Intermediate Statistics and Research – EDCO 745

CG • Section 8WK • 11/08/2019 to 04/16/2020 • Modified 09/05/2023

Course Description

This course will cover the use of techniques related to the linear model and how to use such procedures to solve problems and to answer questions in the areas of community and counseling contexts. The application of multiple regression techniques to a wide range of quantitative research designs will be covered.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Rationale

Counselors are increasingly required to demonstrate the efficacy of their interventions and treatment strategies. Within the helping profession, there is increasing pressure to provide treatments that are evidence-based. It is no longer professionally acceptable for counselors to rely simply on their experience and previous training in a particular theory or approach to counseling to treat specific kinds of clinical problems such as depression, anxiety, and addictions. We are currently in an era of accountability. This accountability also applies to professional Christian counselors, as the profession will face growing demands to demonstrate efficacy. Moreover, the field of Christian counseling and community care makes knowledge claims about human behavior, developmental processes, spirituality and mental health functioning, and the importance of close relationships. If we believe our knowledge claims have practical, real-life applications, Christian academia has a responsibility to demonstrate that these knowledge claims can have practical applications that can be empirically validated. To this end, doctoral level practitioners and academics must be able to appropriately consume the current scientific research such that they can identify potential strengths and weaknesses of research reports and understand how such data can be interpreted and generalized to areas of interests. The purpose of this course is designed to help the student acquire an advanced understanding of research design and statistical techniques necessary to not only understand and consume the scientific literature in and around the field of counseling and community care, but to also produce a high quality doctoral dissertation that meaningfully contributes to the scientific literature.

Course Assignment

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

The student will choose any 2 categorical and 2 quantitative variables and go through the data screening process outlined in Warner chapter 4. The student will write a data screening paragraph consistent with Warner's instructions and submit the paragraph and output in a Microsoft Word document.

The student will construct an outline for his/her Literature Review. These outlines must be thorough and include citations and descriptions of the articles the student reviewed. This must include major themes as well as integration between themes. The outline of the student’s Literature Review must have at least 5 major headings. The student may resubmit this assignment a second time after receiving feedback.

Example Organization:

I: Introduction

II: Theme 1

III Theme 2

IV: Integrate and Synthesize Themes

V: Conclusion

The student will turn in the best-written 2 pages of his/her Literature Review to date. These 2 pages must represent his/her best writing.

The student’s best writing includes: no direct quotes, complete, and descriptive sentences, integrated to beautifully organized and written paragraphs, and logical transitions from one paragraph to another.

Provide a results section of a between groups analysis, written in current APA format. Include all relevant tables and figures. Attach your SPSS output to the assignment as well. Be sure and include a title page and a reference page.

The student will turn in his/her data screening output for an analysis of group differences. . There are a number of demographics that the student can explore differences between (e.g., gender) in the dataset.

The student will submit a 7–10-page literature review that both summarizes and critically evaluates the current literature on their chosen topic.

The student will turn in his/her data screening output for regression analysis. The variables must be based on the models that the student has developed.

The student will turn in at least 2 proposed models. These models must be based on Hayes' models in his currently published text. The student must use his/her variables of interest to construct his/her models. For each model, a brief description must be included. A title page is also required. This is a group project. Only 1 member of the group needs to turn in the assignment.

The student must provide a results section of a regression analysis written in current APA format. All relevant tables and figures must be included. The student must attach his/her SPSS output to the assignment as well. A title page and a reference page must also be included.

Each student receives 25 points for turning their poster in and getting feedback from the instructor.

Using the course materials and the examples in Blackboard, the student will construct a research poster presenting his/her group’s complete research study. The poster submission must have a central focus, and that focus must be evident throughout the poster. Specifically, the introduction, analysis, and results must be focused around a set of research questions and/or hypotheses that are obvious in the theoretical diagram. The focus must comprehensively place problem/question in appropriate scholarly context (scholarly literature, theory, model, or genre). All elements of method/techniques must be fully developed and articulated. Approaches support a complex and/or nuanced analysis of the problem. Interpretation is explicitly linked to theoretical framework or scholarly model. Implications, consequences, and/or questions raised by the project are thoroughly explored. Limitations must be fully articulated. Presentation of the material must be professional and compelling.

The student will complete CITI training, which is an online training course on ethics in research. To complete training, follow the instructions on this website: https://www.liberty.edu/graduate/institutional-review-board/collaborative-institutional-training-initiative/. CITI training allows users to select which subjects to complete, and the student only need to complete the social and behavioral researchers’ sections for this course. If the student has previously completed CITI training within the last 2 years, he/she does not need to complete it again if he/she submits proof of completion.

Each student needs to pick a topic related to the data Each student’s topic must be focused around 1 or more of the constructs measured in the scales. In addition to these scales, the data has basic demographics. All participants in the dataset are between the ages of 18 and 80. The student must submit a Microsoft Word document indicating his/her topic and at least 4 references related to the topic that utilized 1 or more of the scales in Blackboard.

The student will schedule a live online meeting with his/her professor.