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that participants in the first group are the same as participants in the second group
.
This is sometimes called
a repeated measures design
.
Independent Samples T-Tests
These types of t-tests are used to compare groups of participants that are not
related in any way
.
The groups are independent from one another
.
So, participants in
one group have no relationship with participants in the second group
.
This is
sometimes called
a between subjects design
.
Pearson’s correlation coefficient
(Pearson’s
r)
Pearson’s
r is a statistic that helps us understand the strength of the linear
relationship between two variables
.
Sometimes we want to know whether two
variables are related to one another
.
If they are related, we want to know how much
.
Is there a strong relationship between two variables or is it a weak relationship? What
is the direction of the relationship? When one variable goes up, does the other go
down? Pearson’s
r can help us with that
.
When
r is
:
Close to 1, there is a strong relationship
between our two variables
.
Close to 0, there is a weak relationship between our two variables
.
Positive (+), as one variable increases in value, the second variable also
increases in value
.
This is
called a positive correlation
.
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Negative (-), as one variable increases in value, the second variable decreases
in value
.
This is called a negative correlation
.
The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics version 21)
was used to analyse the data retrieved from the log files
.
Descriptive statistics were
produced for every variable in the study and the calculations of the means and
standard deviations were used
.
Inferential statistics including Independent and Paired-
samples t-tests were conducted to examine if there were any significant differences
between the two conditions regarding reading time, reading scores, lookup frequency,
and vocabulary retention; thereby validating or refuting the hypotheses suggested for
this study
.
In doing research in education, it is a convention that if the alpha value
p is
less than 0
.
05, then the effect or the correlation between two variables is
considered to
be significant, which means that the researcher can be 95% confident that the
relationship between two variables is not due to chance, but due to a real effect or
correlation
.
Therefore, the significance level in this study was set at p = 0
.
05
.
Conclusion
This chapter described the research strategy and methodologies used to
empirically investigate the research questions relevant to this study on the effects of
CD-ROM and printed dictionaries on EFL students’ reading comprehension and
vocabulary retention
.
The next chapter will report and discuss the findings of this
119
study as a result of the data analysis procedure
.
These findings will hopefully provide
an accurate account of the ways CDs and PDs might affect EFL students reading
performance, vocabulary retention, and L2
learning in general
.
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Chapter Five
Data Analysis and Discussion
Introduction
The analysis of data and the reporting of the results are fundamental phases of
the conduct of research
.
This chapter reports on the collected data and the analyses
performed on those data relevant to the present research whose main concern is to
investigate the effects of using CDs and PDs on reading comprehension and
vocabulary retention of EFL students
.
The findings of the data-analysis phase will be
reported and discussed in sufficient details in this chapter
.
Moreover, based on these
findings, we will offer some pedagogical implications for CD use in EFL learning and
teaching.
This study was designed to answer the following research questions
:
1.
Will there be any significant difference in the reading time between the two
dictionary conditions (CD and PD)?
2.
Will the two dictionary conditions highlight any substantial difference in the
reading scores of the subjects?
3.
Will there be any notable difference in the number of look-ups between the
two dictionary conditions?