PSYC305: Statistics for Experimental Design

Instructor: Heungsun Hwang

Student Name: Logan Bodnaruk
Student ID: 260529216
Lab Number: Lab #7 10:05-10.55

Assignment #1: Comparing one/two means

1. The data file DRP.sav contains the scores of the Degree of Reading Power (DRP) test,
which is used to measure the reading ability of children, for a sample of 44 third-grade
students in a suburban school district in the US (Schmitt, 1987). The investigator assumes
that the mean score () of all third graders in this district is different from the national
mean, which is 32. State the appropriate null and alternative hypotheses. Perform the
appropriate t test, and then report the result and your conclusion.
Hi
Ho =
tc = 2.0167
One-Sample Statistics
N

Mean

DRP scores

44

Std. Deviation

35.0909

Std. Error Mean

11.18932

1.68685

One-Sample Test
Test Value = 32
t

df

Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean Difference

95% Confidence Interval of the

Difference
Lower

DRP scores

1.832

43

.074

3.09091

-.3110

Upper
6.4928

A one sample t-test was performed to test whether the mean of the scores of the DRP test
for a sample of 44 third-grade students in a suburban district (x = 35) differed from the
national mean (x = 32). t(43) = 1.832, p > 0.05, showing that the sample mean is not
significantly different from the population mean, rejecting the alternate hypothesis and
supporting the null hypothesis.

PSYC305: Statistics for Experimental Design

Instructor: Heungsun Hwang
2. The data spiderBG.sav were collected to investigate whether arachnophobia (fear of
spiders) is specific to real spiders or whether pictures of spiders may evoke similar levels
of anxiety (Field, 2005). Twenty-four arachnophobes were used in all. Twelve were
asked to play with a real tarantula and subsequently their anxiety levels were measured.
The other 12 were shown only pictures of the same tarantula and also their anxiety levels
were measured. In the data, 0 was assigned to the group that was shown the picture and 1
was assigned to the group that saw the real spider. State the appropriate null and
alternative hypotheses for comparing the mean scores of the two groups. Analyze these
data with the appropriate t-test, and then report the result and your conclusion.
Hi
Ho =
tc = 2.0739
Group Statistics
Condition
Anxiety

Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean

Picture

12

40.0000

9.29320

2.68272

Real Spider

12

47.0000

11.02889

3.18377

Independent Samples Test

Levene's

t-test for Equality of Means

Test for
Equality of
Variances
F

Sig.

df

Sig.

Mean

Std. Error

95% Confidence

(2-

Difference

Difference

Interval of the

tailed)

Difference
Lower

Equal variances
Anxiety

.782

.386

-1.681

Upper

22

.107

-7.00000

4.16333 -15.63422

1.63422

-1.681 21.385

.107

-7.00000

4.16333 -15.64864

1.64864

assumed
Equal variances
not assumed

An independent samples t-test was performed to determine whether seeing a picture of

spider (x = 40 9.3) and seeing an actual spider (x = 47 11.0) resulted in different
levels of anxiety. t(22) = -1.681, p > .05, showing that there is no statistical significant
difference between the two forms of induced anxiety and pictures evoke the same
response. This rejects the alternate hypothesis and supports the null hypothesis of the two
reactions not differing.