lacking competency at secondary level (including basic algebra) are encouraged to contact the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) to discuss their options before enrolling in this unit.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2019

Term 2 - 2020 Profile
Adelaide
Bundaberg
Cairns
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville
Term 2 - 2021 Profile
Adelaide
Bundaberg
Cairns
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 40%
2. Portfolio 50%
3. Written Assessment 10%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.40 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 30.77% response rate.

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.

Source: Student Evaluation
Feedback
Several students, who reported undertaking this second-year unit before the first-year introductory psychology unit, Foundations of Psychological Research (PSYC11012), reported difficulty understanding some research methods and design concepts, which underpin the statistical analyses covered in this unit.
Recommendation
The prerequisites for enrolment in this unit will be reviewed, as part of a larger review of the undergraduate psychology course. Extra reading material will also be provided via the Moodle site, to better support students who need information on research methods and design principles.
Action Taken
Extra support was provided to students through an additional resource and readings. This unit is being discontinued in 2022, so review of the pre-requisites for the unit is not required.
Source: Student Evaluation & Email / Tutorial Communication
Feedback
While the nature of the assessment tasks for the unit were well-received by students, some report challenges 'changing pace,' in terms of the processes and requirements for the final assessment task (because this requires them to complete a computer-based analysis, where previous assessments involve hand calculation analyses and theoretical quizzes).
Recommendation
The structure of tutorial activities will be revised to employ a more ‘hands-on’ approach, in order to better familiarise students with the computer program used for this assessment.
Action Taken
Students were encouraged to actively engage with the computer software program during weekly tutorials. This strategy appeared to be effective, as students did not report challenges of switching between assessment requirements.
Source: Student Email / Tutorial Communication
Feedback
Mixed feedback about the textbook was given. Some students reported liking the 'light' level of detail it goes into and for its ease of reading, but others reported that they either disliked the text or found that they did not use it often (because they found the lecture presentations easier to follow or more intuitive).
Recommendation
Alternative textbook options (e.g., another textbook, compiled reading list etc.) will be explored.
Action Taken
A reading list was compiled and replaced the traditional textbook. Again, feedback on this was mixed (due to there being some errors in the open textbook used), but the introductory style of this was well-received by most.
Source: Moodle / Email / Tutorial Communication with Students
Feedback
Several students (especially Mac users) reported having issues downloading and installing the freeware (software, PSPP) needed to complete their final assessment task.
Recommendation
Options for more user-friendly freeware (e.g., Jamovi) will be explored for students to use and complete their final assessment task.
Action Taken
A new freeware program was used, with Jamovi replacing GNU PSPP. There were some minor issues reported by students to download this, but this was due to factors that were out of the unit co-ordinators control (e.g., out-of-date PC capacity). Alternative options were provided to students that seemed to overcome this issue: the availability of SPSS on AnyDesk was particularly useful in overcoming this challenge.
Source: Have Your Say student evaluation.
Feedback
Mixed feedback was received regarding the transition from a prescribed textbook in previous years to an e-reading list this year, most of which was taken from an open-access textbook. Some students liked the resource, but others identified small errors in the readings.
Recommendation
This unit will be discontinued in 2022, but the value of open-access readings will be considered for use in future research methods units. Alternative resources (e.g., an abridged study guide) will be considered for use in future research methods units.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Have Your Say student evaluation and discussions with students in tutorials, emails.
Feedback
Students highly valued the practice assessment tasks that were made available, but desired more of these to ensure their understanding of content before attempting the actual assessments.
Recommendation
Incorporation of more practice assessment tasks will be considered for use in future research methods units (as this unit will be discontinued in 2022).
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Have Your Say student evaluation and discussions with students in tutorials, emails.
Feedback
Students reported valuing the focus on performing hand calculations to connect with the conceptual understanding of the content - and that they found this process 'satisfying.'
Recommendation
The incorporation of hand calculations in the learning of statistics will be continued, although to a much lesser extent than currently in future research methods units (this unit will be discontinued in 2022).
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Have Your Say student evaluation.
Feedback
Some students reported that more support with statistics jargon would be helpful to their learning; they specifically suggested that an abridged Jamovi guide would be a welcome addition.
Recommendation
The use of an abridged study guide for statistics jargon, as well as the use of Jamovi, to support students' learning of statistics will be considered for implementation in future research methods units (this unit will be discontinued in 2022).
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Explain and evaluate different statistical methods and procedures
  2. Apply statistical procedures, methods and calculations
  3. Translate statistical output into a summary, formatted in APA style.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
2 - Portfolio •
3 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking •
4 - Information Literacy • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3 - Written Assessment • • • •
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
2 - Portfolio • •