M.S. Psychology: This week you will begin creating the SPSS database that will be used to store and analyze your assessment da

M.S. Psychology:

This week you will begin creating the SPSS database that will be used to store and analyze your assessment data.  It is very important to set up the variables correctly before the data are entered. 

View the two videos, Setting up the Database 1 and Setting up the Database 2 for an example of how a database is created.

Your database should contain the following variables:

1. Participant ID number
2. Program ID
3. Group (applicable only if you will be comparing two or more groups for a single program, such as a treatment group and a control group)
4. Demographic variables (such as age, sex, and any other demographic variables that are important for your population). 
5. Assessment instrument items for one entire instrument (pre and post).
6. Assessment instrument totals for remaining assessment instruments (pre and post).

Please note that, if you were creating a database for an actual agency, each item of each assessment instrument would be a separate variable.  For the purposes of this course, you will need to select one assessment instrument for one of your programs and create a variable for every item on the measure in the database.  For the remaining assessment instruments for the two programs, you only need to enter a total score for each subscale. If there are no subscales, then just create a variable for the total score for the measure.

For this discussion, submit the beginning of your SPSS database including numbers 1 through 4 above as well as at least a few items from number 5 above.  Use this discussion to clarify any issues related to setting up the variables in the database.  Also attach the instruments that are being used for each program. If you are not able to obtain an actual instrument, provide a description of the instrument that explains the items, measurement scale, and scoring instructions.  Provide a full reference for each instrument used in each of the two programs.

The SPSS database containing all of the variables will be submitted for your Week 1 assignment.