3 Feb 2012 ... PURPOSE: This assignment assesses your ability to use Microsoft Excel ... TAs
used in labs to teach you Excel; c) a practice take Excel home ...
Dr. Michael Passer University of Washington
Psychology 209 Winter 2012
EXCEL Skills Take-Home Assignment (20 points Total) DUE DATE: Friday, 2/3, at the Start of Your Lab (Hard Copy and E-Copy) PURPOSE: This assignment assesses your ability to use Microsoft Excel to analyze a small data set. You will use Excel skills taught in labs. Use the "Excel" link in the left column of the course homepage to access a) the Excel template on which you will perform the analyses; b) copies of handouts and PowerPoint slides that TAs used in labs to teach you Excel; c) a practice take Excel home assignment and answer key; d) other supporting documents. Turn in a hard copy to your TA and e-copy to the Psych 209 Catalyst Drop Box. REQUIRED ONE-PAGE EXCEL ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE: You need to complete the entire assignment on a one-page Excel template. Access it from the "Excel" link on the course homepage or directly at: http://courses.washington.edu/passr209/Excel_Assignment_Template.xls DUE DATE/LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Turn in the hard copy to your TA at the beginning of your lab session on Friday, 2/3. DO NOT put your hard copy in my or your TA's mailbox, because any assignment placed in our mailboxes on Friday 11/4 or on any subsequent day will be considered “late” for that day. Late assignments lose 2 points if turned in Friday after the start of your lab, 2 more points per school day when turned in directly to us by the start of lecture/lab/section, and 1 additional point per weekend/nonschool day. Thus, if you turn in your hard copy at the start of class on Monday, 2/6, you will lose 6 points for lateness (assuming you also have turned in your e-copy by then). If you expect to be absent from your lab on the due date, then contact us in advance and submit your assignment to us in hard copy and e-copy before the due date. LATE ASSIGNMENTS TURNED IN AFTER THE ANSWER KEY IS POSTED: I will post the answer key on Monday, 2/6, after my office hour (12:30-1:20). If your assignment is not turned in by then, you will have to use a different data set to complete the assignment. You would download this alternate data set from the course website ("Excel" link on the home page). SUBMIT BOTH A HARD COPY AND AN E-COPY BY THE DUE DATE! Hand the hardcopy to your TA and upload the e-copy of your assignment at the following web address: https://catalyst.uw.edu/collectit/dropbox/drurybj/19050 SECTION A. DATA FOR THE ASSIGNMENT A researcher studies whether university students who are younger use social networking Internet sites (e.g., Facebook) more than students who are older. She has 10 participants who indicate their age and how many hours they spend on social networking Internet sites on two different days. The data appear below. ID
Age
Day 1
Day 2
1
18
7
8
2
20
6
7
3
33
2
1
4
22
6
3
5
23
4
6
6
27
5
2
7
29
2
4
8
24
3
5
9
28
2
3
10
24
7
3
Note: - ID refers to each participant‟s identification number (this has nothing to do with student ID numbers; it simply distinguishes one participant from another). - Age refers to the participant‟s age, in years. - Day 1 refers to the number of hours spent on social networking Internet sites on the first day - Day 2 refers to the number of hours spent on social networking Internet sites on the second day
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Psych 209/Passer/Winter 2012 SECTION B. PARTS TO THIS ASSIGNMENT
Part 1. Enter the data from the table above into your Excel spreadsheet using the template provided on the course website. Using the Excel functions described in lab, compute the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and variance for Age, Day 1, and Day 2. Round these statistics to two decimal places (2 points). Part 2. Produce a histogram of Day 2 by first entering the appropriate bin numbers in a column labeled „Bins: Day 2‟ and then calculating the frequencies. Tidy up the histogram as needed (e.g., remove the legend). Label and format your axes appropriately (e.g., the y-axis should only contain whole numbers, adjacent bars have no gaps). Enter your name and student ID number for the title (5 points). Part 3. Produce a vertical bar graph with bars for Day 1 and Day 2 with DAY on the x-axis (Day 1 vs. Day 2) and MEAN HOURS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING on the y-axis. Label and format your axes appropriately. Enter your name and student ID number for the title (5 points). Part 4. Produce a scatterplot with Age on the x-axis and Day 1 on the y-axis. Label and format your axes appropriately. Make the intervals for Age be 5 years apart. Enter your name and student ID number for the title (5 points). Part 5. Compute the Pearson correlation coefficient between Age and Day 1. Round this correlation to two decimal places (1 point). Part 6. Type two sentences into the spreadsheet that report the correlation result for Age and Day 1. Sentence 1: Report the correlation statistic and also whether it is nonsignificant, small, medium, or large in size (or you can state whether the relation between Age and Day 1 is weak, moderate, or strong). Sentence 2: Based on the correlation, describe the nature of the association between Age and Day 1. See the PowerPoint slides (covered in labs, posted on course website) for how to write these sentences (2 points). *When interpreting the magnitude of your correlations, use the values in the table below. For example, a value of r = -0.35 would be considered a medium (or moderate), negative correlation. Note: These values are general guidelines and do not apply in every situation, but we will use them for this assignment. Correlation magnitude Nonsignificant Small (weak) Medium (moderate) Large (strong)
Negative values -0.09 to 0.00 -0.29 to -0.10 -0.49 to -0.30 -1.00 to -0.50
Positive values 0.00 to 0.09 0.10 to 0.29 0.30 to 0.49 0.50 to 1.00
HINT ON WRITING SENTENCES ABOUT THE RESULTS: Correlations do not show causation. Thus, avoid language that implies causation. For other errors to avoid, see the "Discussing a Correlation: Common Mistakes to Avoid" document on the course website ("Excel" link from the course homepage). PARTS 1-6 Final Product. All of Parts 1-6 must appear as an Excel printout on the Assignment Template. Check your final printout and make sure it has the following: o The data entered from the table and the assigned descriptive statistics (Part 1), labeled and rounded. o The assigned histogram (Part 2), correctly scaled and labeled. Make sure to include your name and student ID in the title. o The assigned bar graph (Part 3), correctly scaled and labeled. Make sure to include your name and student ID in the title. o The assigned scatterplot (Part 4), correctly scaled and labeled. Make sure to include your name and student ID in the title. o The assigned correlation coefficient (Part 5), labeled and rounded. o The assigned sentences about the relationships between the variables (Part 6).
Psych 209/Passer/Winter 2012
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SECTION C. FORMAT OF THE ASSIGNMENT Attach a cover page with a) Your name and student ID, and b) Your TA’s first name and the time of day that your section meets (e.g., “Mara, 8:30”). A cover sheet helps us keep track of assignments and grades. ***You are required to use the example template posted on the course website because this will help you to format the assignment to fit on one page. Use landscape mode. Download and use this template when completing your assignment.*** To turn in all parts of this assignment, simply print out your Excel worksheet on the template and attach the cover sheet. Use the “Print Preview” option to ensure that you can fit everything on to one page. Adjust graph sizes as needed so that your graphs and calculations do not break across pages. PLEASE PRINT YOUR NAME AND STUDENT ID ON EVERY PAGE at the top right (to help us if the pages separate). Staple everything together!!
SECTION D. MATERIALS YOU CAN USE; ACADEMIC HONESTY In many previous years this Excel Skills Assignment was done in labs, under test conditions. More recently, it has been a take-home assignment. You may use the following materials: any handouts you received and notes you took during the two Lab sessions that your TA conducted on Excel; the PowerPoint slides and copies of the handouts that are posted on the course website; the Excel “Help” resources – help menus and wizard functions – provided by the Excel program You may contact your TA if you have any “clarification questions” about the instructions of this assignment. In other words, if some portion of the instructions in this handout is not clear to you, contact us. At this point in time, however, we cannot instruct you on how to use Excel to calculate the statistics or create the graphs called for in the assignment. Those matters represent knowledge that you should have picked up in the Excel labs and/or from the handouts and PowerPoint slides. Beyond utilizing the sources listed directly above, we expect that you will work on this assignment completely on your own. This means that: you should not talk with or otherwise directly or indirectly seek assistance (e.g. via e-mail, discussion forums, etc.) from classmates, friends, or anyone else about how to use Excel or to answer the questions on this assignment; you should not share files with anyone else, copy calculations from anyone else, or discuss the answers with anyone else; you should not engage in any other practices that violate the spirit of this assignment, namely, that the answers you turn in are entirely the product of your own work. Turning in an assignment that does not entirely represent your own work constitutes academic dishonesty, and the assignment will receive a grade of zero and be forwarded to the Assistant Provost who handles such cases. Please accept the benefit of having this be a take-home assignment by following the ethical guidelines above.
