Project Paper

DBA 736—Final Project

The purpose of this project is to give you the opportunity to formulate research questions, run the analyses, and interpret the results of the statistics that were covered in this class. The database is posted in the D2L file: DBA736Final.sav. This project should be submitted to me via the D2L Dropbox no later than 11:59 PM on Sunday of Module 7 as a single Microsoft Word document. The document must be in APA format (with the exception that you may just copy and paste tables from SPSS into this document, as long as you adjust them, if necessary to fit on the page).

Please read through the entire instructions before beginning.

The project is organized into three sections

I. The research scenario—to provide the context for the data. Please note that this is “content-neutral”, i.e., that it does not refer to a specific discipline or field.

II. The codebook—this identifies the variables (names, labels, and measurement scale) in the database.

III. The project instructions—for completing the project. Be sure to read each question carefully and answer each question completely.

I. Research Scenario:

An organization wants to know if participants with varying levels of expertise (professionals, paraprofessionals, and nonprofessionals) improve their knowledge after completing a training program.

The organization collected demographic information: gender, age, type of training (professional, paraprofessional, or nonprofessional), location of the worksite (on-site or off-site) and years of experience.

A pretraining test of knowledge, a training program, and posttraining test of knowledge was developed. Participants were tested, then participated in the three-week training program, and then were tested again.

The dataset also includes (1) a measure of participant confidence in knowledge and (2) a certification exam score.

The data are discipline-neutral. Therefore, part of your final project is to create a context for the research that is associated with your discipline or area of interest.

II. Codebook

Variable Information

Variable

Label

Measurement Scale

Category Name

N/A

Gender

Nominal

0 = Male

1 = Female

age

Age in Years

Ratio

qualification

Professional Qualification

Nominal

0 = Professional

1 = Paraprofessional

2 = Nonprofessional

worksite

Location of Work

Nominal

0 = On-Site

1 = Off-Site

knowledge1

Level of knowledge before Training

Interval

N/A

knowledge2

Level of knowledge after Training

Interval

N/A

years

Years of Experience

Ratio

N/A

confidence

Confidence in knowledge

Interval

N/A

exam

Certification exam

Interval

N/A

III. Project Instructions

Overview

Your task is to review the dataset, formulate a context, and then use your knowledge of statistics to answer the research questions and test hypotheses that will help the organization evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

Part I. Create your context.

Using the research scenario and variables identified in the codebook, create a “story” that describes the purpose and focus of the study. In a few short paragraphs describe the intent of your investigation in the form of a problem background and purpose statement.

Part II. Describe your sample.

Generate and interpret descriptive statistics of central tendencies, variability, skewness, and kurtosis for all quantitative variables and generate frequency tables for all categorical variables. Conclude with a paragraph summarizing the demographic characteristics of this sample, including whether or not the assumption of normality appears to be satisfied for the variables and why or why not.

Part III. Describe relationships among the variables.

Select the variables that are measured on interval or ratio scales or are dichotomous. Create a correlation matrix. Identify and discuss the strongest and weakest correlations.

Part IV. Answer FIVE of the seven following research questions.

Based on the research scenario and the data, formulate the appropriate alternative and null hypotheses, conduct a proper analysis, and interpret the results for each of the following.

1. Are on-site workers more knowledgeable than off-site workers before the training begins? Asked another way, what is the difference in knowledge between on-site and off-site workers before they take the training (i.e., preintervention knowledge)?

2. Does participants’ knowledge increase as a result of going through the training?

3. Do participants of different qualifications (professional, paraprofessional, and nonprofessional) perform differently on the certification exam? Which group performs best?

4. What is the effect of gender and worksite location (on- or off-site) on level of confidence? In other words:

a. Are men or women more confident?

b. Does type of worksite experience impact confidence?

c. Is there an interaction between gender and worksite in their effect on confidence?

5. Which group shows the greatest improvement in learning (from before to after the intervention)—professionals, paraprofessionals, or non-professionals?

6. Does age have an impact (i.e., predict) performance on the certification exam?

7. In addition to age, do any of the other variables (years of experience or confidence) improve the ability to predict performance on the certification exam?

Part V. Summarize your findings.

Synthesize the results of your five analyses. Include a brief summary of the sample characteristics and the major findings. Interpret the findings so that the organization’s leaders will have an understanding of the similarities and differences in knowledge, and how effective the training program is in improving knowledge.

IV. Project Grading: 300 points.

Points

Part

30 points

10 = problem background described

10 = purpose described

5 = relevance to field of study

5 = APA format and writing style

Part I. Create your context.

80 points

5 = Gender

10 = Age