Posted: May 23rd, 2015

Qualitative Results Report

You have been given a data set taken from research investigating cognitive development in young children. This particular study looks at mediating factors associated with child intelligence.
The data set includes the following variables:

Age (continuous)
Memory span (continuous)
IQ (continuous)
Reading ability (continuous)

Research Question: Which predictor variable (age, memory span, or reading ability) best predicts IQ in children aged 4 to 8 years.

1. You first need to decide which statistical analysis is the most appropriate to answer the above research question – include a justification for the procedure you have chosen in the write up.
2. Conduct the appropriate data screening and analysis on the data set using SPSS.

3. Present your findings in a report of no more than 1000 words. Include both descriptive and inferential statistics, in the appropriate format.

4. You should include tables, figures and output from SPSS including details of data cleaning and screening appropriate to the analysis you have chosen.

5. NOTE: this is the RESULTS section of a research report, therefore you should only include details concerning the data analysis and interpretation of those findings.

6. Reference lists and Appendices are NOT required.

7. Make sure you report the results using the correct statistical format.

 

 

Thematic Analysis Raw Text

 

 

The following is an extract from a published article of a case study exploring the social isolation of being a househusband.

 

You are asked to conduct a thematic analysis of the given text and write up your findings into a report of no more than 1000 words.

 

Here is a brief guide on the procedure:

 

Steps:

• Read through the interview transcript and jot down the main themes that seem apparent to you.

 

• Then, go through the script again, this time trying to identify as exhaustive a list as possible of themes and sub-themes (i.e., topics that might fall under a key theme).
  g., the theme “family” might include the sub-themes of “marriage”, “children”, and “siblings”.

 

• Once you have identified all the themes and sub-themes, go through the data again and note any attitudes, feelings or beliefs about each theme, and any significant events or examples used to illustrate these themes.

 

• Write up your findings succinctly, giving examples where necessary into a report of no more than 1000 words.

 

• NOTE: this report will require methodological justification for your choice of analysis.

 

• References and/or appendices are NOT REQUIRED

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXCERPT from Participant R4

 

Q:        Can you tell me how you came to stop working and decide to do this?

A:        Well it was something that we talked about when we first got married um and we’ve always said that, if the situation were right I’d be quite happy to stay at home and look after children and be the houseperson.

Q:        What would be a right situation then?

A:        Well, economic ‑‑ I guess economics comes into it as well as who was getting the most job satisfaction um and in this case my wife certainly was getting paid a lot more than I could hope for (mm hmm) y’know given my position as a teacher, and also she was getting a lot more job satisfaction (than you were?) than I was and so it made perfect sense.

…

Q:        Did you used to see yourself as a career person ‑‑ do you see yourself as a career person?

A:        ahh well I didn’t see myself as that I guess sort of “go out and get blood” type career person (mm hmm) I was just happy to go with the flow of things and of course then as I got more experience I thought “oh yes, well I can do these sorts of things. I was a teacher, and then I was doing school administration, but there always seemed to be stumbling blocks to getting up the career path ‑‑ but they didn’t worry me a great deal ‑‑.

Q:        So, in the twenty months you’ve been doing this, have you had any doubts or regrets?

A:        um I’d be quite dishonest if I said that I hadn’t I mean there are quite often times ‑‑ particularly when you sort of get frustrated in not knowing what’s wrong with the child and you think “what am I doing this for” y’know “its crazy”.

Q:        Because of the frustration?

A:        Just the frustration and I could see that that sort of thing would happen whether I was male or female ‑‑ its just the frustration of not knowing how to deal with a y’know an eight month old who can’t communicate with you other than to cry.

Q:        What other things are negatives for you?

A:        One of the biggest negatives I think is a greater sense of isolation in that as a male with a child you don’t have access to as many things ‑‑ like sporting facilities with crèches ‑‑ whereas if it was women’s day at the golf club for example they might have a crèche ‑‑ so in that sense you isolated and y’know even around home you sort of don’t get to mingle with your neighbours because there’s always that  ‑‑ its the stigma of y’know a male having morning cups of tea with the next door neighbour.

Q:        Have you found that to be the case, have you?

A:        Well you sort of sense it more than find that its the case (mm hmm) I mean most of my friends are females y’know but that’s only because my wife works with their husband and they’ve got a child about the same age.

Q:        and those mothers are staying at home (yeah) ‑‑ and you don’t get to go over there very much?

A:        Oh we go over to their place and that’s not a problem cos they’re reasonably close ‑‑ but I was just thinking more in terms of the general neighbourhood around here ‑‑ whereas you can imagine that a female would find it a little easier to start chatting to your next door neighbour over the fence or something.

Q:        Have you ever sort of approached anyone like that and had them act suspiciously towards you to make you sense that there’s something restrictive about it?

A:        um well I guess there’s sort of more of that feeling of  ‑‑ the youngest person I guess who’s a neighbour lives right next door, and like you will chat to each other over the fence and there’s nothing further than that y’know “come on up stairs and have a cup of coffee”.

Q:        and why do you suppose that is?

A:        Oh, I dunno ‑‑ I think its sort of like a social barrier, social stigma y’know: you cant just go inviting men into your house.

Q:        Is it sexual?

A:        Yeah. um and I can understand it cos there are a lot of pressures on people in this day and age and you just don’t know what’s happening.

Q:        Have you ever tried to get in on one of those groups ‑‑ like the  ‑‑ let me get this straight first: is the ladies day at golf a ladies day or a mothers day?

A:        Well it ends up being a mother’s day. Perhaps it was a bit of a generalisation but just from having talked to people and again our friend who is quite active in sports sort of areas um she’s able to have a  ‑‑ started being more (unitell) than I am  ‑‑ her social group is a bit broader so she does get to meet other women her own age or a bit older or whatever ‑‑ and the sort of clubs that she can join y’know they’ll have mothers with children and of course there’ll be some sort of crèche facility provided.

Q:        And have you got involved in any of those things?

A:        No. Again because they’re all ladies teams: I mean there’s a ladies squash team, a ladies netball team  ‑‑.

Q:        Do you suppose that the problem is that they’re called ladies teams rather than mothers teams and if they were called mothers teams there be just a sex basis for saying “R can’t participate”?

A:        Oh even “mothers team” would stop you from joining it ‑‑ “parents team” or what ever ‑‑ I mean but even at playgroup I’ve found that it was sort of quite awkward um y’know the women that’d be there ‑‑ y’know I was the only male there  ‑‑ and that didn’t bother me as much, but at the same time, socially you just sort of felt slightly on the outer y’know they were quite happy to talk about  ‑‑y’know: whatever they wanted to talk about ‑‑ and of course, y’know a lot of conversation  ‑‑ particularly in the early stages ‑‑ was all related to birthing and everything else, and they certainly felt very awkward about it  ‑‑ y’know it didn’t worry me ‑‑ ahh.

Q:        But you couldn’t share that with them?

A:        No, I couldn’t the deeper experience of it despite the fact that I was there for the birth um and I just found that um it really didn’t stimulate me either  ‑‑ it tended to be very homely sorts of things and stuff like that. And plus the fact that I didn’t like y’know like they were saying oh, y’know “little Johnny’s really good he sits in front of the TV for two hours and watches TV” and I’m thinking “hang on you can’t do that with a little kid”, so I just sort of thought  ‑‑ I just found that slightly annoying. And you did: you sort of felt like a glove with six fingers type thing.

Q:        Did you stop going because of that?

A:        Yeah, I stopped going because of that and plus too she changed her sleeping times and it was pretty awkward um and I didn’t like the hot weather and being outside in the hot weather um  ‑‑ but I don’t think she’s missed out by not going y’know I’ve got her in day are once a week and she gets a fair bit of social activity there.