Section 3: Advanced Statistical Techniques

Sections 1 and 2 have served to prepare you for the understanding of

advanced statistical techniques. This is the section you have been waiting
for, but it could not come too prematurely. To introduce these concepts
without a solid understanding of research, exploratory data analysis,
assumptions, and simple statistical techniques would really make your head
spin. In any case, the course is 2/3 over and you should at least briefly
pause to celebrate what you have learned and how your perseverance has
paid off.

This section contains two activities and covers the following analytical
strategies (if it becomes difficult to keep all the techniques you are learning
straight, refer to the last page of your text – there is a great table that can
help you out):

ANCOVA. The Analysis of Covariance technique is a life-saver when you are

comparing means between defined groups and have an additional variable
(or variables) that you would like to ‘control’ for. An example might be: Are
mean productivity scores for three groups of work teams different, when you
control for length of time on the job? Or: Are depression scores for young,
middle, and older adults different after controlling for health, gender, and
social support?

Factorial ANOVA. When you have more than one predictor variable a
Factorial ANOVA design might be just what you are looking for. These
techniques include Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA, Two-way Mixed
ANOVA, Three-way independent ANOVA, and so on. For example: Perhaps
you are going to design a social support study for people suffering from
chronic pain. Your study includes two treatment groups and control group.
Further, you have every reason to believe (based on past research and
theory) that men and women will respond differently to the treatment
groups. A factorial design can handle such complexities.

Non-Parametric Tests. Now that you have learned a number of parametric

techniques…what do you do if your data do not meet parametric
assumptions? Non-parametric tests to the rescue! Tests covered under this
category include: Chi square, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Mann-Whitney tests,
Kruskal-Wallis test for independent conditions and Freidman’s ANOVA for
related conditions.

Once you master these additional techniques (and you are well rested) you
will be asked to complete the signature assignment which will give you an
opportunity to do research on a set of supplied data.
Congratulations on completing this graduate level statistics course. You will
now have the core competencies related to statistics that will allow you to
more fully glean knowledge from your content courses. Statistics is not like
riding a bike – if you stop using it, you lose it. So, please do not skip over
the results sections in peer reviewed articles…be sure to use all that you
have worked so hard for. When you get to your dissertation, you will be glad
that you did!

Required Reading:
Discovering Statistics Using SPSS: Preface, How to Use This Book, Chapters
11, 12, 13, 15, 16

Self-Tests
Smart Alex's Quizzes

SPSS Data Sets:

Activity 6.sav
Activity 5a.sav
Activty 5b.sav
Activty 5c.sav
Education.sav

Gss.sav

Optional Resources:
Interactive Multiple Choice Questions
Flashcards

Assignment 7 Non-Parametric Tests

Non-Parametric Tests
While you have learned a number of parametric statistical techniques, you
are also aware that if the assumptions related to the tests are violated, then
the tests are not valid. Because many phenomenon examined in business
are not normally distributed, it is critically important to understand the role
of non-parametric tests. It is possible you will need to use one or more of
the methods covered in this chapter in your dissertation.

To Prepare for Activity #7:

Download SPSS Data Sets.
• Activity 5a.sav (found on the “additional resources” page)
• Activity 5b.sav (file you created in Activity 5B)
 • Activity 5c.sav (found on the “additional resources” page)
• Activity 6.sav (found on the “additional resources” page)
• Gss.sav (found on the “additional resources” page)

NOTE: You may experience an error message when attempting to run the
analysis using SPSS of the .sav file used in this assignment. The error
message says:

Warnings
Command name: DESCRIPTIVES
Input error when reading a case.
This command not executed.

If you experience this error, click on the data view tab of the opened .sav
file, then click on the line separating the labels of the first and second
column. Drag the width of the first column out approximately 25% from its
initial width. Save the file. The analysis should now work as intended.

Read Chapter 15 in the text. It will be to your advantage to have SPSS open
on your computer as you work through chapter 15. While you are reading
consider your area of research interest and when you have seen non-
parametric methods applied. How might you use these analytical strategies
in your dissertation research?

Complete the Self-Tests within each chapter. Answers are available on the
companion web site under the heading Additional Web Material in the
Student Resource section
(http://www.sagepub.com/field3e/additionalwebmaterial.htm).

Complete Smart Alex’s Quizzes. Be sure to take Smart Alex’s Quiz at the end
of the Chapter and spend time learning the concepts related to questions
you answered incorrectly. Answers are available at:
http://www.sagepub.com/field3e/SmartAlexAnswers.htm

Optional Preparation for Activity #7

After completing the above activities, if you feel you need additional
instruction on the concepts covered, please choose from any of the following
activities that will assist you in mastering the core concepts.

Interactive Multiple Choice Questions. You might find it helpful to complete

the multiple choice quizzes available at:
http://www.sagepub.com/field3e/MCQ.htm

Flashcards. If what you need is gain a basic, definitional understanding of

the topics, visit the Flashcard Glossary at:
http://www.sagepub.com/field3e/Flashcard.htm

Activity #7
You will submit one Word document for this activity. In the first part your
activity #7 document, provide short answers to the following questions (250
words or less).

Part A. Questions about non-parametric procedures

1. What are the most common reasons you would select a non-
parametric test over the parametric alternative?

2. Discuss the issue of statistical power in non-parametric tests (as

compared to their parametric counterparts). Which type tends to be
more powerful? Why?

3. For each of the following parametric tests, identify the appropriate

non-parametric counterpart:
a. Dependent t-test
b. Independent samples t-test
c. Repeated measures ANOVA (one-variable)
d. One-way ANOVA (independent)
e. Pearson Correlation

Part B. SPSS Activity

In this part of Activity #7, you will perform the non-parametric version of
the tests you used in previous activities. In each case, assume that you
opted to use the non-parametric equivalent rather than the parametric test.
Using the data files from earlier activities, complete the following tests and
paste your results into the assignment Word document:
1. Activity 5a: non-parametric version of the dependent t-test
2. Activity 5b: non-parametric version of the independent t-test
3. Activity 5c: non-parametric version of the single factor ANOVA
4. Activity 6: non-parametric version of the factorial ANOVA

Part C. Contingency tables

Sometimes a researcher is only interested in the following: Whether or not
two variables are dependent on one another, (e.g. are death and smoking
dependent variables; are SAT scores and high school grades independent
variables?)

To test this type of claim a contingency table could be used, with the null
hypothesis being that the variables are independent. Setting up a
contingency table is easy; the rows are one variable the columns another. In
contingency table analysis (also called two-way ANOVA) the researcher
determines how closely the amount in each cell coincides with the expected
value of each cell if the two variables were independent.

The following contingency table lists the response to a bill pertaining to gun
control.

In favor Opposed
Northeast 10 30
Southeast 15 25
Northwest 35 10
Southwest 10 25

Notice that cell 1 indicates that 10 people in the Northeast were in favor
of the bill.

Example: In the previous contingency table, 40 out of 160 (1/4) of those

surveyed were from the Northeast. If the two variables were independent,
you would expect 1/2 of that amount (20) to be in favor of the amendment
since there were only two choices. We would be checking to see if the
observed value of 10 was significantly different from the expected value of
20.

To determine how close the expected values are to the actual values, the
test statistic chi-square is determined. Small values of chi-square support
the claim of independence between the two variables. That is, chi-square will
be small when observed and expected frequencies are close. Large values of
chi-square would cause the null hypothesis to be rejected and reflect
significant differences between observed and expected frequencies. This part
of the activity is not included in the text book. See the tutorial Chi-square
pdf file in the additional resources section of the course room for details on
how to perform a chi-square test in SPSS.

For part C, download the gss.sav file, and following the steps described in
the Chi-Square tutorial.pdf (both located in the additional resources section
of the course room), examine the relationship between education (degree)
and perception of life (life). Can you reject the null that education and
perception of life are independent? Make a bar chart that graphically
summarizes your findings. Be sure to include the relevant portions of the
chi-square test output in your explanation.

Submit your files in the Course Work area below the Activity screen.
Learning Outcomes: 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11
Assignment Outcomes
Apply appropriate statistical tests based on level of measurement.
Calculate, interpret, and understand the appropriate use of inferential statistical analysis.
Evaluate the results of the analysis.
Demonstrate how population, sampling, and statistical power are related to inferential analysis.
Evaluate the difference between parametric and non-parametric data analysis and how to apply
the correct statistical procedure.
Demonstrate proficiency in the use of SPSS.
Demonstrate proficiency in reporting statistical output in APA format.