SPSS Homework: Testing Data for Normality Assignment Instructions
Overview
This assignment is designed to increase your statistical literacy and proficiency in summarizing, visualizing, and interpreting variability within data sets. You will work within SPSS, using data that are related to specific research scenarios in the behavioral sciences such as psychology, social work, and counseling. A working knowledge of how to summarize and visualize data is fundamental to being able to understand and apply research in your related field to your practice. Additionally, SPSS skills are professionally valuable, as it is one of the most used statistical software packages in behavioral science settings, both academic and professional.
Instructions
Download the file titled SPSS Homework Data File. It is an SPSS data file that contains a selection of data from the American Time Use Survey. This survey is conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and collects information on the amount of time people report spending on different daily activities, from childcare to work to leisure. This file contains data from the year 2019.
The file contains the following variables:
SLEEP: Time spent sleeping
EATDRINK: Time spent eating and drinking
You will use the information in this file to respond to a series of questions asking you to create and interpret various tables and charts in SPSS. Paste your SPSS output directly into the homework underneath each relevant question. Type written answers into the document underneath the question to which they relate.
This assignment is worth 60 points.
review the Watch: SPSS Homework tutorial: Testing Data for Normality and Creating Z Scores in this module for directions on how to enter data in SPSS and use it to produce the final product for your assignment. The scenarios begin on the next page.
Problem Set 1:
For the “EATDRINK” variable, using the “Explore” command, test the data for normality by performing the following steps:
Create a table of descriptive statistics for this variable. Paste the table here:
Run a Kolomogorov-Smirnov/ Shapiro-Wilks test for this variable. Paste the table here:
Create a “Normal Q-Q plot” for this variable. Paste the table here:
Create a histogram for the “EATDRINK” variable. Paste the histogram here:
In several sentences, discuss whether the daily minutes of eating and drinking people report is normally distributed. Justify your answer using information from numbers 1 and 2 above.
For the “SLEEP” variable, using the “Explore” command, test the data for normality by performing the following steps:
Create a table of descriptive statistics for this variable. Paste the table here:
Run a Kolomogorov-Smirnov/ Shapiro-Wilks test for this variable. Paste the table here:
Create a “Normal Q-Q plot” for this variable. Paste the table here:
Create a histogram for the “SLEEP” variable. Paste the histogram here:
Some might argue that the amount of sleep people report is normally distributed. Based on careful evaluation of ALL of the data in numbers 4 and 5, would you agree or disagree that minutes of “Sleep” is normally distributed in this sample? Support your answer with information from the data and the reading/presentations this week.
