Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences
()
About this ebook
Guides readers through the quantitative data analysis process including contextualizing data within a research situation, connecting data to the appropriate statistical tests, and drawing valid conclusions
Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences presents a clear and accessible introduction to the basics of quantitative data analysis and focuses on how to use statistical tests as a key tool for analyzing research data. The book presents the entire data analysis process as a cyclical, multiphase process and addresses the processes of exploratory analysis, decision-making for performing parametric or nonparametric analysis, and practical significance determination. In addition, the author details how data analysis is used to reveal the underlying patterns and relationships between the variables and connects those trends to the data’s contextual situation.
Filling the gap in quantitative data analysis literature, this book teaches the methods and thought processes behind data analysis, rather than how to perform the study itself or how to perform individual statistical tests. With a clear and conversational style, readers are provided with a better understanding of the overall structure and methodology behind performing a data analysis as well as the needed techniques to make informed, meaningful decisions during data analysis. The book features numerous data analysis examples in order to emphasize the decision and thought processes that are best followed, and self-contained sections throughout separate the statistical data analysis from the detailed discussion of the concepts allowing readers to reference a specific section of the book for immediate solutions to problems and/or applications. Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences also features coverage of the following:
• The overall methodology and research mind-set for how to approach quantitative data analysis and how to use statistics tests as part of research data analysis
• A comprehensive understanding of the data, its connection to a research situation, and the most appropriate statistical tests for the data
• Numerous data analysis problems and worked-out examples to illustrate the decision and thought processes that reveal underlying patterns and trends
• Detailed examples of the main concepts to aid readers in gaining the needed skills to perform a full analysis of research problems
• A conversational tone to effectively introduce readers to the basics of how to perform data analysis as well as make meaningful decisions during data analysis
Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences is an ideal textbook for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level research method courses in the behavioral and social sciences, statistics, and engineering. This book is also an appropriate reference for practitioners who require a review of quantitative research methods.
Michael J. Albers, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of English at East Carolina University. His research interests include information design with a focus on answering real-world questions, the presentation of complex information, and human–information interaction. Dr. Albers received his Ph.D. in Technical Communication and Rhetoric from Texas Tech University.
Related to Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences
Related ebooks
Applied Survival Analysis: Regression Modeling of Time-to-Event Data Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nonparametric Regression Methods for Longitudinal Data Analysis: Mixed-Effects Modeling Approaches Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBiostatistics and Computer-based Analysis of Health Data using Stata Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApplied Logistic Regression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Complex Surveys: A Guide to Analysis Using R Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSPSS Data Analysis for Univariate, Bivariate, and Multivariate Statistics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRegression Graphics: Ideas for Studying Regressions Through Graphics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Data Analysis: How to Answer Almost Any Question Using Basic Statistics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Future of the Academic Journal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOut of Comptrol: A Converted Democrat's Improbable Quest to Save Texas Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLabor Supply and Public Policy: A Critical Review Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClinical Prediction Models: A Practical Approach to Development, Validation, and Updating Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPython for SAS Users: A SAS-Oriented Introduction to Python Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStatistical Methods for Overdispersed Count Data Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPySpark SQL Recipes: With HiveQL, Dataframe and Graphframes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHandbook on Using Administrative Data for Research and Evidence-based Policy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCybermetric Techniques to Evaluate Organizations Using Web-Based Data Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPro Power BI Theme Creation: JSON Stylesheets for Automated Dashboard Formatting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuantitative Decisions in Drug Development Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Demography of Corporations and Industries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnalytics in a Business Context: Practical guidance on establishing a fact-based culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBecome a Studying and Learning Machine: Strategies For the Top of the Class, Promotions, and Smashing Your Goals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBusiness Process Design A Complete Guide - 2020 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExperimentation for Engineers: From A/B testing to Bayesian optimization Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Total Survey Error Approach: A Guide to the New Science of Survey Research Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsResource Utilization and Management: A Case Study of the Impact of State Land Use Regulation on Development in Nigeria, 1955-1985 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOpen Microcredentials Standard Requirements Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemographic Forecasting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Source of the River: The Social Origins of Freshmen at America's Selective Colleges and Universities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Mathematics For You
Geometry For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thirteen Books of the Elements, Vol. 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlgebra I Workbook For Dummies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Precalculus: A Self-Teaching Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Algebra - The Very Basics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mental Math Secrets - How To Be a Human Calculator Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Calculus Made Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Physics for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flatland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Real Estate by the Numbers: A Complete Reference Guide to Deal Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntroducing Game Theory: A Graphic Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Calculate Quickly: Full Course in Speed Arithmetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Must Know High School Algebra, Second Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Elements of Euclid for the Use of Schools and Colleges (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLimitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Guide to Algebra: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Basics of Algebra - in Plain English! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Mathematical Principles, Theories & Things Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Golden Ratio: The Divine Beauty of Mathematics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Not To Be Wrong | Summary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5ACT Math & Science Prep: Includes 500+ Practice Questions Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Mind for Numbers | Summary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Everyday Math Book: From Tipping to Taxes, All the Real-World, Everyday Math Skills You Need Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mathematics, Magic and Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences - Michael J. Albers
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Preface
About the Companion Website
Chapter 1: Introduction
Basis of How All Quantitative Statistical Based Research
Data Analysis, Not Statistical Analysis
Quantitative Versus Qualitative Research
What the Book Covers and What It Does Not Cover
Book Structure
References
Part I: Data Analysis Approaches
Chapter 2: Statistics Terminology
Statistically Testing a Hypothesis
Statistical Significance and p-Value
Confidence Intervals
Effect Size
Statistical Power of a Test
Practical Significance Versus Statistical Significance
Statistical Independence
Degrees of Freedom
Measures of Central Tendency
Percentile and Percentile Rank
Central Limit Theorem
Law of Large Numbers
References
Chapter 3: Analysis Issues and Potential Pitfalls
Effects of Variables
Outliers in the Dataset
Relationships Between Variables
A Single Contradictory Example Does Not Invalidate a Statistical Relationship
References
Chapter 4: Graphically Representing Data
Data Distributions
Bell Curves
Skewed Curves
Bimodal Distributions
Poisson Distributions
Binomial Distribution
Histograms
Scatter Plots
Box Plots
Ranges of Values and Error Bars
References
Chapter 5: Statistical Tests
Inter-Rater Reliability
Regression Models
Parametric Tests
Nonparametric Tests
One-Tailed or Two-Tailed Tests
Tests Must Make Sense
References
Part II: Data Analysis Examples
Chapter 6: Overview of Data Analysis Process
Know How to Analyze It Before Starting the Study
Perform an Exploratory Data Analysis
Perform the Statistical Analysis
Analyze the Results and Draw Conclusions
Writing Up the Study
References
Chapter 7: Analysis of a Study on Reading and Lighting Levels
Lighting and Reading Comprehension
Know How the Data Will Be Analyzed Before Starting the Study
Perform an Exploratory Data Analysis
Perform an Inferential Statistical Analysis
Exercises
Chapter 8: Analysis of Usability of an E-Commerce Site
Usability of an E-Commerce Site
Study Overview
Know How You Will Analyze the Data Before Starting the Study
Perform an Exploratory Data Analysis
Perform an Inferential Statistical Analysis
Follow-Up Tests
Performing Follow-Up Tests
Exercises
Reference
Chapter 9: Analysis of Essay Grading
Analysis of Essay Grading
Exploratory Data Analysis
Inferential Statistical Data Analysis
Exercises
Reference
Chapter 10: Specific Analysis Examples
Handling Outliers in the Data
Floor/Ceiling Effects
Order Effects
Data from Stratified Sampling
Missing Data
Noisy Data
Transform the Data
References
Chapter 11: Other Types of Data Analysis
Time-Series Experiment
Analysis for Data Clusters
Low-Probability Events
Metadata Analysis
Reference
Appendix A: Research Terminology
Independent, Dependent, and Controlled Variables
Between Subjects and Within Subjects
Validity and Reliability
Variable Types
Type of Data
Independent Measures and Repeated Measures
Variation in Data Collection
Probability—What 30% Chance Means
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Table A.1
Table A.2
Table A.3
Table 1.1
Table 1.2
Table 2.1
Table 2.2
Table 2.3
Table 2.4
Table 2.5
Table 2.6
Table 2.7
Table 4.1
Table 5.1
Table 5.2
Table 5.3
Table 5.4
Table 5.5
Table 5.6
Table 6.1
Table 7.1
Table 7.2
Table 7.3
Table 8.1
Table 8.2
Table 8.3
Table 8.4
Table 8.5
Table 8.6
Table 8.7
Table 8.8
Table 8.9
Table 9.1
Table 9.2
Table 9.3
Table 10.1
List of Illustrations
Figure A.1
Figure A.2
Figure 1.1
Figure 1.2
Figure 2.1
Figure 2.2
Figure 2.3
Figure 2.4
Figure 2.5
Figure 2.6
Figure 2.7
Figure 2.8
Figure 2.9
Figure 2.10
Figure 2.11
Figure 2.12
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.2
Figure 3.3
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.5
Figure 3.6
Figure 3.7
Figure 4.1
Figure 4.2
Figure 4.3
Figure 4.4
Figure 4.5
Figure 4.6
Figure 4.7
Figure 4.8
Figure 4.9
Figure 4.10
Figure 4.11
Figure 4.12
Figure 4.13
Figure 4.14
Figure 4.15
Figure 4.16
Figure 4.17
Figure 4.18
Figure 5.1
Figure 5.2
Figure 5.3
Figure 5.4
Figure 6.1
Figure 7.1
Figure 7.2
Figure 7.3
Figure 7.4
Figure 7.5
Figure 7.6
Figure 7.7
Figure 7.8
Figure 7.9
Figure 7.10
Figure 7.11
Figure 8.1
Figure 8.2
Figure 8.3
Figure 8.4
Figure 8.5
Figure 8.6
Figure 8.7
Figure 8.8
Figure 8.9
Figure 8.10
Figure 8.11
Figure 9.1
Figure 9.2
Figure 9.3
Figure 9.4
Figure 9.5
Figure 9.6
Figure 9.7
Figure 9.8
Figure 9.9
Figure 9.10
Figure 9.11
Figure 9.12
Figure 9.13
Figure 10.1
Figure 10.2
Figure 11.1
Figure 11.2
Figure 11.3
Figure 11.4
Figure 11.5
Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis in the Behavioral and Social Sciences
Michael J. Albers
East Carolina University
Wiley LogoThis edition first published 2017
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of Michael J. Albers to be identified as the author(s) of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
Registered Offices
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
Editorial Office
111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty
The publisher and the authors make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties; including without limitation any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. In view of on-going research, equipment modifications, changes in governmental regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to the use of experimental reagents, equipment, and devices, the reader is urged to review and evaluate the information provided in the package insert or instructions for each chemical, piece of equipment, reagent, or device for, among other things, any changes in the instructions or indication of usage and for added warnings and precautions. The fact that an organization or website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this works was written and when it is read. No warranty may be created or extended by any promotional statements for this work. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any damages arising here from.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data applied for.
Hardback: 9781119290186
Cover image: Magnilion/gettyimages
Cover design by Wiley
Preface
This book strives to be an introduction to quantitative data analysis for students who have little or no previous training either in statistics or in data analysis. It does not attempt to cover all types of data analysis situations, but works to impart the proper mindset in performing a data analysis. Too often the problem with poorly analyzed studies is not the number crunching itself, but a lack of the critical thinking process required to make sense of the statistical results. This book works to provide some of that training.
Statistics is a tool. Knowing how to perform a t-test or an ANOVA is similar to knowing how to use styles and page layout in Word. Just because you know how to use styles does not make you a writer. It will not even make you a good layout person if you do not know when and why to apply those styles. Likewise, statistics is not data analysis. Learning how to use a software package to perform a t-test is relatively easy and quick for a student. But knowing when and why to perform a t-test is a different, and more complex, learning outcome. I had a student, who had taken two graduate-level business statistics courses, remark when she turned in a statistics heavy report in a writing class: In the stat classes, I only learned enough to get me through the test problems. I have no idea how to analyze this data.
She had learned how to crunch numbers, but not how to analyze data. Bluntly, she wasted her time and money in those two classes.
The issue for researchers in the social sciences is not to learn statistics, but learn to analyze data. The goal is not to learn how to use the statistical tests to crunch numbers, but to be able use those tests to interpret the data and draw valid conclusions from it. There is a wide range of statistical tests relevant to data analysis; some that every researcher should be able to perform and some that require the advice/help of a statistical expert. Good quantitative data analysis does not require a comprehensive knowledge of statistics, but, rather, knowing enough to know when it is time to ask for help and what questions to ask.
Every quantitative research study (essentially by definition) collects some type of data that must then be analyzed to help draw the study's conclusions. A great study design is useless unless the data is properly analyzed. But teaching that data analysis to students is a difficult task. What I have found is that most textbooks fall into one of these categories.
Research method textbooks that explain how to create and execute a study, but typically are very light on how to analyze the data. They are excellent on explaining methods of setting up the study and collecting the data, but not on the methods to analyze it after it has been collected.
Statistics textbooks that explain how to perform statistical tests. The tests are explained in an acontextual manner and in rigorous statistical terms. Students learn how to perform a test, but, from a research standpoint, the equally important questions of when and why to perform it get short shrift. As do the questions of how to interpret the results and how to connect those results to the research situation.
This book differs from textbooks in these two categories because it focuses on teaching how to analyze data from a study, rather than how to perform a study or how to perform individual statistical tests. Notice that in the first sentence of a previous paragraph I said data that must then be analyzed to help draw the study's conclusions.
The key word in the sentence is help versus give the study's conclusions. The results of statistical tests are not the final conclusions for research data analysis. The researcher must study the test results, apply them to the situational context, and then draw conclusions that make sense (see Figure 1.1 in Chapter 1). To support that process, this book works to place statistical tests within the context of a data analysis problem and provide the background to connect a specific type of data with the appropriate test. The work is placed within long examples and the entire process of data analysis is covered in a contextualized manner. It looks at the data analysis from different viewpoints and using different tests to enable a student to learn how and when to apply different analysis methods.
Two major goals are to teach what questions to ask during all phases of a data analysis and how to judge the relevance of potential questions. It is easy to run statistical tests on all combinations of the data, but most of those tests have no relevance or validity regardless of the actual research question.
This book strives to explain the when, why, and what for, rather than the button pushing how-to. The data analysis chapters of many research textbooks are little more than an explanation of various statistical tests. As a result, students come away thinking the important questions are procedural, such as: How do I run a chi-squared test?
What is the best procedure, a Kruskal–Wallis test or a standard ANOVA?
and Let me tell you about my data, and you can tell me what procedure to run.
(Rogers, 2010, p. 8). These are the wrong questions to be asking at the beginning of a data analysis. Rather, students need to think along the lines of what relationships do I need to understand?
and what are the important practical issues I need to worry about?
Unfortunately, most data analysis texts get them lost is the trees of individual tests and never explains where they are within a data analysis forest.
Besides knowing when and why to perform a statistical test, there is a need for a researcher to get at the data's deep structure and not be content with the superficial structure that appears at first glance. And certainly not to be content with poor/inadequate data analysis in which the student sees the process as "run a few statistics tests, report the p-value, and call the analysis complete."
Statistics is a tool to get where you want to go, but far too many view it either as an end for itself and the rest view it as a way of manipulating raw data in order to get a justification for what they want to do to begin with. Further, being able to start to quantify relationships and being able to quantify results does not mean that you are beginning to understand these, let alone being able to quantify anything like the risk involved
(Briggs, 2008).
I recently had to review a set of undergraduate honors research project proposals; they consistently had several weeks scheduled for data collection and one week for data analysis. Unfortunately, with only 1 week, these students will never get more than a superficial level of understanding of their data. In many of the cases of superficial analysis, I am more than willing to place a substantial part of the blame on the instructor. There is a substantial difference between a student who chooses to not to do a good data analysis and a student who does not know how to do a good data analysis. Unless students are taught how to perform an in-depth analysis, they will never perform one because they lack the knowledge. More importantly, they will lack the understanding to realize their analysis was superficial. If someone was taught the task as "do a t-test and report a p-value," then who is to blame for the lack of data analysis knowledge?
A goal of this book is to teach that data analysis is not just crunching numbers, but a way of thinking that works to reveal the underlying patterns and trends that allow a researcher to gain an understanding of the data and its connection to the research situation. I am content with students knowing when and why to use statistical tests, even if the test's internal logic is little more than a black box.
I expect many research methods instructors will be appalled at this book's contents. The heavy statistics-based researcher or a statistics instructor will be appalled at the statistical tests I left out or at the lack of rigorous discussion of many concepts. The instructor who touches on statistics in a research methods course will be appalled at the number of tests I include and the depth of the analysis. (Yes, I fully appreciate the inherent contradiction in these two sentences.) But I sincerely hope both groups appreciate my attempt at defining statistical tests as a part of data analysis—NOT as either its totality or its end— and my goal of teaching students to approach a data analysis with a mind-set of that they must analyze the data and not simply run a bunch of statistical tests.
With that said, here are some research issues this book will not address:
This book assumes the research methodology and data collection methods are valid. For instance, some examples discuss how to analyze the results of survey questions using Likert scales. Neither the design of the survey question or the developments of Likert items will be discussed; they are assumed to be valid.
This book assumes the data's reliability and validity. The reliability and validity of the data are research design questions that a well-designed study must consider up front, but they do not affect the data analysis per sec. Obviously, with poor quality data, the conclusions are questionable, but the analysis process does not change.
There are no step-by-step software instructions. There are several major statistical software packages and a researcher might use any one of them. With multiple packages, detailed-level software instructions would result in an overly long book with many pages irrelevant to any single reader. All the major software packages provide all of the basic tests covered in this book and there are essentially an infinite number of help sites and YouTube videos that explain the button-pushing aspects. Plus, the how-to is much more effectively taught one-on-one with an instructor than from a book.
The basic terminology used in research study design is used with minimal definition. For example, if the analysis differs for within subjects and between subject's designs, the discussion assumes the student already understands the concepts of within subjects and between subjects, since those must be understood before collecting data. Terminology relevant to a quantitative analysis will, of course, be full defined and explained. Also, there are extensive references to definitions and concepts.
There is no attempt to cover statistical proofs or deal with the edge cases of when a test does or does not apply. Readers desiring that level of understanding need a full statistics course. There are many places where I refer the researcher to a statistician. The complexities of much statistics or delving into more advanced tests may be relevant to the research, but are out of place here. This book is an introduction to data analysis, not an exhaustive data analysis tome.
This book focuses on the overall methodology and research mind-set for how to approach quantitative data analysis and how to use statistics tests as part of analyzing research data. It works to show that the goal of data analysis is to reveal the underlying patterns, trends, and relationships between the variables, and connecting those patterns, trends, and relationships to the data's contextual situation.
References
Briggs, W. (2008) The limits of statistics: black swans and randomness [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=204.
Rogers, J.L. (2010) The epistemology of mathematical and statistical modelling: a quiet methodological revolution. American Psychologist, 65 (1), 1–12.
About the Companion Website
This book is accompanied by a companion website:
http://www.wiley.com/go/albers/quantitativedataanalysis
The website includes:
Excel data sets for the chapter problems
1
Introduction
Basis of How All Quantitative Statistical Based Research
Any research study should have a solid design, properly collected data, and draw its conclusions on effectively analyzed data. All of which are nontrivial problems.
This is a book about performing quantitative data analysis. Unlike most research methods texts, which focus on creating a good design, the focus is on analyzing the data. It is not on how to design the study or collect the data; there many good sources that cover those aspects of research. Of course, poor designs or data collections lead to poor data that means the results of the analysis are useless. Instead, this book focuses on how to analyze the data.
The stereotypical linear view of a research study is shown in Figure 1.1a. Figure 1.1b expands on what is contained within the analyze data
element. This book only works within that expansion; it focuses on how to analyze data from a study, rather than either how to perform the study or how to perform individual statistical tests.
Figure 1.1 View of data analysis as situation within the overall study.
The last two boxes of the expansion in Figure 1.1 Make sense of the results
and Determine the implications
are where performing a high-quality data analysis differs from someone simply crunching numbers.
A quantitative study is run to collect data and draw a numerical-based conclusion about that data. A conclusion that must reflect both the numerical analysis and the study context. Thus, data must be analyzed to help draw a study's conclusions. Unfortunately, even great data collected using a great design will be worthless unless the analysis was performed properly. The keyword in the sentence is help versus give the study's conclusions. The results of statistical tests are not the final conclusion for research data analysis. The researcher must study the test results, apply them to