PSYC FPX 3700 Assessment 2

PSYC FPX 3700 Assessment 2

Student Name

Capella University

PSYC-FPX3700 Statistics for Psychology

Prof. Name:

Date

Assessment 2

Part 1: Data Visualization

The dataset for this assessment, GSS_30s.csv, was derived from the General Social Survey (GSS) and includes data collected in 2022 from individuals aged 30–39. This subset allows an exploration of social and mental health characteristics within this specific age group.

The dataset includes the following variables:

Variable	Description
year	Year in which the participant’s data were collected
id_	A unique identification number assigned to each participant
childs	Number of children reported by the participant
age	Participant’s age in years
sex	Sex assigned at birth (“Male” or “Female”)
race	Race of the participant (“Black,” “White,” or “Other”)
income	Annual income range of the participant
mntlhlth	Number of days in the last 30 days the participant experienced poor mental health
depress	Whether a participant has ever been medically diagnosed with depression (“Yes” or “No”)

A) Univariate Graph

Constructing the Histogram

A histogram was generated in JASP to visualize the distribution of the variable mntlhlth (the number of days participants experienced poor mental health in the past 30 days). This visualization helps understand the frequency and spread of mental health difficulties among participants.

Interpretation for a Non-Statistical Audience

The histogram indicates that the majority of participants reported few or no days of poor mental health in the previous month. Most bars are concentrated at the lower end of the scale, showing a right-skewed distribution. This pattern means that while some individuals experienced many days of poor mental health, most reported very few. In simpler terms, the majority of adults in their 30s seem to maintain good mental well-being, with only a small portion facing frequent mental health challenges.

Overall, the distribution highlights that occasional poor mental health is relatively common, but chronic or prolonged mental distress is less typical in this age group.

B) Bivariate Graph

Constructing the Raincloud Plot

A raincloud plot was developed in JASP to compare the variable mntlhlth across two groups based on the depress variable — individuals diagnosed with depression versus those without a diagnosis. This visualization combines boxplots, density plots, and raw data points to illustrate both the spread and central tendency of poor mental health days for each group.

Interpretation for a Statistical Audience

The raincloud plot reveals a notable difference between the two groups. Participants with a depression diagnosis exhibited a higher mean and greater variability in the number of poor mental health days compared to those without depression. The non-depressed group’s responses clustered near zero, while the depressed group displayed a wider range, including significantly higher values. Although some overlap exists, the elevated mean and larger dispersion among those diagnosed with depression suggest a strong positive association between depression diagnosis and the frequency of poor mental health days.

This visualization underscores the substantial mental health disparities between the two groups, supporting existing research that depression is linked to more frequent and persistent experiences of poor mental well-being.

Part 2: Sampling Distribution & Confidence Intervals

This section uses data from Assessment_2_Data.csv, a hypothetical dataset representing a random sample of Capella University learners enrolled in undergraduate psychology programs. The purpose of this analysis is to estimate the average age of learners and to generalize findings to the broader student population.

The dataset includes the following variables:

Variable	Description
ID	A unique identifier for each participant
Age	Participant’s age in years
Gender_Identity	Gender identity reported by the student
IPEDS_Race_Ethnicity	Participant’s race/ethnicity based on IPEDS classifications

Descriptive and Inferential Analysis

Graph Construction

A histogram of the Age variable was constructed using JASP to visualize the age distribution of participants. The histogram shows how participants’ ages are spread within the sample and whether the data approximate a normal distribution.

Descriptive Statistics and Confidence Interval

The following table summarizes the descriptive statistics for the Age variable, including the mean, standard deviation, and 95% confidence interval (CI):

Statistic	Value
Sample Size (N)	100
Mean (M)	39.22 years
Standard Deviation (SD)	10.17 years
95% Confidence Interval (CI)	37.20 – 41.24 years

Interpretation in APA Format

A descriptive analysis of age among Capella University undergraduate psychology learners indicated that participants (N = 100) had a mean age of M = 39.22 years (SD = 10.17). A 95% confidence interval for the mean age ranged from 37.20 to 41.24 years. This range suggests that we can be 95% confident the true population mean lies within these bounds. Therefore, these results can be reasonably generalized to the population of undergraduate psychology students at Capella University.

This finding implies a moderately diverse age distribution, reflecting that learners in this program represent both traditional and non-traditional age groups, a pattern consistent with online education demographics.

Conclusion

The analyses conducted using JASP demonstrate the value of data visualization and inferential statistics in understanding social and psychological data. The univariate and bivariate visualizations highlighted variations in mental health experiences across individuals, while the inferential analysis of age data offered meaningful insights about a student population. These methods reinforce how visual and statistical tools can translate complex information into understandable insights, aiding decision-making in psychological research and practice.

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association.

Smith, T. W., Davern, M., Freese, J., & Hout, M. (2022). General Social Survey, 2022 [Data set]. NORC at the University of Chicago.

PSYC FPX 3700 Assessment 2

Capella University. (2025). Assessment 2 data instructions and resources. Capella University Learning Portal.

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