Advanced Educational Research EDUC5405
Assignment II (Session 2019-20)
Quantitative assignment – Analysing and reporting on the Pupil Health Survey
Please read all of the following carefully
Background to the study
In 2007 the University of Glasgow undertook a piece of research for the local Health Board. This work involved conducting a large survey of pupils in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year in all Glasgow’s secondary schools. In each school half of the pupils were selected for inclusion in the survey. In total, 9246 pupils took part in the study.
• The PDF document ‘Glasgow health and wellbeing questionnaire’ is a copy of the questionnaire used.
• The SPSS datafile ‘Health 2014 assignment’ contains all of the survey responses. However, a number of variables and areas included in the questionnaire have been excluded from the database since they are not relevant to this assignment.
In this assignment you have three tasks to address. Each task should be written up as a separate section of your assignment report. In addition, a very brief introduction to the topic and the assignment is expected.
Task 1 Profile the survey respondents
Investigate the following variables to ‘describe’ the pupils who took part in the survey.
Variable
Question number
Notes on the data
Gender
94
Categorical data
Age
3
Scale (measurement) data
Year group
4
Ordinal data
Self-esteem
8a-8g
Q8 is a standard instrument for measuring self-esteem. A score is calculated for those pupils who complete all of the instrument items. Raw scores (measurement data) are contained under the file variable Esteem (higher scores means higher levels of self-esteem). The variable Esteemgrp (categorical data) categorises the pupils into two groups – ‘high self-esteem’ and ‘low self-esteem’. Original responses to Q8a-8g have been removed.
Depression
9a-9j
Q9 is a standard instrument for measuring tendency towards depression. Again a score is calculated for pupils who complete all of the instrument items. Raw scores (measurement data) are contained under the file variable Depress (low scores means increased likelihood of experiencing depression). The variable Depresgrp (categorical data) categorises the pupils into two groups – ‘less likely to experience depression’ and more ‘likely to experience depression’. Original responses to Q9a-9j have been removed
Illness and disability
17
Categorical data
Asylum seekers
97a
Categorical data
Notes and suggestions for Task 1
Here you are expected to describe the characteristics (profile) of the responding pupils. What can you tell the reader about the pupils who took part in the survey? This description should draw on basic frequencies, measures of dispersion and measures of central tendency. In addition the data/variables should also be looked at in terms of associations and differences. Cross-tabulation/chi-square, correlation, and t-tests could all be deployed in generating a profile of the survey respondents. (There may also be scope to undertake One-Way ANOVA and associated Post Hoc tests) Please refer to the workshop annotated notes and handbooks for descriptions on how to carry out, interpret and present such procedures. You should also report
any caveats (cautions) that you have identified with the data. Charts and diagrams may also be useful in presenting your data.
Task 2 Investigate the health data
Select one area from the following list and conduct analysis on the data. This analysis should attempt to identify which, if any groups of pupils (e.g. males/females, those with high or low self- esteem etc.) are more or less likely to engage in certain activities/behaviours.
Questionnaire section
Pages and question numbers
Notes on data
How do you feel?
Page 1 to page 5.
Questions 5, 6, 7, 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
This section might help to explain why people behave or make choices related to other sections of the survey
Physical activity
Page 6 to page 8
Questions 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32.
Again what else might be linked to physical activity?
Your Diet
Page 8 and page 9
Questions 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41
Why might teenagers be concerned about diet? And what else might this influence or be influenced by?
Smoking
Q42 has been recoded. The new categories are ‘smoker’ and ‘non- smoker’.
Page 10 and page 11
Questions 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50
Drinking Alcohol & Drugs
(this includes both alcohol and drug sections)
Q51 has been recoded. The new categories are ‘regular drinker’ and ‘irregular/non-drinker’.
Page 12 and page 13
Questions 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56
Notes and suggestions for Task 2
You should use the variables and profile generated in Task 1 to help in analysing the data in your chosen section. It can be useful to think about what you would expect to see in the data
before you run the analysis. For example, you might speculate that males would be more likely to drink alcohol than females or that older pupils would be more likely than younger pupils to use cannabis. Thinking like this can help you generate questions to explore in the data and remember; are you looking for an association or relationship, or are you looking for differences? You should also report any caveats (cautions) that you have identified with the data. It is also worth thinking what other variable in the dataset may influence the variables you have selected to analyse.
Again, cross tabulation/chi-square, correlation, and t-tests could all be deployed in exploring the data(There may also be scope to undertake One-Way ANOVA and associated Post Hoc tests) Please refer to the workshop annotated notes and handbooks for descriptions on how to carry out, interpret and present such procedures. Charts and diagrams may also be useful in presenting your data.
Task 3 Comparing your findings with other relevant studies
The final task is to look at your findings from Task 1 and Task 2 in relation to other relevant research and comment on any similarities and differences. For example, if you investigated smoking; then you should look for studies on young people (secondary school age?), and smoking behaviour.
Notes and suggestions for Task 3
You are not expected to conduct a full literature review. However, you are expected to find a small number of relevant studies/articles and ask yourself the question: too what extent are my findings in line with those from other studies? If your findings are not in line with those from other studies you should suggest why you think they are different. You should limit your search to the last ten years and, if possible, prioritise other national (UK) studies before international studies. Studies which involve meta-analysis (collecting and analysing the findings from many studies) can be particularly helpful in allowing you to quickly see where previous research has been conducted, where findings are in broad agreement, and where research findings have been contradictory.
As usual, students are reminded to pay attention to presentation, language, structure and correct citation and use of references.
Length of assignment: 2000 words +/- 10%
Submission date April 30th 2020