Assessment requirements The assessment requirements involve: providing appropriate summary measures and graphs to evaluate the evidence in the Melbourne researchers’ data, reporting on the...

The assessment requirements involve:

• providing appropriate summary measures and graphs to evaluate the evidence in the Melbourne researchers’ data,


• reporting on the interpretation of the data in relation to the Lamarckian claims,


• completing an online test addressing issues arising from the two studies involved.

These requirements are detailed further below. To complete these requirements, you need to read the material provided here, including pages 307 to 309 of Agar et al. (1954).

Summarising and describing the data

1. a. Use Minitab to obtain suitable summary statistics of a measure of learning: for either the number of errors or special training. Summarise the data according to generation and group.

See the Minitab demos for details about obtaining summary measures.

1. b. Use Minitab to graph the summarised data in a way that allows you to consider the Lamarckian theory.

Reporting on the results

Create a PowerPoint presentation to explain your investigation of the Melbourne researchers’ results carried out above. Your presentation should cover the following:

• Background to the design of the studies (2-3 slides)


• Justification and definition of the summary measures you used (1-2 slides)


• Graphics illustrating the results (1-2 slides)


• Discussion of any patterns in the graphics presented in terms of the explanatory variables involved (1-2 slides)


• Interpretation of the patterns in the data in terms of Lamarckian theory (1-2 slides)


• Comparison of the interpretation of the Melbourne data and McDougall’s data (1-2 slides).