Razia Azen
Homework guidelines
Remember that ultimately you are doing the homework assignments for YOU, not for me. The assignments are
intended to give you practice and help you determine what material you understand well and what concepts may
still be unclear to you. If you encounter things that are unclear, DO NOT GUESS; instead, ASK for help and
get these concepts clarified. Guessing will leave you unclear, even if you get it right or receive other feedback.
This means that you should give yourself plenty of time to work on the assignments.
Submitting assignments: A hard copy of the homework should be submitted on the due date at the beginning of
class. Please make sure that your name is on your assignment. If you are absent on the due date please make
sure that a copy of your homework is received before the beginning of class that day (hard copies are preferred
but electronic copies will be accepted if necessary). See the syllabus for information on late homework
assignments.
A note on working with others: The goal of homework is to make sure you are learning and understanding the
material, so it would defeat the purpose if you get the right answer but don't really understand why. Therefore,
while you are allowed to discuss the concepts on homework assignments, it is recommended that you not work
on the assignments with others. In addition, the work you hand it must be your own, and it is considered
academic misconduct to submit anyone else's work (or words) as your own. See the plagiarism.org web site for
more information on what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.
For all homework assignments:
 Please type your answers. You do not have to type formulas or symbols if you find it too time-consuming,
but make sure your work is readable. Typing makes it easier for you to change or edit your answers as
necessary while you’re working on the assignment, which ultimately makes it easier to read and follow.
 Please number all answers and make sure they are in order.
 Show all of your work. For problems that require computations, include all of the steps taken to arrive at
your answer. Clearly indicate your final answers (e.g., circle them, underline them, bold them, etc.).
 Think about whether you are communicating clearly enough that someone who does not know the answer
will be able to follow what you did or said. Remember that you are trying to demonstrate your knowledge
and understanding rather than just trying to get points!
- Make certain your work is clear and can be easily followed. If answers cannot be understood, points
cannot be given.
- Whenever an explanation or definition is asked for, be sure to use your own words, rather than merely
re-copying the definition or answer given in the text (or elsewhere). Also, if a question requires only a
simple answer, be sure that you explain it. If you have not fully explained your answer, you will not
receive full credit for the problem.
 As a general guideline, do your work mindfully (i.e., put thought into it instead of just going through the
motions) and hand in your best work.
In addition, for homework problems involving computer output:
 Cut and paste the relevant output into your assignment.
 Number the output with the question number.
 Highlight the parts of the output that you are using and referring to in your answer.
 If the question was also done by hand, make sure that your hand calculations and computer output match!
 Handing in unedited output without any explanation is unacceptable (and will result in loss of points).
If you have any questions about the homework guidelines, ask for clarification prior to submitting your
homework assignment.
See examples of answers involving computer output on the next page.
Razia Azen
Examples:
 Suppose that question #6 asked you to use software to create a histogram for a set of scores and describe the
shape of the distribution. Here is what the answer should look like:
6. Histogram (SPSS output):
7
6
Frequency
5
4
3
2
1
Mean = 78.90
Std. Dev. = 13.42386
N = 20
0
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
100.00
score
Description: The distribution appears to be negatively skewed, meaning that most scores are at the highend and few are at the low end, indicating that the majority of the students performed well.
 Suppose that question #9 asked you to use software to obtain and interpret descriptive statistics such as the
mean, median and standard deviation for a set of scores. Here is how your answer should look:
9. SAS output of descriptive statistics:
The UNIVARIATE Procedure
Variable: Score
Basic Statistical Measures
Location
Mean
Median
Mode
78.90000
82.00000
76.00000
Variability
Std Deviation
Variance
Range
Interquartile Range
13.42386
180.20000
46.00000
19.00000
Note: The mode displayed is the smallest of 2 modes with a count of 2.
The mean of the scores is 78.9 and the median is 82.0. These measures describe the center of the score
distribution, with the mean taking all scores into consideration and the median relying on the middle score
only. The fact that the mean is lower than the median indicates that the distribution is negatively skewed, so
most scores are higher than the mean but there are a few low scores that drag the mean down compared to
the median. The standard deviation is 13.4, indicating that the average distance of a given score from the
mean is about 13.4 points (so it would not be unusual to find scores within 13.4 points of the mean of 78.9).