Peer Response Guidelines

Provide a substantive contribution that advances the discussion in a meaningful way by identifying strengths of the posting, challenging assumptions, and asking clarifying questions. Your response is expected to reference the assigned readings, as well as other theoretical, empirical, or professional literature to support your views and writings. Reference your sources using standard APA guidelines. Review the Participation Guidelines section of the Discussion Participation Scoring Guide to gain an understanding of what is required in a substantive response.

Peer 1 J. Horstman

As a teacher, comparing GPA across grade levels is often used to evaluate whether the curriculum is too easy or difficult. Grade levels is on the x-axis as the independent or predictor variable. That means GPA is on the y-axis as the dependent or outcome variable. Next, grade levels is ordinal and GPA is interval level of measurements. A t test is appropriate because the experiment is comparing means of different populations (George & Mallery, 2016). Further, George and Mallery (2016) say an independent samples t test is warranted because it tests different populations that don’t correlate. Scores should be relatively even, but will vary to some degree. Factors such as what grade level has scored higher in previous year or if grade levels are from different schools will cause GPA to fluctuate. Results could point to easier/harder curriculum, better overall attitude of students, or the instructors’ abilities to teach students. Therefore, the outcome of this experiment could lead to numerous further investigations. 

                                              Reference

George D., & Mallery, P. (2016). IBM SPSS statistics step by step (14th ed.). New York, NY: Rouledge. 

Peer2 Mollie Huber

Independent t-test are used to show if there is a statically significant difference in mean scores on Y between the groups (Warner, 2012). The dichotomous variable consists of only two values; the values of X are labels for group membership. The outcome variable (Y) for an independent samples t test is quantitative (Warner, 2012). An example of a research question that can be utilized with an independent t-test; Do male or female children who are diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder show more aggressive behavior? The variables would include a group of boys and a group of girls. Group 1 (boys) would be significantly greater than group 2 (girls). From past observations, the boys had the tendency to display more erratic behaviors compared to the girls.

Warner, R. M. (20120410). Applied Statistics: From Bivariate Through Multivariate Techniques, 2nd Edition [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781483305974