Assignment 2: Conducting a z-Test
A researcher predicts that watching a film on institutionalization will change students’ attitudes about chronically mentally ill patients. The researcher randomly selects a class of 36 students, shows them the film, and gives them a questionnaire about their attitudes. The mean score on the questionnaire for these 36 students is 70. The score for people in general on this questionnaire is 75, with a standard deviation of 12. Using the five steps of hypothesis testing and the 5% significance level (i.e. alpha = .05), does showing the film change students’ attitudes towards the chronically mentally ill?
- What does it mean to set alpha at .05?
- What is your null hypothesis? Alternate hypothesis?
- Is this a one-tailed or two-tailed hypothesis?
- What is the critical z?
- Calculate the obtained z. Do you reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis?
- State in words what you have found.
References:
Feist, Jess, and Gregory Feist. Theories of Personality, 7th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 2008. VitalBook file. Retrieved from: http://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/books/007-7376714/id/ch04; /ch06; and, /09
Franzoi, S. L. (2011).Psychology: A discovery experience. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Hurst, L. C. (1982). What was wrong with Anna O? Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 75(2), 129–131.
Weiten, W. (2012).Psychology: Themes and variations. Belmont, Calif: Cengage/Wadsworth.
