Hello everyone,

I’m seeking advice on the best approach for analyzing data related to ESL learners’ self-regulation capacities in vocabulary learning, specifically in relation to socio-demographic variables like age, gender, major, and IELTS scores (Comparison). I just wanted to detect differences in self-regualtion and background variables without hypotheses.

Initially, I used MANOVA to identify overall differences across these variables, focusing on five dimensions of self-regulation. I conducted separate MANOVAs for each variable (e.g., age, gender) with the five domains of self-regualtion and then summarized the results in a comprehensive table.

Additionally, I performed one-way ANOVAs for each socio-demographic variable across the five domains, which yielded insightful and significant differences. After I wrote all the results and discussion, however, my supervisor suggested a different approach: using a single MANOVA model that includes all socio-demographic variables simultaneously and all self-regualtion domains. This method produced different results, highlighting only some differences in age and English levels. My supervisor is particularly interested in examining interaction effects.

The challenge is that my sample consists of approximately 550 participants, but the distribution is uneven across specific age groups and proficiency levels, leading to some cells being empty in the analysis of interaction effects. This imbalance complicates the analysis, and I’m torn between the two approaches. Even the discusstion becomes more challenging.

Personally, I favor the first approach because I didn't hypothesize any interaction effects, and the unequal sample sizes across groups make the results from the second approach less reliable. Additionally, the findings from the first approach are more interesting and aligned with my research objectives.

Given these considerations, I’m concerned about which method is more appropriate. I would greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions on how to proceed with this analysis. Note, I have both analysis and discussion in sperate files written but I am concerned what is the best for my thesis.

Thank you in advance for your help!