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Hey all,
I got this statistical psychology question in class and i'm having some trouble understanding what is required of me. I'm so-so competent with SPSS but I'm having trouble with the language. If someone could explain to me what exactly I need to do with the statistics part it would be great! Thank you so much!!
Background
A team of occupational psychologists are working on a project to identify the factors that indicate military medical personnel will be able to cope with demanding pressures and experiences that they are likely to face when peace-keeping in conflict zones. The cost to the peace keeping organization of an early return home is high, as is the cost of post-return mental health treatments required for workers who experience problems on return after completing a full term away.
While much is known about stress and coping, there are features of the role of a military medical officer that are unique, and the occupational psychologists have proceeded to interview returning workers to identify critical incidents indicative of an ability to cope in this particular role. The psychologists have now identified that successful military medical personnel have lower than usual reactions to environmental stressors in four domains: 1) physical, 2) cognitive, 3) emotional, and 4) anxiety. These individuals are described by the occupational psychologists as having a sangfroid disposition. The etymology of the work sangfroid is Latin. It literally translates as cold blood. It seems individuals with such a psychological make-up cope better with the demands of the medical officer role in peace-keeping contexts.
Based on their interviews, the psychologists have written 20 brief statements that can be rated on a 5 point scale in response to the question To what extent do you suffer from the following symptoms when faced with extreme pressure? Below are the 20 items initially developed for the scale:
1. Having trouble concentrating
2. Wanting to get away from everything
3. Feeling a sense of being alone
4. Having trouble getting your breath
5. Having trouble remembering things
6. Feeling faint or dizzy
7. Feeling nervous or shaky inside
8. Finding your mind going blank
9. Just wanting to be left alone
10. Feeling that others do not care
11. Feeling numbness or tingling in your body
12. Worrying about letting others down
13. Feeling annoyed or irritated
14. Having difficulty in making decisions
15. Feeling pains in your heart or chest
16. Feeling tense or keyed up
17. Having difficulty thinking clearly
18. Feeling that no one else can help you
19. Getting pains in the lower part of your back
20. Becoming restless and unable to relax
The psychologists have collected 500 responses to this set of statements, and are about to conduct a psychometric analysis to examine the underlying structure. If an appropriate scale can be constructed, it might be used in future in selection settings. The psychologists are aware that there were some missing responses in the data set, however, the person responsible for managing the data entry process has now left the organization, and they are uncertain what code was used for missing data, or if there was enough missing data to be an issue.
As well as examining the structure of the data set, the team is keen to assess the validity of the measure by examining relationships between the new sangfroid measure and existing measures of potentially related concepts. The selection process is already quite thorough and includes other psychometric tests including one measuring intelligence and a broad personality measure. This data collection for this phase of the research is yet to occur.
Research Questions
Your task is the following:
1. Examine the structure of data set with an appropriate data reduction analytic technique. In doing so:
a. Conduct data cleaning and preparation as required, including checking for normality
b. Ensure the data extraction technique is appropriate for the data (e.g. If the data are not multivariate normal, you will need to either transform or use a more appropriate extraction method).
c. Ensure the number of factors is both statistically and conceptually appropriate. If there is conflicting information, you will need to justify your choice based on the balance of evidence.
d. Choose an appropriate rotation method and explain your choice.
2. Derive suitable score/s for the measure based on the outcome of question one.
a. Present means and standard deviations for each of the factors you extract
b. Calculate scale reliabilities using an appropriate reliability methodology.
3. In the next year 100 medical recruits will attend basic training, and performance data will be recorded. This presents an opportunity to validate the scale you have designed. There is space for 20 additional questions from another scale, or scales, to could be included along with the scale you developed in question 1. Recommend a questionnaire (or questionnaires) from the research literature and describe (but do not conduct) analyses that could be performed to show the scale developed in part 1 is measuring something useful and new.
I got this statistical psychology question in class and i'm having some trouble understanding what is required of me. I'm so-so competent with SPSS but I'm having trouble with the language. If someone could explain to me what exactly I need to do with the statistics part it would be great! Thank you so much!!
Background
A team of occupational psychologists are working on a project to identify the factors that indicate military medical personnel will be able to cope with demanding pressures and experiences that they are likely to face when peace-keeping in conflict zones. The cost to the peace keeping organization of an early return home is high, as is the cost of post-return mental health treatments required for workers who experience problems on return after completing a full term away.
While much is known about stress and coping, there are features of the role of a military medical officer that are unique, and the occupational psychologists have proceeded to interview returning workers to identify critical incidents indicative of an ability to cope in this particular role. The psychologists have now identified that successful military medical personnel have lower than usual reactions to environmental stressors in four domains: 1) physical, 2) cognitive, 3) emotional, and 4) anxiety. These individuals are described by the occupational psychologists as having a sangfroid disposition. The etymology of the work sangfroid is Latin. It literally translates as cold blood. It seems individuals with such a psychological make-up cope better with the demands of the medical officer role in peace-keeping contexts.
Based on their interviews, the psychologists have written 20 brief statements that can be rated on a 5 point scale in response to the question To what extent do you suffer from the following symptoms when faced with extreme pressure? Below are the 20 items initially developed for the scale:
1. Having trouble concentrating
2. Wanting to get away from everything
3. Feeling a sense of being alone
4. Having trouble getting your breath
5. Having trouble remembering things
6. Feeling faint or dizzy
7. Feeling nervous or shaky inside
8. Finding your mind going blank
9. Just wanting to be left alone
10. Feeling that others do not care
11. Feeling numbness or tingling in your body
12. Worrying about letting others down
13. Feeling annoyed or irritated
14. Having difficulty in making decisions
15. Feeling pains in your heart or chest
16. Feeling tense or keyed up
17. Having difficulty thinking clearly
18. Feeling that no one else can help you
19. Getting pains in the lower part of your back
20. Becoming restless and unable to relax
The psychologists have collected 500 responses to this set of statements, and are about to conduct a psychometric analysis to examine the underlying structure. If an appropriate scale can be constructed, it might be used in future in selection settings. The psychologists are aware that there were some missing responses in the data set, however, the person responsible for managing the data entry process has now left the organization, and they are uncertain what code was used for missing data, or if there was enough missing data to be an issue.
As well as examining the structure of the data set, the team is keen to assess the validity of the measure by examining relationships between the new sangfroid measure and existing measures of potentially related concepts. The selection process is already quite thorough and includes other psychometric tests including one measuring intelligence and a broad personality measure. This data collection for this phase of the research is yet to occur.
Research Questions
Your task is the following:
1. Examine the structure of data set with an appropriate data reduction analytic technique. In doing so:
a. Conduct data cleaning and preparation as required, including checking for normality
b. Ensure the data extraction technique is appropriate for the data (e.g. If the data are not multivariate normal, you will need to either transform or use a more appropriate extraction method).
c. Ensure the number of factors is both statistically and conceptually appropriate. If there is conflicting information, you will need to justify your choice based on the balance of evidence.
d. Choose an appropriate rotation method and explain your choice.
2. Derive suitable score/s for the measure based on the outcome of question one.
a. Present means and standard deviations for each of the factors you extract
b. Calculate scale reliabilities using an appropriate reliability methodology.
3. In the next year 100 medical recruits will attend basic training, and performance data will be recorded. This presents an opportunity to validate the scale you have designed. There is space for 20 additional questions from another scale, or scales, to could be included along with the scale you developed in question 1. Recommend a questionnaire (or questionnaires) from the research literature and describe (but do not conduct) analyses that could be performed to show the scale developed in part 1 is measuring something useful and new.
