Assignment details
Quantitative data analysis assessment
This component of the assessment will comprise on answering three questions :
a) Critically discuss the rationale for null hypothesis significance testing. Include a description of the underlying statistical theory and limitations associated with this approach to inferential testing.(750 words)
b) Explain and critically discuss the application of confidence intervals (CIs) to inferential testing. Your answer should explain what CIs are, their strengths and factors which influence the width of a CI. (750 words)
c) You have been provided with a file containing data from a sample of n = 253 participants who took part in a cross-sectional survey of community volunteers in Australia. Select two hypotheses from the three listed below. For both hypotheses, your task is to select and conduct an appropriate bivariate statistical test using an online calculator: (1000 words)
• Hypothesis 1 (HYP 1): It is hypothesised that males will be older, on average, relative to females;
• Hypothesis 2 (HYP 2): It is hypothesised that workers who are full time employed will report volunteering fewer days in the past year overall, relative to participants who are not full time employed;
• Hypothesis 3 (HYP 3): It is hypothesised that participants reporting higher levels of social support will tend to report lower levels of psychological distress.

For the written response to this activity, you should address the following points as relates to each hypothesis:
• Identify the level of measurement of both the relevant variables;
• Using reference to both characteristics of the data and statistical tests, explain why
particular tests were selected to test the hypotheses; and
• Report the results of these tests and critically interpret the findings.

Although this survey of community volunteers in Australia collected a range of information, the current file includes a limited sub-set of variables. These include:
• ID: A numeric code (from 1 – 253) that uniquely identifies each participant.
• AGE: Age of the participant in number of years.
• SEX: Male = 1; Female = 2.
• EMPLOY: Employment status, whereby 0 = Full time employed and 1 = Not full time employed (including students, unemployed and looking for work, those not in the labour market);
• DAY_VOL: Number of days volunteered in the past year;
• SOC_SUPP: Perceived social support, measured using 5-items (e.g., “Whenever I am sad, there are people who cheer me up”) derived from the Berlin Social Support Scale1. Individual items are scored on a 4-point likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat disagree, 3 = somewhat agree, 4 = strongly agree) and are summed to create the total score. Higher scores indicate more social support.
• DISTRESS: General psychological distress, measured using the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10)2. An example item is “During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel hopeless?” Individual items are scored on a 5-point likert scale (1 = None of the time, 2 = A little of the time, 3 = Some of the time, 4 = Most of the time, 5 = All of the time) and are summed to create the total score. Higher scores indicate greater psychological distress.
(see this page for more information on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale https://www.tac.vic.gov.au/files-to-move/media/upload/k10_english.pdf)
Accessing the data file
You can download the data file from the VLE, under the ‘Assignment submission, resources & support’ heading. The file is in Microsoft Excel format and contains three ‘tabs’ (which you can select between at the bottom left when Excel is open). These are labelled HYP 1, HYP 2, and HYP 3. To help identify relevant variables, each tab contains: (a) the unique participant ID variable; and (b) the two additional variables relevant to the hypothesis (HYP1, HYP 2, or HYP 3, respectively).
Data in each tab has been formatted to help you copy and paste the data into the online calculators. Where hypotheses concern differences between groups, the data file has been ‘sorted’ such that all data from one group is presented in ascending order, with data from the other group presented in subsequently. There should be no need to sort or re-organise data to copy and paste into the online calculator.

Assignment Details:

Assessment 2: Referral – design and usability work for web game
Instructions to Student:

Please note:  Work presented in an assessment must be the student’s own.  Plagiarism is where a student copies work from another source, published or unpublished (including the work of a fellow student) and fails to acknowledge the influence of another’s work or to attribute quotes to the author.  Plagiarism is an academic offence.

Work presented in an assessment must be your own. Plagiarism is where a student copies work from another source, published or unpublished (including the work of another student) and fails to acknowledge the influence of another’s work or to attribute quotes to the author. Plagiarism is an academic offence and the penalty can be serious. The University’s policies relating to Plagiarism can be found in the regulations at http://www.luton.ac.uk/livingandstudying/qa/documents. To detect possible plagiarism we may submit your work to the national plagiarism detection facility. This searches the Internet and an extensive database of reference material including other students’ work to identify.  Once your work has been submitted to the detection service it will be stored electronically in a database and compared against work submitted from this and other universities. It will therefore be necessary to take electronic copies of your materials for transmission, storage and comparison purposes and for the operational back-up process. This material will be stored in this manner indefinitely.

All assignments must be electronically submitted using Turnitin (via BREO) by 6 pm on the due date. Please leave sufficient time to meet this deadline and do not leave the handing-in of assignments to the last minute. You need to allow time for any system problems or other issues.
Brief

This is an individual assignment (you should work alone)

You are to prepare a design for a web based drag and drop game for Luton culture. The game will include a menu, a level selection screen, an options screen, a credits screen and a main gameplay screen. The target audience are school children aged 7-11 years.

The game should extend or reinforce the children’s learning after attending one of the following sessions delivered by Luton Culture:

•    Prehistory – Stone Age to Iron Age

•    Prehistory – Hunter to Farmer

•    Luton Through Time

You should
•    Conduct some competitor research identifying other web based drag and drop games for the same target age group
•    Create a paper prototype mocking up the sequence of events that occur when a user plays the game. You will need to video record a user doing this using think-aloud protocol (follow the steps in the practical session, week 23 and refer to the lecture slides for further guidance).
•    Create a set of screen mockups (done in Photoshop) that use the corporate identity of the client.
•    Complete a usability heuristic checklist to determine if any usability improvements need to be made to your game design (refer to the practical notes and lecture from week 20 for more information).

Deliverables:
a zip file containing:

•    a video (which can be shot on a phone camera or any digital camera available) showing the think aloud test.
•    a set of at least three screen mockups (in Photoshop) showing how the main game drag and drop screen, the main menu and the level select screens  will look

a report containing
•    at  least 300 words of discussion detailing the competitor research done  (including screenshots of the competitor games analysed) and describing the features of the games that you looked at that helped you to come up with your own design.
•    A Completed usability heuristic that shows you have analysed your proposed game for usability,
•    At least 300 words of discussion on the usability of the proposed design – what does the usability heuristic tell you about your design?

Corporate style is outlined in the “branding guidelines” document and details of the topics, including learning outcomes for each can be found in the “briefing meeting” presentation and “briefing notes”. These documents, as well as a number of additional materials have been uploaded to Breo in the assessment 2 section.

Pass Grade:
submission  includes video of user running through paper prototype. At least three Photoshop screen mockups which are suitable for target age group and reflect corporate style of client. Report defines at least two suitable competitor web games and identifies at least two features from them which are to be used in the new design. Usability heuristic completed and included in submission. Discussion on usability present and appropriate.

Fail Grade
any of above deliverables missing. Or no evidence of competitor research or no evidence of paper prototype or no evidence of at least three screen mockups or no evidence of consideration for target age group and
client’s corporate identity.

Assignment Details:

Assessment 2: Referral – design and usability work for web game
Instructions to Student:

Please note:  Work presented in an assessment must be the student’s own.  Plagiarism is where a student copies work from another source, published or unpublished (including the work of a fellow student) and fails to acknowledge the influence of another’s work or to attribute quotes to the author.  Plagiarism is an academic offence.

Work presented in an assessment must be your own. Plagiarism is where a student copies work from another source, published or unpublished (including the work of another student) and fails to acknowledge the influence of another’s work or to attribute quotes to the author. Plagiarism is an academic offence and the penalty can be serious. The University’s policies relating to Plagiarism can be found in the regulations at http://www.luton.ac.uk/livingandstudying/qa/documents. To detect possible plagiarism we may submit your work to the national plagiarism detection facility. This searches the Internet and an extensive database of reference material including other students’ work to identify.  Once your work has been submitted to the detection service it will be stored electronically in a database and compared against work submitted from this and other universities. It will therefore be necessary to take electronic copies of your materials for transmission, storage and comparison purposes and for the operational back-up process. This material will be stored in this manner indefinitely.

All assignments must be electronically submitted using Turnitin (via BREO) by 6 pm on the due date. Please leave sufficient time to meet this deadline and do not leave the handing-in of assignments to the last minute. You need to allow time for any system problems or other issues.
Brief

This is an individual assignment (you should work alone)

You are to prepare a design for a web based drag and drop game for Luton culture. The game will include a menu, a level selection screen, an options screen, a credits screen and a main gameplay screen. The target audience are school children aged 7-11 years.

The game should extend or reinforce the children’s learning after attending one of the following sessions delivered by Luton Culture:

•    Prehistory – Stone Age to Iron Age

•    Prehistory – Hunter to Farmer

•    Luton Through Time

You should
•    Conduct some competitor research identifying other web based drag and drop games for the same target age group
•    Create a paper prototype mocking up the sequence of events that occur when a user plays the game. You will need to video record a user doing this using think-aloud protocol (follow the steps in the practical session, week 23 and refer to the lecture slides for further guidance).
•    Create a set of screen mockups (done in Photoshop) that use the corporate identity of the client.
•    Complete a usability heuristic checklist to determine if any usability improvements need to be made to your game design (refer to the practical notes and lecture from week 20 for more information).

Deliverables:
a zip file containing:

•    a video (which can be shot on a phone camera or any digital camera available) showing the think aloud test.
•    a set of at least three screen mockups (in Photoshop) showing how the main game drag and drop screen, the main menu and the level select screens  will look

a report containing
•    at  least 300 words of discussion detailing the competitor research done  (including screenshots of the competitor games analysed) and describing the features of the games that you looked at that helped you to come up with your own design.
•    A Completed usability heuristic that shows you have analysed your proposed game for usability,
•    At least 300 words of discussion on the usability of the proposed design – what does the usability heuristic tell you about your design?

Corporate style is outlined in the “branding guidelines” document and details of the topics, including learning outcomes for each can be found in the “briefing meeting” presentation and “briefing notes”. These documents, as well as a number of additional materials have been uploaded to Breo in the assessment 2 section.

Pass Grade:
submission  includes video of user running through paper prototype. At least three Photoshop screen mockups which are suitable for target age group and reflect corporate style of client. Report defines at least two suitable competitor web games and identifies at least two features from them which are to be used in the new design. Usability heuristic completed and included in submission. Discussion on usability present and appropriate.

Fail Grade
any of above deliverables missing. Or no evidence of competitor research or no evidence of paper prototype or no evidence of at least three screen mockups or no evidence of consideration for target age group and
client’s corporate identity.