RM Dr.

Nour Bouacha

Data Analysis

The data collected using the various methods for qualitative and quantitative research need to be
analysed to generate meaningful conclusions. Data analysis is the process of organising, modelling,
and analysing data using various statistical and logical methods and techniques.

1. Quantitative Data Analysis

Having collected quantitative data, the next step is to analyse it using a set of mathematical
procedures, called 'statistics' which will enable us to answer the R. questions and accept or reject the
hypotheses developed at the beginning. The selection of the exact procedure will depend on the R.
question and the type of data collected. Quantitative analysis is orderly in a linear manner: based on
the knowledge of the relevant literature we design the research instruments, then collect, process and
analyse the data, and finally write up the results. Each step is well defined and builds on the previous
one. It is deductive in nature and involves turning numbers into meaningful data and it entails the use
of analytical software that do most of the detailed mathematical work for us, producing relatively
straightforward results. However, to do quantitative data analysis you need to select and learn to use a
statistical program to run the statistical procedures; and you need to prepare data for analysis. The
software package most commonly used in applied linguistic and educational research is 'SPSS'
(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). This software handles data in a numerical rather than an
alphabetic form. Therefore, the first step of data processing involves converting the respondents'
answers to numbers by means of 'coding procedures' by assigning specific numbers to the response
options of the variables. E.g., gender data usually takes 2 values: 'male' is usually coded '1' and
'female' '2.'

Although quantitative research has several possible data sources, the final numerically coded data is of
three types: 'nominal' (associated with variables that have arbitrary numerical assigned to them e.g.,
gender), 'ordinal' (E.g., multiple-choice); and 'interval' (E.g., Test scores). Statistics can be divided
into: Descriptive analysis includes describing and presenting the results through mean, mode,
percentage, frequency and range to find meaningful patterns. However, these statistics do not allow
drawing any general conclusions that would go beyond the sample. Inferential analysis is used to
study the relationships between different variables and make predictions about a larger population
based on the analysis of the data collected from a smaller population. Some commonly used inferential
data analysis methods are correlation, cross-tabulation, regression and variance analysis.

2. Qualitative Data Analysis

Most qualitative data is transformed into a textual form – E.g., interview transcriptions - and the
analysis is done primarily with words. Thus, qualitative data analysis is inherently a language-based
analysis. Qualitative research is iterative, using a nonlinear pattern: While interviews are going on, for

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RM Dr. Nour Bouacha

example, researchers may be analyzing an interview collected earlier, writing memos that may
ultimately be included as a narrative in the final report, and organizing the structure of the final report.
Qualitative data analysis involves identifying common patterns in participants' responses and critically
analysing them to achieve research aims and objectives. Qualitative software programs have become
quite popular as they help researchers organize, sort, and search for information in text or image
databases (NVivo). Key terms in qualitative data analysis are ‘coding’ (the process of organizing the
material into chunks or segments of text and assigning a word or phrase to the segment in order to
develop a general sense of it) and ‘saturation' (referring to the point when further data does not seem to
add new information, and that the iterative process stops producing new topics, ideas, and categories).
different approaches to analysis exist in the literature:

 Content analysis: Is used to analyse documented information and interviewees' responses by

 Thematic analysis: Is used to identify important themes or patterns in data and use these to
address an issue. It has 6 steps that include familiarization, coding, generating themes, reviewing
themes, defining and naming themes, and writing up.

 Narrative analysis: Is used to analyse content from several sources, including interviews,
observations and surveys. It focuses on using people's stories and experiences to answer research
questions.

 Discourse analysis: Is used to analyse spoken or written language in its social context and aims to
understand how people use language in day-to-day situations the lifestyle and environment, under
which the interaction occurs.

 Grounded theory: uses qualitative data to discover or construct a theory explaining why
something happened. It uses a comparative analysis of data from similar cases in different settings
to derive explanations.

3. Data Analysis in Mixed-method Research

The most common perception of mixed methods research is that it is a modular process in which
qualitative and quantitative components are carried out either concurrently or sequentially. Although
this perception is by and large true, it also suggests that the analysis of the data should proceed
independently for the QUAN and QUAL phases and mixing should occur only at the final
interpretation stage. This conclusion is only partially true. While it is perfectly legitimate to leave
mixing to the very final stages of the project, several scholars have argued that we can start integrating
the data at the analysis stage, resulting in what can be called 'mixed methods data analysis'. In many
cases it may be better to keep the analyses separate and-only mix the QUAL and QUAN results at a

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late stage to illuminate or corroborate each other. However, in some cases the inductive-deductive
distinction is too black-and white and does not reflect what is really going on at the analytical level.