Data Analysis

Topics to be covered
Data Analysis : Editing, Coding,
Classification, Tabulation, Analysis and
Interpretation
Difference between Data and
Information
Any raw facts or figures is known as data.
When the data is processed by doing
statistical analysis and some conclusion
can be drawn from it, it is known as
information.
Steps in Processing of Data
Questionnaire checking

Editing

Coding

Tabulation

Data Cleaning

Statistically adjusting the

data

Selecting a Data Analysis

Strategy
 Questionnaire checking – The initial step in
questionnaire checking involves a check of all
questionnaires for completeness and interviewing
quality. A questionnaire returned from the field
may be unacceptable for several reasons:
1. Part of the questionnaire may be incomplete.
2. The pattern of responses may indicate that the
respondent did not understand or follow the
instructions.
3. The responses show little variance.
4. The questionnaire is answered by someone who
does not qualify for participation.
5. The returned questionnaire is physically
incomplete, one or more pages are missing.
 Editing – Review of the questionnaires with the objective of
increasing accuracy and precision. It consists of screening
questionnaires to identify illegible, incomplete, inconsistent or
ambiguous responses. This can be done in two stages:
a) Field Editing – Objective of field editing is to make sure that
proper procedure is followed in selecting the respondent,
interview them and record their responses. The main problems
faced in field editing are:
1. Inappropriate Respondents – Instead of house owners, tenant is
interviewed.
2. Incomplete interviews, 3. Improper understanding, 4. Lack of
consistency, 5. Legibility, 6, Fictitious interview –
Questionnaires are filled by interviewer himself without
conducting the interview.
b) Office Editing – It is more thorough than field editing.
Problems of consistency, rapport with respondents are some of
the issues which get highlighted during office editing.
Example of Inconsistency:
A respondent indicated that he doesn’t drink coffee, but
when questioned about his favorite brand, he replied
‘BRU’.
Treatment of Unsatisfactory Responses
Returning to the field – Questionnaires with unsatisfactory
responses may be returned to the field, where the
interviewers recontact the respondents.
Assigning missing value – Editor may assign missing
values to unsatisfactory responses. This approach may be
desirable if 1) the number of respondents with
unsatisfactory responses is small, 2) the proportion of
unsatisfactory responses for each of these respondents is
small, or 3) the variables with unsatisfactory responses are
not the key variables.
Discarding unsatisfactory respondents – This is possible
only when proportion of unsatisfactory respondents is
small or the sample size is large.
 Coding – Coding refers to those activities which helps in
transforming edited questionnaires into a form that is ready for
analysis. Coding speeds up the tabulation while editing
eliminates errors. Coding involves assigning numbers or other
symbols to answers so that the responses can be grouped into
limited number of classes or categories. The code includes an
indication of the column and data record it will occupy. For eg.
Sex of respondents may be coded as 1for males and 2 for
females.
Questions Answers Codes
1. Do you own a Yes 1
vehicle?
No 2
2. What is your Salaried S
occupation?
Business B
Retired R
Tabulation – Refers to counting the number of cases
that fall into various categories. The results are
summarized in the form of statistical tables. The raw
data is divided into groups and sub-groups. The
counting and placing of data in a particular group
and sub-group are done. The tabulation involves:
1. Sorting and counting.
2. Summarising of data.
Tabulation may be of two types:
1. Simple tabulation – In simple tabulation, a single
variable is counted.
2. Cross tabulation – Includes two or more variables,
which are treated simultaneously.
Tabulation can be done entirely by hand, or by
machine, or by both hand and machine.
Sorting and counting of data: Sorting can be
done as follows:
Income (Rs) Tally Marks Frequencies
1000 IIII 4
1500 II 2
2000 III 3

Format of a Blank table

Table No.
Sub heading
TITLE – Number of children per family indicates the row
Head Note – Unit of measurement title or the row
headings. Caption
indicates what
Caption each column is
Total meant for.
Sub-
Body Body of the table
Heading
gives full
Foot note information of the
frequency.
Kinds of Tabulation
1. Simpleor one-way tabulation – The multiple choice
questions which allow only one answer may use on-
way tabulation or univariate. The questions are
predetermined and consist of counting the number of
responses falling into a particular category and
calculate the percentage.
Example
Table 14.1: Study of number of children in a family

No. of children Family Percentage

0 10 5
1 30 15
2 70 35
2. Cross Tabulation or Two-way Tabulation –
This is known as Bivariate Tabulation.The data
may include two or more variables.
Eg. Popularity of a health drink among families
having different incomes.
Table 14.3: Use of Health Drink

Income No. of 1 2 No. of

per month children families
per family
(0)
1000 10 5 8 23
1001-2000 5 0 8 13
2001-3000 20 10 12 42
Data cleaning – Includes consistency checks
and treatment of missing responses. Although
preliminary consistency checks have been made
during editing, the checks at this stage are more
thorough and extensive, because they are made
by computer.
Consistency checks – Identify data that are out of
range, logically inconsistent or have extreme
values. For eg. A respondent may indicate that
she charges long distance calls to a calling card,
although she does not have one.

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Treatment of missing responses – Missing responses represent
values of a variable that are unknown, either because
respondents provided ambiguous answers or their answers were
not properly recorded.
1. Substitute a Neutral Value – A neutral value, typically the
mean to the variable, is substituted for the missing responses.
2. Substitute an Imputed Response – The respondent’s pattern
of responses to other questions are used to impute or calculate a
suitable response to the missing questions.
3. Casewise Deletion – Cases or respondents with any missing
responses are discarded from the analysis.
4. Pairwise deletion – Instead of discarding all cases with any
missing values, the researcher uses only the cases or
respondents with complete responses for each calculation. As a
result, different calculations in an analysis may be based on
different sample sizes.

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Statistically Adjusting the Data – If any
correction needs to be done for the statistical
analysis, the data is adjusted accordingly.
Selecting a Data Analysis Strategy – The
selection of a data analysis strategy should be
based on the earlier steps of the marketing
research process, known characteristics of the
data, properties of statistical techniques and the
background and philosophy of the researcher.

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