Date of Graduation

Spring 2013

Degree

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Erin Buchanan

Abstract

Many individuals have shown concern with the current statistical procedure employed by most social scientists, namely that of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST). Alternative techniques do exist, such as nonparametric testing, which focuses less on assumptions and uses simpler analyses, and observation oriented modeling (OOM), a new modeling paradigm created by Dr. James Grice as a way to focus on data at the individual level. Using these three techniques (a parametric ANOVA, a nonparametric Quade test, and OOM's ordinal pattern analysis) a dataset collected on the QWERTY effect was analyzed to look into the effect of typability of keypress combinations on pleasantness ratings for words. The analyses revealed that the nonparametric test was more powerful and capable of distinguishing more statistical differences and larger effect sizes than the parametric test. These tests are also compared to the OOM test which provided information about how individuals matched on this expected pleasantness pattern. These incongruent findings indicate a need for a greater understanding of all available statistical techniques and more investigation into the proper use of these techniques.

Keywords

statistical technique, parametric, nonparametric, observation oriented modeling, QWERTY effect

Subject Categories

Psychology

Copyright

© Kathrene Diane Valentine

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