Online Practical:
Interpreting Multiple Regression Output
This exercise is designed to give you practice in extracting
and understanding the key information from the SPSS output
of an example of Multiple Linear Regression. Read the
background information, look at the SPSS output, and try to
answer the twelve questions that follow. Answers will be
provided within the Week 7 folder from Friday morning.
Background Information
An extensive survey of the United Kingdom investigated
factors predicting health related behaviours (sample ‘n’ was
in the region of six thousand respondents, but the analysed
numbers were lower due to missing values on some variables
for some respondents).
The results of one of the multiple regression analyses are
given below. The aim for this analysis was to predict alcohol
consumption (ALQ where higher values indicate greater
consumption) by using the following variables: gender (SEX
where 1= male 2=female); socioeconomic group (SHTSEG
where scoring polarity for low values indicated
professional/managerial versus high values indicated
unskilled manual); General Health Questionnaire (GHQ where
higher scores indicate worse mental health); and current
smoking status (SM1) (current smoker=1, ex-smoker= 2,
never smoked= 3).
Multiple Regression Output
Variables Entered/Removedb
Variables Variables
Model Entered Removed Method
1 sm1, agyrs, . Enter
ghqscore,
shtseg, SEXa
a. All requested variables entered.
b. Dependent Variable: alq
Model Summary
Adjusted R Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Square Estimate
1 .418a .175 .174 14.618
a. Predictors: (Constant), sm1, agyrs, ghqscore, shtseg, SEX
ANOVAb
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 196840.334 5 39368.067 184.222 .000a
Residual 930661.469 4355 213.700
Total 1127501.804 4360
a. Predictors: (Constant), sm1, agyrs, ghqscore, shtseg, SEX
b. Dependent Variable: alq
Coefficientsa
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 30.673 1.579 19.430 .000
SEX -11.862 .454 -.369 -26.144 .000
shtseg -.138 .178 -.011 -.774 .439
agyrs -.127 .014 -.127 -9.124 .000
ghqscore .045 .022 .028 2.028 .043
sm1 1.685 .177 .134 9.549 .000
a. Dependent Variable: alq
1. Does the model provide a better prediction of alcohol
consumption than chance alone? Please answer Yes or
No.
2. State the supporting reason (i.e. statistic) for the answer
given to the previous question.
3. What percentage of the variance in alcohol consumption
does the model account for?
4. Would the model predicting alcohol consumption be
described as: Weak, Moderate, or Strong?
5. Which variable is the strongest predictor of alcohol
consumption?
6. For the previous question, give an account of your
reasoning for choosing this variable as the strongest
predictor of alcohol consumption.
7. Do males tend to consume more alcohol? Please
answer Yes or No.
8. For the previous question above, give an account of
your reasoning.
9. Do people with poorer mental health (i.e. higher GHQ
scores) tend to drink more alcohol? Please answer Yes
or No.
10. For the previous question above, give an account of
your reasoning.
11. Is socioeconomic group a significant predictor of
alcohol consumption in this model? Please answer Yes
or No.
12. For the previous question, give an account of your
reasoning.