A political consulting firm wants to determine the characteristics of voters when it comes to issues involving alternative energy. The researchers recruit a group of participants and randomly assign them to one of three groups: Group 1 will be the control group, and they will not be exposed to any advertising materials; Group 2 will be shown a print advertisement that will be used in a postal mailing; and Group 3 will be shown a video advertisement that will be aired on television. Finally, each participant will indicate his or her voting intentions for Proposition 86, which involves tax deductions for hybrid cars on a 1 to 7 scale (1 = Will definitely vote no . . . 7 = will definitely vote yes). Additionally, participants will be asked to indicate their gross annual household income (as the covariate).

Data set: Ch 06 – Exercise 07B.sav

Codebook
Variable: Group
Definition: Advertising media
Type: Categorical (1 = Control, 2 = Print, 3 = Video)
Variable: Prop_86
Definition: Likely voting decision on tax deductions for hybrid cars
Type: Continuous (1 = Will definitely vote no . . . 7 = Will definitely vote yes)
Variable: Income
Definition: Annual gross household income
Type: Continuous

a. Write the hypotheses.
b. Run each criterion of the pretest checklist (homogeneity of regression slopes, homogeneity of variance [Levene’s test]) and discuss your findings.
c. Run the ANCOVA test and document your findings (ns, means, and Sig. [p value], hypotheses resolution).
d. Write an abstract under 200 words detailing a summary of the study, the ANCOVA test results, hypothesis resolution, and implications of your findings.