Microsoft Word Ed Horwitz Post Dissertation Fina docx

participation in the financial education program does in fact matter. Cohen’s d was estimated at 
.45, which is considered a medium effect (Cohen, 1992).  
 
 

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Table 2.3 Financial Literacy in Relation to Participation in Workplace Financial Education 
Program (N = 102) 
Financial Literacy Variables 
Participants 
Control 
T 
Pre Financial Literacy 
7.84 
8.23 
-1.28 
Post Financial Literacy 
8.34 
8.03 
1.00 
Change in Financial Literacy 
.50 
-.196 
2.19** 
* p<0.10,  ** p<0.05,  *** p<0.01 
Note: Financial literacy was assessed using a 10-question scale where correct  
answers = 1, and incorrect answers or “do not know” = 0. 
 
Nonparametric tests were performed to provide a more robust analysis of the financial 
literacy scores between the groups. The Mann-Whitney test was used since there were an 
unequal number in the participant and control groups. The results of this test indicated a 
significant difference in the distribution and medians in the change of financial literacy scores 
between the groups (p <.01). The results of these additional tests provide further support for 
Hypothesis 1.  
To test the hypothesis that the average change in financial literacy scores would be 
greater among participants who attended more classes, an independent t-test was performed. Due 
to the lack of variation in distribution for the number of classes attended, with over 90% of 
participants attending eight classes or more, transformation to a dichotomous variable was 
performed to indicate those who attend all classes, or less than all classes. The result of the 
Levene’s F test for homogeneity indicated the variances were assumed to be equal, F(44) = .47, 
p = .494, so the t-tests were performed assuming equal variances. The results failed to support 
Hypothesis 2 indicating that participation in all of the classes was not significant in producing 
higher levels of change in financial literacy scores among participants, as compared to those 
attending fewer classes.  

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Given observed differences in the participant and control group, a further analysis was 
conducted to investigate if participation in the financial education program was associated with 
an increase in financial literacy after controlling for these variations. An OLS regression model 
estimating change in financial literacy was created. The key variable of interest was program 
participation, with control variables related to age, gender, marital status, children in household, 
education, income, and net worth also included. Results of this analysis can be found in Table 
2.4. The model produced an R
2 
= .186 F(10, 101) = 2.08, p =.034, indicating that 18.6% of the 
variance among the change in financial literacy scores were explained by the model. The results 
indicated that participation was positively associated with changes in financial literacy scores in 
the model using a two-tailed t-value (p <.10), after controlling for sample characteristics. 
However, given that Hypothesis 1 was directional, it may be appropriate to use the one-tailed t 
test, which provides a p value of .049. These results provide further support for the effectiveness 
of the financial education program on producing positive changes in financial literacy.