Original Paper with A Plus Gaurantee

Purpose:

Students will conduct one brief research exercise that will be written up as a research report using APA style.  Please note:  It needs to be written in paper format, not answers to questions.  This paper will give the student practical experience in defining explanatory/independent and response/dependent variables, selecting the appropriate statistical technique, conducting data analysis, and writing up research results in APA format.One important note: This assignment will NOT include collecting data from people or animals.   Use the data provided by the instructor in the attached spreadsheet.  The data was collected from selected foods in a US commissary in Germany.

Content of the Paper:

Following APA guidelines for laboratory reports, your paper must contain the following:

1. Title Page
2. Abstract
3. Introduction – one to two paragraph introduction based on information from one source provided by the instructor.  Must include the research question, statement of the research hypothesis, and identification of the explanatory/independent and response/dependent variables.
4. Method – including procedures and information collected.
5. Results – this section describes the statistical analysis used and presents the results in text, statistical, and graphic formats
6. Discussion – including the strengths and limitations of the design and ethical concerns, if any.
7. References

Content of the Paper:

Your paper must contain the following:

Title Page

1. Abstract – Brief (200 words) summary of the study. This should describe:
1. The problem under investigation, in one sentence, if possible
2. The participants (in this case, it would describe the Soups)
3. Essential features of the study method
4. The basic findings
5. Conclusions and implications or applications
2. Introduction – one to two paragraph introduction.  Read the "Limit Fat and Sugar" article available at:http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/eat-right/limit-fat-sugar.htm. Based on this information contained in this article, develop a research question and hypotheses regarding the data collected from the commissary. Be sure to answer all ofthe following questions:

ü  What is the research question?  Specifically, what is the researcher interested in determining from this study? Please be sure to use the information from the article in your report as background information to justify the research question.

ü  What are the hypotheses being tested? Describe both the null and alternative hypothesis for each of the four nutrients.

ü   What are the explanatory/independent and response/dependent variables?

1. Method – brief description including procedures and information collected.

ü  Are the samples independent or dependent?  Please explain.

ü  How was the data collected? (ex. How was the data obtained for the samples?) Note: the data was collected from nutrition fact labels from selected Soups.  For more information on Nutritional Food Fact labels, please go to: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/eat-right/nutrition-facts.htm . This information in this article may also be helpful, when explaining the implications of the study in the discussion section.

ü  What type of variable is the explanatory/independent variable?  Categorical or Quantitative?

ü  What type of variable are the response/dependent variables? Categorical or Quantitative?

1. Results –describe, in words, the statistical analysis used and present the results in both statistical/text and graphic formats.  Specifically, answer each of the following questions:
1. What are the results of the exploratory data analysis?  Please calculate and provide the results of the means, standard deviations, and sample sizes for the groups for each of the four nutrients.  Present information in a table.
2. Describe the statistical technique(s) was/were selected to assess the hypotheses.  Why was it/they the appropriate one(s) to use?
3. What are the conditions for the specific statistical technique selected?  Does the data meet these conditions?  If not, why not?
4. Interpret the results of the statistical techniques for each of the four nutrients.  What conclusions can be drawn about the null and alternative hypotheses for each of the four nutrients?

1. Discussion
1. What do the results of the statistical analysis tell us about the differences in regular versus healthy alternative Soups? Please be sure to describe the results for all four nutrients.
2. What are some implications or applications of these results to real life?
3. What is a strength of the study?
4. What is a weakness of the study?
5. If you were to do this study again, what is one recommendation you would implement to make the study stronger?

The total paper should be between 3 and 5 pages not including title page, abstract, and tables/graphs.

Two of the 26 points will be given for:

1. Inclusion of all information for the paper (1 point)
2. Clear writing that is free of typographical and grammatical errors (1 point)

Twenty-four of the 26 points of the grade will be based on the content of each section as described in the above section:

1. Abstract (3 point)
2. Introduction (4 points)
3. Method (3 points)
4. Results (8 points)
5. Discussion (5 points)
6. Reference Section (1 point): Inclusion and correct citation of reference used for paper.

The total paper should be between 3 and 5 pages not including title page, abstract, tables/graphs, and references.

Soup data in word format

Thus, the only statistics that you need to calculate for it are the means, standard deviations, and sample sizes.  

Here are the results: 

Table for explatory Data Analysis

_____________________________________________________________________________________         

                                                                Healthy Alternative                                                            Regular

Calories

Saturated Fat

Cholesterol