DaSCA08 Research practicum II

Course goals

At the end of the course, students are able to:

• Translate theoretical questions concerning adolescent development into empirical research questions;
• Determine the multilevel modeling/SEM analyses that are most appropriate to answer different empirical research questions;
• Explore and prepare data(sets) in SPSS and subsequently perform the required multilevel modeling/SEM analyses in HLM/Mplus;
• Interpret and draw conclusions from the output of the performed multilevel modeling/SEM analyses in HLM/Mplus;
• Write (parts of) the Method, Results, and Discussion sections of an English empirical research article conform APA style, based on the output of the performed multilevel modeling/SEM analyses in HLM/Mplus.

Link between Learning Goals and Assessment
The course consists of weekly on campus computer practicals. The first part of each meeting (± 2 hours) involves discussing the home exercises that students prepared before the meeting. Active class participation is expected. The second part of each meeting is reserved for students to start working on the home exercises for the next meeting.

Students are expected to attend all meetings. Active class participation is expected and students are expected to properly prepare for each meeting by (re-)reading the corresponding literature and performing the home exercises that are introduced in the Student Guide in advance of each meeting (10% of the final grade). There are two large assignments that are graded (90% of the final grade), halfway through the course and at the end of the course. For these assignments, students need to answer several empirical research questions by performing the appropriate statistical analyses on existing datasets and write (parts of) the “Method”, “Results”, and “Discussion” sections of an English scientific paper dealing with these research questions conform APA style. Assignment 1 is a group assignment that focuses on multilevel modeling performed in HLM (40% of the final Assignment grade) and Assignment 2 is an individual assignment that focuses on SEM performed in Mplus (60% of the final Assignment grade). The minimum final grade required to pass the course and receive credit for the course is 5.5, and each assignment should not be graded lower than 4.0.

Content

In this course, the statistical analyses introduced in DaSCA07 are applied to existing datasets using the statistical software packages SPSS, HLM, and Mplus. First, students learn to explore and prepare raw datafiles in SPSS. Subsequently, students learn to perform the statistical analyses required for answering theoretical research questions derived from the literature from other DaSCA courses (e.g., research questions concerning the quality of adolescents’ relationships with parents and adolescent problem behavior).

The techniques presented in DaSCA07 and DaSCA08 are characterized by the integration of several traditional statistical techniques often used by social and behavioral scientists. Multilevel analysis (as performed in HLM) is characterized by the integration of traditional regression analysis and a hierarchical approach. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM; as performed in Mplus) is characterized by the integration of traditional regression analysis, factor analysis, and repeated measures analysis.

During this course, the following statistical procedures are used to analyze data: Multilevel regression modeling (including the analysis of moderation and longitudinal data), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), path models (including Cross-Lagged Panel Modeling and moderation/mediation), and Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGM). In Assignment 1 and Assignment 2, students will exercise their scientific writing skills by writing parts of a scientific article (i.e., parts of the ‘Method’ and ‘Discussion’ sections and the full ‘Results’ section) conform APA style.