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DATA ANALYSIS Sample

The document discusses data analysis and descriptive statistics. It outlines the four stages of data analysis as description, interpretation, conclusion, and theorizing. It also discusses different types of data (quantitative and qualitative), methods of analysis for each, and scales of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio). Graphs and the normal curve are presented as tools for illustrating relationships in data. The goal of descriptive statistics is to summarize and characterize a sample using measures like the mean, median and mode.

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Cindy Lapaz
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1K views29 pages

DATA ANALYSIS Sample

The document discusses data analysis and descriptive statistics. It outlines the four stages of data analysis as description, interpretation, conclusion, and theorizing. It also discusses different types of data (quantitative and qualitative), methods of analysis for each, and scales of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio). Graphs and the normal curve are presented as tools for illustrating relationships in data. The goal of descriptive statistics is to summarize and characterize a sample using measures like the mean, median and mode.

Uploaded by

Cindy Lapaz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Pre-Discussion Topics

Submission of First Draft


Results and Discussion
General Process of
DATA ANALYSIS
• Outline the four stages of data analysis.

• Begin to analyse data, ask critical questions of data and


engage in descriptive data analysis.

• Explain the importance of grounding both data analysis


and research findings in the data gathered.
DATA
• In a research project, data is the evidence gathered by the
researcher for the purpose(s) of the research.
• There are essentially two different kinds of data, quantitative
and qualitative data.
• Quantitative data are numerical data; data in the form of
numbers or data that can readily be transformed into numerical
form.
• Qualitative data are non-numerical data.
• A data set (or dataset) is the complete collection of data
gathered for the research project.
Data Analysis
• Quantitative data analysis is the analysis of numerical
data using statistical methods. The computer software
package SPSS, Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences, is useful in the analysis of quantitative data.

• Qualitative data analysis does not draw on statistics or


statistical methods; this is because qualitative data is non-
numerical data.
The Four Stages of Data Analysis
• The first stage is The researcher describes the data, describing
what it is that s/he sees in the data.

• The second stage is In this stage the researcher interprets


the data, moving from describing what it is that they see in the data, to
interpreting the data.

• The third stage is the stage. In this stage, the researcher draws
some conclusion, a major or minor conclusion from the data.

• The final stage of the four stages of data analysis is In order to


theorise their findings, the researcher looks back at their literature review and
they check to see how their findings fit with, or contradict, the findings of the
theorists detailed in that chapter.
The Four Stages of Data Analysis
Qualitative Data Analysis
Qualitative data can be analysed in a number of different ways.

• It can be analysed in terms of content, textually, discursively, thematically, and/or


semiotically;

• it can be analysed systematically and categorically as in a grounded theory approach to data


analysis (Strauss and Corbin: 1990, 1998);

• it can be analysed in terms of significant statements and meaning units, as in for example
Moustakas’ (1994) approach to analysing phenomenological data.

• Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) is a relatively recent development.


Among the software packages available for qualitative data analysis are Atlas ti, NVivo and
NUDIST.
Qualitative Data Analysis
• Qualitative data are non-numeric data.

• Qualitative data can come in almost any form.

• Qualitative data can take the form of stated or articulated feelings, beliefs,
opinions, perspectives.

• Qualitative data can be in the form of narratives or stories.

• Images, drawings, cartoons, paintings,


photographs can constitute qualitative data.

• There are a number of different ways in which


qualitative data can be analysed.
Qualitative Data Analysis
• One simple approach to qualitative data analysis is to read through all of the data and while reading,
make a list of all of the themes that occur in the data.

• The themes would be the key ideas or the key concepts that strike the researcher as s/he reads
through the data transcripts.

• The researcher continues reading the transcripts and recording themes until no new themes emerge.

• Then the researcher takes the complete list of themes and explores them with a view to collapsing
themes together. In other words, the researcher tries to condense the list of themes by fitting themes
together that seem to logically fit together. In this way, the list of themes becomes shorter, and more
manageable.

• When the researcher collapses themes together s/he needs to conceptualise a new theme, a theme
which will encompass all the themes collapsed together.

• This process is a process of abstraction. Through this process, the researcher takes a step away from
the raw data, and a step towards an abstract or abstracted understanding of the data.
• The researcher through this process of abstraction comes closer to the meaning of the data, the
meaning of the data in relation to overall aim of the research.
Quantitative Data Analysis
• Simple and small quantitative data sets can be analysed quite easily by
simply counting the numbers and calculating simple statistics in relation to
them.

• This may be done in a simple pen and paper exercise, or with the use of a
calculator or a spreadsheet.

• Numbers can easily be counted, and the summaries of counted numbers can
be meaningful.

• The numbers are presented in the data analysis chapter, in tables and as
part of a meaningful narrative.
Quantitative Data Analysis
• A software package designed specifically for the analysis of quantitative data,
SPSS, (Statistical Package for Social Sciences).

• When the participant in the research has completed and returned the
questionnaire, the researcher loads the data, or inputs the data, from the
questionnaire into SPSS.

• When all of the completed questionnaires have been loaded or inputted, the
researcher then uses the package to analyse the data.

• SPSS is a very powerful tool in quantitative data analysis. Particularly useful


in analysing larger data sets.
Nominal

• A nominal scale is the 1st level of measurement scale in which the numbers serve as “tags”
or “labels” to classify or identify the objects. A nominal scale usually deals with the non-
numeric variables or the numbers that do not have any value.

Characteristics of Nominal Scale


A nominal scale variable is classified into two or more categories. In this measurement
mechanism, the answer should fall into either of the classes.
• It is qualitative. The numbers are used here to identify the objects.
• The numbers don’t define the object characteristics. The only permissible aspect of numbers
in the nominal scale is “counting.”

• Example: What is your business legal structure?


q Sole Proprietorship
q Partnership
q Corporation
Ordinal Data
• The ordinal scale is the 2nd level of measurement that reports the ordering and ranking of
data without establishing the degree of variation between them. Ordinal represents the
“order.” Ordinal data is known as qualitative data or categorical data. It can be grouped,
named and also ranked.

Characteristics of the Ordinal Scale


• The ordinal scale shows the relative ranking of the variables, identifies and describes the
magnitude of a variable.
• Along with the information provided by the nominal scale, ordinal scales give the rankings of
those variables
• The interval properties are not known
• The surveyors can quickly analyse the degree of agreement concerning the identified order
of variables

• Example: Ranking of school students – 1st, 2nd, 3rd,


Interval

• The interval scale is the 3rd level of measurement scale. It is defined as a quantitative
measurement scale in which the difference between the two variables is meaningful. In
other words, the variables are measured in an exact manner, not as in a relative way in
which the presence of zero is arbitrary.

Characteristics of Interval Scale:


• The interval scale is quantitative as it can quantify the difference between the values
• It allows calculating the mean and median of the variables
• To understand the difference between the variables, you can subtract the values between
the variables
• The interval scale is the preferred scale in Statistics as it helps to assign any numerical
values to arbitrary assessment such as feelings, calendar types, etc.

• Example: Likert Scale Questionnaires


Ratio
• The ratio scale is the 4th level of measurement scale, which is quantitative. It is a type of
variable measurement scale. It allows researchers to compare the differences or intervals.
The ratio scale has a unique feature. It possesses the character of the origin or zero points.

Characteristics of Ratio Scale:


• Ratio scale has a feature of absolute zero
• It doesn’t have negative numbers, because of its zero-point feature
• It affords unique opportunities for statistical analysis. The variables can be orderly added,
subtracted, multiplied, divided. Mean, median, and mode can be calculated using the ratio
scale.
• Ratio scale has unique and useful properties. One such feature is that it allows unit
conversions like kilogram – calories, gram – calories, etc.

• Example: Profit, Annual Income, etc.


Graphs

illustrate how related data changes over a specific


period of time a simple way to compare numeric values of any
kind, including inventories, group sizes and financial
predictions
uses pictures or symbols to display data instead of bars. Each
picture represents a certain number of items. use dots to depict the relationship
between two different variables

in one or more quantities over a certain


period of time
The Normal Curve

Used to calculate the probability


of a standardized score falling
above or below a particular
value.
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

A Review
Goals of Descriptive Statistics

• Summarize, describe, and characterize the sample being


studied
• Determine if the sample is normally distributed (bell
curve). Most statistical tests require the sample to have
a normal distribution.
• Determine if the sample can be compared to the larger
population.
• Displayed in tables, charts, percentages, frequency
distributions, and reported as measures of central
tendency.
Important Terms
Measures of Central Tendency
Measures of Variability
Measures of Skewness
Measures of Kurtosis
Measures of Shape

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