PAC7 at JALT2008 Proceedings Article Data

Article title, keywords, abstract, and writer profiles

Title:
Utilizing Statistics in Research: A Case Study

Keywords:
statistics, survey analysis, SPSS, p-value

Abstract:
Many college and university educators would like to incorporate statistical findings in their own research papers, but are often unsure of where to start. Some have tried their hand at statistics, only to be disappointed when a resulting p-value of greater than 0.05 leads them to conclude that their research results are statistically insignificant, when in actuality they would be if sample effect size would have been taken into consideration. This paper will have readers go through the step-by-step process the author took when conducting a research survey and then presenting the statistical results with the help of SPSS in a published paper. Two commonly used statistical analyses, the t-test and chi-square test, as well as various statistical terms such as p-value, Cohens d, phi value and R2 will be introduced and explained in-depth. Actual output screens from SPSS software will be utilized throughout the paper to allow readers to see exactly what steps to take to carry out each statistical analysis. The importance of sample effect size in conjunction with p-value will also be explained. By going through the process of formulating and analyzing an actual survey from start to finish, it is hoped that readers will gain confidence in being able to utilize SPSS to publish their own research survey findings in the future, while at the same time being able to better understand and interpret basic statistical figures that are often found in academic papers in the SLA field.

Writer profiles:
Josh R. Norman has been teaching English and cross-cultural communication full-time at Shokei University since 2006. He lives in Kumamoto City and his research interests include L1 use in the L2 classroom and "waseieigo"(Japanese-English words).

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