The trouble with statistics is that even when you think you have the right one the data doesn't want to play ball! Correlation was productive but has not revealed anything too startling. There are some average correlations but nothing particularly strong that could not be anticipated. So the last couple of weeks have been investigating other techniques.
The one I am now looking at using is cluster analysis. This is because what I really want to know is how different variables gravitate towards each other. With this I can look at the individual students to get a better and more grounded picture. The problem has been that the data has to be in the right format to use cluster analysis in SPSS so I have have to amend the data to get it to work. Unfortunately the online help from SPSS is only partially helpful so thank goodness for the internet where others who have passed this way have posted their procedures.
It is all very frustrating at times as I don't really want to get deeply involved with advanced stats methods but that is the price I have to pay for not designing a simple investigation using basic techniques! Hopefully in a week or so I will have some facts to work with. I'd better as I have to present initial findings at a workshop in two weeks time with some of our tutors!
No rest for the wicked.
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