Scenario You are a new graduate researcher at a social science and psychological sciences research institute. You have been given a dataset based on the most recent Australian Public Service...

Scenario

You are a new graduate researcher at a social science and psychological sciences research institute. You have been given a dataset based on the most recent Australian Public Service Commission Census 2016, which is a survey of Australian Public Service Sector Employees and asked to analyse the data to answer several questions of interest.

You will use the data set provided for you in the supporting resources section.

Data preparation

For the purpose of your report, you must use SPSS to draw a random sample of 1500 of the 4352 observations. You will conduct your analysis on this sample of 1500. Instructions on how to generate your random sample are in the supporting resources section. Note, however, that some variables contain missing values. Therefore, each of your analyses might not contain the entire 1500 cases.

Data analysis

For your assignment, you are required to complete the first three questions by producing the appropriate analyses and writing the relevant report for each question. You are also required to complete Questions 4 and 5, two short answer questions. Question 5 is composed of four parts. The reports should follow the format of the model reports provided in the additional resources section. For each of the first four questions requiring SPSS, you should include the relevant output (e.g. tables, confidence interval calculations and graphs) with your report.

You are required to produce the following sets of analyses. Each analysis should be accompanied by a brief report (each report should be no more than one page).

Page	Description	Instructions
1	The variable‘WorkEnjoyment’indicates the extent to which each employee agrees with the statement 'I enjoy my work'.	Produce the relevant graph and table to summarise the‘WorkEnjoyment’variable and write a paragraph explaining the key features of the data observed in the output in the style presented in the course materials.
2	The variable‘JobEngagement’is a scale measurement that indicates how engaged an employee is with the job they work in. This variable was measured on a scale that can take values from 0 to 20, with higher values representing greater employee engagement with their job.	Produce the relevant graph and tables to summarise the‘JobEngagement’variable and write a paragraph explaining the key features of the data observed in the output in the style presented in the course materials.
3	The variable‘AgencyEngagement’is a scale measurement that indicates how engaged an employee is with their Agency/Department. This variable was measured on a scale that can take values from 0 to 20, with higher values representing greater employee engagement with their Agency/Department. Produce the relevant graph and tables to summarise theAgencyEngagementvariable and write a paragraph explaining the key features of the data observed in the output in the style presented in the course materials. Instructions Produce the relevant graph and tables to summarise the‘AgencyEngagement’variable and write a paragraph explaining the key features of the data observed in the output in the style presented in the course materials.	Produce the relevant graph and table to summarise the‘AgencyEngagement’variable and write a paragraph explaining the key features of the data observed in the output in the style presented in the course materials.
Short answer questions
4	James the postman is accused by his manager of being too slow in completing his mail deliveries. James feels he is completing his designated routes within a reasonable amount of time and calls for an investigation. He makes a point of recording the time it takes him to complete each of his four routes and it turns out they each take 110 minutes. On which of the following routes would James be considered unusually slow compared to the other posties who deliver on the same routes? Route 1 where the mean time is μ = 60 minutes and the standard deviation σ = 20 minutes. Route 2 where the mean time is μ = 120 minutes and the standard deviation σ = 10 minutes. Route 3 where the mean time is μ = 100 minutes and the standard deviation σ = 10 minutes. Route 4 where the mean time is μ = 140 minutes and the standard deviation σ = 15 minutes.	On which of the routes would James be considered unusually slow compared to the other posties who deliver on the same routes? Justify your answer, quoting the relevant statistics as part of your explanation. Assume the route times are normally distributed.
5 (a)	The Tinned Fruit Company introduced a new range of mid-sized tins of fruit earlier this year. The company claims that the mean weight of these tins of fruit are on average 200 g, with a standard deviation of 12 g. Recently however, a consumer organisation has received a number of complaints from consumers who believe that the mean weight of their tins containing nectarines is actually less than 200 g. To investigate this discrepancy, the consumer organisation randomly selects 1500 tins of nectarines produced in July and records the weight of these tins. This sample is then used to assess whether the company is marketing tins of nectarines that weigh on average less than 200g.	What is the population we can draw conclusions about in this study?
5 (b, c and d)	We have produced a sampling distribution for the mean weight using approximately 200 samples of size 1500, taken from a population where the mean is 200 g, with a standard deviation of 12 g. The sampling distribution is displayed in Figure 1. Figure 1: Distribution of sample means in 200 samples of size 1500, taken from a population where the mean is 200 g and the standard deviation is 12 g	(b) What does the highlighted section of the sampling distribution in Figure 1 represent? (c) The random sample of 1500 tins of nectarines taken by the consumer organization turned out to have a mean weight of 200.8g. Does it look like this sample belongs to the sampling distribution displayed in Figure 1? Justify your answer. (d) Given that the sample was randomly selected from all tins of nectarines produced by the Tinned Fruit Company during July, and given that the weight was measured accurately, what conclusion can we reach from part (c)?

Supporting resources

• 
  STA10003_Assignment_Data.sav.This data file is used as the basis for this Assignment. You are required to take a random sample of cases from this data file to use for your Assignment. You should save your random sample of cases in a secure place, as it will be used for both parts of this Assignment, Part 1 and Part 2.


• 
  Assignment 2 (Part 1) template (DOCX 108 KB)
  
  
  . This document is not compulsory—you do not have to use it. It is simply a template for how to format the page layout of your assignment. While we do strongly recommend you adopt this format and use the template, you will not lose marks for not doing so. Please rename the document to match your surname and student number.


• 
  Model reports(PDF 119 KB)
  
  
  is relevant to Assignment 2. This file contains model reports using a range of statistical tests covered in the unit. Only use the model reports relevant to the statistical tests covered in this assignment task.


• 
  Instructions for generating random sample(PDF 311 KB)
  
  
  .

The following videos may assist you in generating your random sample. The preceding PDF instructions also outline these processes.

Checklist

Question 1 should include (as appropriate):

• A graph and frequency output appropriate for a categorical variable.


• A paragraph that includes mention of largest group, smallest group, spread of percentages and proportions (as appropriate), and any other relevant patterns based on the model reports from the learning materials.

Question 2 should include (as appropriate):

• A graph and explore output appropriate for a metric variable.


• A paragraph that includes a description of the centre, spread, outliers if present, and shape of distribution based on the model reports from the learning materials.

Question 3 should include (as appropriate):

• A graph and explore output appropriate for a metric variable.


• A paragraph that includes a description of the centre, spread, outliers if present, and shape of distribution based on the report writing examples in the supporting resources.

Question 4 and 5:

The answers should be presented in written form, with sections (a) to (d) in Question 5 clearly identified.

Overall check:

• Correct variable used to produce output.


• Correct procedure performed.


• Graphs appropriately edited and labelled e.g. edited variable names; 'Figure 1. The distribution of …'


• All figures quoted in report correct according to your own output.


• Correctly referring to the sample or population when appropriate.


• Proofreading of reports for errors.

Submission details overview

Assignment criteria

Request for assignment extension

Assessment declaration

All students must agree to the following declaration when submitting assignment items.

Declaration and Statement of Authorship

1. I have not impersonated, or allowed myself to be impersonated by any person for the purposes of this assignment.


2. This assignment is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made.


3. No part of this assignment has been written for me by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned.


4. I have not previously submitted this work for this or any other course/unit.


5. I give permission for my assignment response to be reproduced, communicated, compared and archived for plagiarism detection, benchmarking or educational purposes.

I understand that:

• Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's work as though it is your own. It is a form of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to exclusion from the university.


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• Plagiarised material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data and oral presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited.

I agree and acknowledge that:

1. I have read and understood the Declaration and Statement of Authorship above.


2. I accept that use of my Swinburne account to electronically submit this assignment constitutes my agreement to the Declaration and Statement of Authorship.


3. If I do not agree to the Declaration and Statement of Authorship in this context, the assessment outcome may not be valid for assessment purposes and may not be included in my aggregate score for this unit.


4. I am aware that it is not acceptable to resubmit the same piece of work (in part or as whole) for multiple assignments without permission from the Unit Coordinator.