About the lecture

In this lecture, we work through an example of the Sign test, focusing in particular on: (i) the Sign test as a statistical test designed to assess whether there is a difference between two related sets of data; (ii) the two conditions given being that participants are either allowed or not allowed to use social media immediately before going to sleep, and each reporting their sleep quality; (iii) the experimenter’s hypothesis that, based on previous research, those not allowed to use social media immediately before going to bed will report a better quality of sleep; (iv) working through each step in the process of performing a sign test on this set of data and how one might formulate a conclusion, given the results found.

About the lecturer

Dr Alison Wadeley is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Bath Spa University, leading undergraduate teaching on psychological research methods and statistics. Dr Wadeley’s own research focuses on how naturally occurring sleep disruption can impact adult cognitive function, as well as ankylosing spondylitis. Dr Wadeley’s recent publications include ‘Real-world experience of secukinumab treatment for ankylosing spondylitis at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Bath’ (2020) and ‘Does measuring the bone mineral density of patients identified as having an osteopaenic X-ray appearance affect bone health treatment decisions? A real-world retrospective analysis’ (2019).