Assignment #2 – Due February 3rd at the start of class
Instructions:
Complete 3.1 through 3.4 in the Cronk textbook (How to Use SPSS Statistics)
AND
Complete exercises 11, 16, 17, and 18 in the Holcomb textbook (Interpreting Basic Statistics)
The Cronk assignment is a series of SPSS activities where you will use a few different datasets
to calculate descriptive statistics. It will show you a few different ways to accomplish these
tasks (for example, with nominal data). You will use a car_sales.sav dataset (also posted in
Reggienet), the datasets you made last week for Assignment #1 and you will also create a set.
Unlike Cronk, the Holcomb text does not ask you to use SPSS – this portion of the assignment
can be completed anywhere using only the book. The Holcomb book is especially useful when it
comes to reading and understanding the actual statistics put forth in research papers. It also
provides additional explanations of the concepts and statistics we’ve discussed.
What will you turn in for the assignment?
You will NOT turn in anything from the Cronk book. These are simply SPSS practice exercises
to help you run different types of descriptive statistics. You are responsible on exams for using
SPSS, so I consider these to be very valuable.
However, you should complete and save the questions from the Holcomb textbook (just the
answers, not the questions). Each exercise has about 10 questions over the information provided.
This may sound like quite a bit of work, but in all I expect it would take anywhere from 60-90
minutes in total.
If you get stuck, feel free to contact a friend for help. You should be working alone to complete
the work where possible. There are two files on the web site called “SPSS Answers” and
“Interpreting Answers”. These are pdf files that contain something similar to what you should be
turning in for the assignment. Again, I care that you can run and create these SPSS outputs and
that you can read and understand the research excerpts - so you are responsible for making sure
that is the case.
OPTIONAL: Holcomb exercises 12, 13, 14, and 15 all cover information we discussed last night
about central tendency and variability. If you would like extra practice or additional information
about these concepts please check them out. At the very least, I suggest looking at the questions
and checking to make sure you understand them. This is not required.