SPSS Assignment Part 1 Instructions

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale)

In the Assignment Instructions folder, there is an SPSS data file that will be the basis for your analysis. The data included are fictional and were created solely for this assignment.

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D scale) is often utilized to measure depressive symptomology (Radloff, 1977). It is a self-assessment that is completed by the individual. The CES-D contains 20-items rated on a 4-point scale (0 = Rarely or None of the Time to 3 = Most or All of the Time). The phrase “Within the past week did you…” prefaces the questions in order to emphasize recent depressive mood. Scores are summed and can range from 0 to 60. Traditionally, individuals with scores over 16 are identified as “depressed” (Weissman, et al., 1977), though due to high false positive rates, a score of 27 is considered a more useful cut-off (Zich, et al., 1990). The full scale can be accessed at: http://www.chcr.brown.edu/pcoc/cesdscale.pdf. Items 4, 8, 12, and 16 are reversed to avoid “yay-saying” or “nay saying” (Radloff, 1977). Several studies have validated four subscales across a variety of subgroups (i.e., depressive affect, well-being, somatic, and interpersonal) (Gliem & Gliem, 2003).

Demographics

You will learn how to go from raw demographic data in SPSS to describing a sample.

For this assignment, you will:

1.      Create a table showing the most appropriate descriptive statistics for three (3) of the demographic variables. You will be graded on the appropriateness of the descriptive statistics and graphs for each of the demographic variables as well as current APA format for your tables.

2.      Create the most appropriate graphs for the three variables you used for #1 above. Figure captions should be in APA format.

3.      Write a summary paragraph describing the sample. For example: “The sample was based on xxx# of college students from a private university in the southeastern United States. X% of the students were males, x% females. Students were primarily… (give the appropriate descriptor information with %’s or whatever fits the variables you choose to analyze).