Statistics 346 Findings
The data for this study was used from the parental involvement surveys sent out in the fall 2019 semester for SOCL 345. For this study, I hypothesized that parents who improved their relationship with their child while completing this activity, had a much more enjoyable experience while completing this activity. This could be because the parents work a lot and they do not have much time to spend with their children. This way, if they had time to sit down and complete this activity with their child/children, then they would be grateful for the time they are able to spend with their child/children and enjoy their time together, and work on the activities longer.
In order to test my hypothesis to see if what I hypothesized was correct, I used a program called R-Studio. For my hypothesis I used variable seventeen, On a scale from 0-10, how well did your family enjoy this activity? and variable eighteen, On a scale from 0-10, how much did this activity help to improve you and your child’s/children’s relationship?
To start off I used the Z-Score formula to see the mean for each of the questions asked on the survey. For the question, on a scale from 0-10, how well did your family enjoy this activity (variable 17) the mean was 8.37. For the question on a scale from 0-10, how much did this activity help to improve you and your child’s/children’s relationship (variable 18), the mean was 8.23. I chose this method to get a baseline answer of how most of the participants felt about completing these activities. However, this may not reflect a larger population.
Table 1:
Z-Score Test of Amount of Fun had While Completing the Activity by the Amount of Time it took to Complete the Activity.
Variable: Mean
17 8.37
18 8.23
In R-Studio I used a formula called Basic Linear Regression. For basic linear regression, I was able to see that there was a .47190 increase in enjoyment for every one increase in the improvement of relationship. With the p-value being 5.18. This showed that there was a significant difference between the two variables. With the R-squared being 47 percent, this shows roughly half of the variation in the dependent variable. However, this may not represent the findings of a larger population.
Another formula used to test my hypothesis was Pearson’s Correlation. In R-Studio I again used variable seventeen and variable eighteen for this formula. Because both of these variables are continuous variables, I was able to use this particular formula. The correlation was 0.6865167. This shows that 68% of parents who helped their child/children with the activity created a better relationship with their child/children. However, this may or may not reflect a larger population.
Another test used was the Chi-Squared test. For the chi-squared assignment I chose variable 2 (How long did it take you to and your child/children to complete this activity?) and variable 6 (On a scale of 1-10, how much did your family enjoy this activity?). The table shows, the longer amount of time a family spent working on this activity, the more fun they had. For families who did not have much fun completing this activity, the table shows that they did not spend much time working on the activity.
Table 2:
Chi-Squared Test of Amount of Fun had While Completing the Activity by the Amount of Time it took to Complete the Activity.
Amount of time: 0-10 min 11-20 min 21-30 Longer than 30 min p-value
Fun Level: 0.0001906
0 to 5 0 0 2 0
6 to 10 4 9 14 11
Note: X-squared = 56.587, df = 24
The participants for the data were families in a rural part of Virginia. Many of the parents work a lot and may not have much time to spend with their children. For this study, I hypothesized that parents who improved their relationship with their child/children while completing this activity, had a much more enjoyable experience while completing this activity. In R-Studio I used four different formulas to test my hypothesis. The data shows that roughly half of the families who spent more time working on the activities with their child/children had a much more enjoyable experience completing these activities. This helped parents improve their relationship with their child/children. While the data is used for a small sample of a population, this may not reflect a larger population.