PSY FPX 7864 Assessment 2 Correlation Application and Interpretation

Student Name

Capella University

PSY FPX 7864 Quantitative Design and Analysis

Prof. Name

Date

Plan for Data Analysis

Understanding the association between prior academic performance and current accomplishments offers valuable insights into students’ learning trajectories. While numerous factors influence student success, their previous Grade Point Average (GPA) serves as a general indicator of their academic history and capabilities. In this analysis, we examine four continuous variables: Quiz 1, GPA, Final, and Total.

Correlation Analysis

Total-Final Correlation: Research Question: Is there a significant correlation between the total points earned in the class and the correct answers on the final exam?

Null Hypothesis (H₀): There is no significant correlation between the total points earned in the class and the correct answers on the final exam.

Alternative Hypothesis (H₁): There is a significant correlation between the total points earned in the class and the correct answers on the final exam.

GPA-Quiz1 Correlation: Research Question: Is there a significant correlation between a student’s prior GPA and the number of correct answers on Quiz 1?

Null Hypothesis (H₀): There is no significant correlation between a student’s prior GPA and the number of correct answers on Quiz 1.

Alternative Hypothesis (H₁): There is a significant correlation between a student’s prior GPA and the number of correct answers on Quiz 1.

Assumptions Testing

The descriptive statistics table below displays the skewness and kurtosis levels for GPA and the final exam. The skewness values for both metrics fall within the -1 to 1 range, indicating fairly symmetric distributions, suggesting a normal distribution in the data.

Results & Interpretation

Descriptive Statistics (Table 1):

Correlation Matrix (Table 2):

In Table 2, a minor positive correlation of 0.152 exists between GPA and Quiz 1. However, with a P-value of 0.212, this correlation is not statistically significant, leading to the acceptance of the null hypothesis.

Pearson’s Correlations:

The strongest correlation is observed between ‘Final’ and ‘Total’, with a coefficient of 0.875. This relationship is statistically significant, indicating that the ‘Final’ accounts for 76% of the variation in the ‘Total’, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis.

Similarly, a moderate correlation exists between GPA and the Final, with a coefficient of 0.379. This relationship is also statistically significant, suggesting that 14% of the variability in GPA can be explained by the Final scores.

Statistical Conclusions

While there’s insufficient evidence to support a significant correlation between GPA and Quiz 1 scores, the relationships between ‘Final’ and ‘Total’ scores, and between GPA and Final scores, are statistically significant.

PSY FPX 7864 Assessment 2 Correlation Application and Interpretation

Application

Correlation analysis plays a crucial role in investigating relationships, such as those between military service experiences and specific medical conditions among veterans. Such analysis aids in identifying patterns in health outcomes, potentially leading to the recognition of conditions as “presumptive,” simplifying access to benefits and treatment for affected veterans.

References

Betancourt, J. A., et al. (2021). Exploring Health Outcomes for U.S. Veterans Compared to Non-Veterans from 2003 to 2019. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 9(5), 604. doi:10.3390/healthcare9050604

Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th ed.). SAGE.

Gravetter, F. J., & Wallnau, L. B. (2016). Statistics for the behavioral sciences (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

PSY FPX 7864 Assessment 2 Correlation Application and Interpretation

McHugh, M. L. (2013). The Chi-square test of independence. Biochemia Medica, 23(2), 143-149.