HMPYC80 EXAM BREAKDOWN (Oct 2013 – 2015)
1. Research theory: first you clarify the research problem and identify research questions; then
you decide whether to do a qualitative or quantitative project; which tells you what analysis
method you can use.
2. What is the aim of the project?
3. How would you design a project like this? Ideally, you need a test and control group and they
both need to be tested before and after the intervention (pre -test post-test control group
design, TL 104, page 153).
4. How to measure the impact of the programme: identify your target population first, then
measure the construct in your target population before and after the intervention, to see
whether there is a change in the level of the construct.
5. Research design again: see TL104, page 153 for experimental pre-test post-test control group
design.
6. Where would you expect to see a significant difference? You would expect a difference
between the test and control groups after the intervention (Unisa considers this to be most
important); and you would expect to see a difference between the test group’s before and
after measurements.
7. You need to identify the independent and dependent variables here. If they break the
independent variable down into components, you are dealing with multiple inde pendent
variables impacting on a single dependent variable. This should alert you to the fact that they
may use a multiple regression analysis later on.
8. This question requires you to base your answer on the scenario, but you have to identify what
exact construct you will be measuring in the pre-test post-test design.
9. Questionnaire design: You need to link the purpose of the questionnaire to the purpose of the
programme; therefore they will cover the same domain; and the content will not necessarily
be the same but will tap into similar constructs.
10. Questionnaire design: First analyse the construct; then write items to tap into those
constructs; then test those items; choose which items to keep and discard using item analysis;
then finalise your questionnaire. This question may also ask about validity: you need to know
the types of validity, and decide which ones apply most to the given questionnaire in the given
scenario. Don’t get confused between reliability methods and validity methods! Remember:
content validity is the most important.
Questions 11 – 25: rating the proposal for the questionnaire development.
26. Research design: where do you expect to see significant differences? See question 6 for
guidance.
27. Null hypothesis:
a. Represented with H0
b. Always has = in it
c. Always has population symbols (µ, ρ) in them.
28. Alternative hypothesis:
a. Represented with H1
b. Has < or > or ≠ in it. This tells us whether we need a one -tailed or two-tailed p-value
later on
29. This involves choosing the correct type of test.
a. T-tests are used to compare two group means for significant differences. T-tests can
be used for independent groups (where the two groups are completely separate, e.g.
1. Research theory: first you clarify the research problem and identify research questions; then
you decide whether to do a qualitative or quantitative project; which tells you what analysis
method you can use.
2. What is the aim of the project?
3. How would you design a project like this? Ideally, you need a test and control group and they
both need to be tested before and after the intervention (pre -test post-test control group
design, TL 104, page 153).
4. How to measure the impact of the programme: identify your target population first, then
measure the construct in your target population before and after the intervention, to see
whether there is a change in the level of the construct.
5. Research design again: see TL104, page 153 for experimental pre-test post-test control group
design.
6. Where would you expect to see a significant difference? You would expect a difference
between the test and control groups after the intervention (Unisa considers this to be most
important); and you would expect to see a difference between the test group’s before and
after measurements.
7. You need to identify the independent and dependent variables here. If they break the
independent variable down into components, you are dealing with multiple inde pendent
variables impacting on a single dependent variable. This should alert you to the fact that they
may use a multiple regression analysis later on.
8. This question requires you to base your answer on the scenario, but you have to identify what
exact construct you will be measuring in the pre-test post-test design.
9. Questionnaire design: You need to link the purpose of the questionnaire to the purpose of the
programme; therefore they will cover the same domain; and the content will not necessarily
be the same but will tap into similar constructs.
10. Questionnaire design: First analyse the construct; then write items to tap into those
constructs; then test those items; choose which items to keep and discard using item analysis;
then finalise your questionnaire. This question may also ask about validity: you need to know
the types of validity, and decide which ones apply most to the given questionnaire in the given
scenario. Don’t get confused between reliability methods and validity methods! Remember:
content validity is the most important.
Questions 11 – 25: rating the proposal for the questionnaire development.
26. Research design: where do you expect to see significant differences? See question 6 for
guidance.
27. Null hypothesis:
a. Represented with H0
b. Always has = in it
c. Always has population symbols (µ, ρ) in them.
28. Alternative hypothesis:
a. Represented with H1
b. Has < or > or ≠ in it. This tells us whether we need a one -tailed or two-tailed p-value
later on
29. This involves choosing the correct type of test.
a. T-tests are used to compare two group means for significant differences. T-tests can
be used for independent groups (where the two groups are completely separate, e.g.
