Research

Methods
LSS 2533

Chapter 8

Analysis of Data

Instructor: Maria Brewster

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

When all the data is gathered how

would you analyze it?

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

The methods you use to analyze the

data will depend upon the research
methodology you have chosen to
conduct the research- Qualitative or
Quantitative research

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

 For quantitative data, the analysis can

be left until the end of the data collection
process.
For qualitative data analysis it is useful
to produce an interview summary form
and complete it with the details as soon
as you finish each interview

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

In Quantitative data analysis, the issues of

validity and reliability are important. The
measurements should be stable and
consistent, and there should be no errors
either from the respondent or from the
researcher.
Qualitative data analysis is a very personal
process.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Quantitative data analysis

Quantitative data means data or evidence based
on numbers.
Generated by experiments and surveys.
The idea is to look for patterns in the data and
draw conclusions.
It uses tables, charts or graphs
Uses Descriptive statistics to allow more patterns
to emerge such as an average.
Statistics is used to determine the patterns or
correlations between data.
SPSS software programs are available right now
designed to provide automated statistical analysis
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solutions.
Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Types of Quantitative Data

1. Nominal Data
2. Ordinal Data
3. Interval Data

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Nominal Data
Describes categories and has no actual
numeric value.
Another term for this data is categorical
data
Example:
Gender-Circle 1 for Female, 2 for Male in
questionnaires.
Marital status- Circle 1 for Married , 2 for single, 3
for widowed
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Ordinal data
Numbers are allocated to a quantitative scale.
Caution: We dont know the differences or
intervals between the ranks ( It is not possible
to measure the difference between the specific
categories)
Example1:
Arranging the student based on what they get
in the result with the highest on the top.
Example 2
The likert scale where 1 is the lowers and 5 is
the highest.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Interval data

It is like ordinal data but now

measurements are made against a
quantitative scale where differences or
intervals between the points are consistently
the same size.
It come in the form of numbers, with clear intervals.
Clear comparison can be made between the scales.
Example.: Number of children , household income
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Visual Aids for Quantitative Data Analysis

Tables

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Bar charts
Bar charts are often used for displaying frequencies

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Pie Charts
Pie charts are good for showing
proportions.

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Line Graph
Line graphs are used to show trends.

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Mean
It is the measure most people are referring to
when they speak of the arithmetic average.
We calculate mean by totaling all values and
dividing it by the number of cases.
Example: Grades: 78, 89, 60. The average is 75.

The mean can only be used with real

numbers.
If you have few results it is not meaningful.
If you have extreme cases it can distort the
result.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Median
The median is the mid point in a range of
scores. (If you have even numbers of
values take the average of the two middle
values )
To find it first we list the values in order:
Example:
Ava 77
Jana-73
Jessica-69
Hasan-64
Jones-52
Source:
Smitha Sumod, Abu
The
median
is Dhabi
69.Women's College

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Mode
The value that is most common in your
data set. It is simply finding which
values occurs most frequently in your
data set.
Example:
52, 52, 64, 64, 69, 71, 73, 73, 73, 77

The mode is 73.

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Qualitative data analysis

Qualitative data includes
Non numeric data words, images,
sounds
Coming from interview tapes, diaries,
company documents, websites and
developers model.
It can be generated by case studies,
action research and ethnography.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Analyzing Textual Data

First prepare your data for analysis.

Set them up in a consistent format
Transcribe your interview
Prepare them in a format where you can make
your own notes.
Make an efficient filling system
Always back up your file.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Data Analysis
Read your interview data.
Bear in mind your research question.
Categorize the data into segments, first
segments that bear no relation to your
research, segments that provide a
background for your research, segments
that appear to relevant to your research
question.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Data Analysis
Concentrate on the segments that are
important to your research and begin to
categorize them.
You can determine the category by
reading them and taking it out from the
text.
Or you can have a predefined category
and filling it under your specified
category.
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Example: Question: What made you

take up an IT course?
Possible codes
Student 1
I was not really into IT but my mom
said it was good so I enrolled but what
I really wanted was to become an
architect.
Student 2
I love computers!!! Even when I was a
kid, and mind you I grew up in a big
house and a big family. Our parents
gave all of us laptops. Eventually I
would go and do something in the
laptop and became addicted to it.
Student 3
We live in a world where computers are
everywhere. I like to learn more about
technology not just interact with it.
Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Forced to take the

Course

Like Computer
Science

Like to learn more

about computers

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Another Example: Why is that some businesses

are reluctant to change?
Interviewee 1 You are right
some businesses dont want
change even if they are already
growing. They are successful to
some extent. Part of their success
is probably because they most of
them have unstructured org so
they have no red tape.

Interviewee 2 Hmm, this usually

happens in family owned
businesses. They start small so
they do not need much structure
but when they grow they still
want to keep the unstructured
ways but I believe there will come
a point when they have to change
in order to make the business
stable because the old ways just
Source:
Sumod,
Abu Dhabi Women's College
wontSmitha
work
anymore.

Interviewee 3- I think is about

slowly recognizing the
problem. Some of them dont
want to see that and dont
want people to tell them that.
If someone do that the more
they wont change

Provide some codes

for each interviewee
transcripts
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Sample codes

Interviewee 1
Business is growing, there is a need to change
Past success of the company makes them reluctant
to change

Interviewee 2
There is a need to change when the business
grows.
Old system will not work with the new changes.

Interviewee 3
Stubbornness to accept change to solve a problem
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Do not listen to advice of others.
Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Based from the transcripts

What conclusions can you make?
Can you see any pattern in the data?
What emerging theme can you see if
there is?

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

Examples of Qualitative data analysis

include
Thematic analysis
Comparative analysis
Discourse analysis
Content analysis
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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College

The process of Qualitative data analysis

Think about the data from the moment
you start to collect the information
Judge the value of your data when it is
collected from dubious sources
Interpret the data as your research
progress , so that you and others can get
an understanding of what is going on
Do mechanical analysis of your data

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Source: Smitha Sumod, Abu Dhabi Women's College