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Psychology Project Assignment - Research Report
Assignment Overview - Exploratory factor analysis is a statistical technique that is used to reduce data to a smaller set of summary variables and to explore the underlying theoretical structure of the phenomena. In this assignment you will perform an exploratory factor analysis and detail your findings in a research report.
Related learning outcomes - This assignment assesses the following unit learning outcomes:
1. Describe a range of different measurement formats and methods, explaining the pros and cons of each.
2. Describe the characteristics of a good psychological measure and explain how to evaluate the usefulness and appropriateness of a specific instrument for a specific application.
3. Outline the steps involved in the development of psychological measures, and design their own program for the development and validation of a new measure.
4. Calculate, report and interpret key statistics relevant to scale development and evaluation.
Perform an exploratory factor analysis on the items assessing the factors underlying nonattachment in educational settings.
In the format of a research report, describe the steps taken to select the final items and evaluate the psychometric properties (i.e. reliability, validity) of your final scale.
Note: Students will be given the opportunity to participate in the live collection of data and the dataset will be released in Week 7.
The following sections should be included in your report:
1. Title page - APA style.
2. Introduction - The introduction will not be marked again and will not be included in the word count. However, if your hypotheses are not appropriate it may result in you conducting analyses which does not adequately assess validity. This will lead to losing marks for your results section and potentially also for your discussion.
3. Method -
Describe the sample and measures used in your validation strategy.
Do not include scales that you did not use.
You can include the following statement under the Procedure sub-section of the Method: 'An online survey was completed by undergraduate students at an Australian university at a time and place of their choosing'.
4. Result -
Present the results from the factor analysis (or analyses if you performed more than one), including a justification for the extraction and rotation method used, factor analysis statistics and a description of the scale and inter-factor correlations. If items were removed, also describe the process through which the decision was made to exclude these items.
Include a reliability analysis of the (revised) measure, including Cronbach's alpha and related item statistics (e.g. alpha if item deleted) for the composite scale and each of the subscales.
Include the descriptive statistics for all measures used.
Include correlations, t-tests, etc. as appropriate that address your validation hypotheses.
The Scale validation table guide will give you an idea of how these results can be presented.
5. Discussion -
This section aligns with what is expected in a discussion from any other lab/research report. It should present an evaluation of your (revised) measure, including:
- statements about the factor structure, items included/deleted and implications for the definition and measurement of the construct being investigated
- a discussion of the reliability of the final scales
- a discussion of the evidence for the validity of the scales
- a discussion of any revisions to the scale and recommendations for how it should be validated in the future.
6. References - In-text referencing, presentation of the results and the reference list should be in APA 6th format.
Assignment criteria -
1. Method.
2. Accuracy of factor analysis.
3. Accuracy of reliability analyses.
4. Accuracy of validity analyses.
5. Discussion of factor structure.
6. Discussion of reliability.
7. Discussion of validity.
8. Limitations/implications.
9. Referencing/APA formatting.
Attachment:- Psychology Project Assignment Files.rar