An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of the Higher Education Efficacy on Preventing Unemployment Among College Graduates

Yamil E. Guevara, Ph.D.

Campus College Chair, School of Business

University of Phoenix

South Florida Campus

Purpose

The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how to use statistical analysis in the field of education.

There are two statistical analyzes that are often used by researchers to determine if a treatment (New Reading Program, New Cancer Drug, Soft Skills Training Program, etc.) is effective (Field, 2013):• One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

• Independent • Repeated Measures

• Factorial Analysis of Variance (Factorial ANOVA) • Two Way ANOVA• Three Way ANOVA• Four Way ANOVA (Not Recommended)• Five Way ANOVA (Not Recommended)

Hypothetical Examples

A One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

Research Question: Is the new reading program effective at increasing elementary students’ reading skills?

Control Group:No new reading program

Experimental Group #1:Spend 6 months in the new reading program

Experimental Group #2:Spend 12 months in the new reading program

Contrasts

The Effect of the New Reading Program Is 12 months more effective than 6 months?

Control Group

Experimental Group #1

Experimental Group #2

Experimental Group #1

ExperimentalGroup #2

An Factorial Analysis of Variance (Factorial ANOVA)

Research Question: Is there a gender difference in the effectiveness of the new reading program?

Control Group:No new reading program

Experimental Group #1:Spend 6 months in the new reading program

Experimental Group #2:Spend 12 months in the new reading program

Contrasts

Male Female Male Female Male Female

The Main Effect of the New Reading Program (Ignores Gender)

The Main Effect of Gender The Interaction Effect between the New Reading Program and

Gender

Control Group

Experimental Group #1

Experimental Group #2

Male Female Control Group Experimental Group #2

Male Female Male Female

A Real World Example

Graduation

Earnings & Unemployment Rates by Educational Attainment

Results from the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)Is there a statistically significant difference between the unemployment rates of individuals with a high school education and a higher education, is the P < .05?

Contrast

The Effect of the Higher Education

Control GroupHigh SchoolMean: 7.371

Experimental Group #1Associate

Mean: 5.356

Experimental Group #2Bachelor & Higher

Mean: 3.581

Results from the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)Is there a statistically significant difference between the unemployment rates of individuals with a high school education and an associate degree education, and bachelor and higher education, is the P < .05?

Contrast

The Effect of a Bachelor and Higher Education

Experimental Group #1Associate

Experimental Group #2Bachelor and Higher

Conclusion from the results of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)Individuals with higher education (Associate Degree and Higher) are going to experience lower unemployment rates compared to those with a high school education

Individuals with a bachelor and higher education are going to experience lower unemployment rates compared to those with an associate degree education

Therefore, it is in the best interest of students to go to college and earn a college degree.

Questions

Contact Information

pt78@outlook.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yamil-guevara-ph-d-0961a32

Yamil Guevara

References

Field, A. P. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (4th ed.). Los Angeles,

CA: SAGE Publications.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015). Employment Projections. Retrieved on January 10,

2016 from http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm