b2 - data analysis Flashcards
what is qualitative data?
rich, detailed, descriptive data collected from open questions and observations
evaluate qualitative data
:) - rich and detailed
:( - difficult to compare and analyse participant responses, subjective
what is quantitative data?
numerical, statistical data that is quantifiable and objective, collected from experiments, closed questions and observations
evaluate quantitative data
:) - easy to compare and analyse
:( - lacks detail
what is primary data?
- original, first-hand, authentic data that has been collected by the researcher specifically for the purpose of the investigation
e.g. through experiment, observation, interview, questionnaire
evaluate primary data
:) - authentic data obtained from participants themselves, specifically target the information that the researcher requires
:( - requires time and effort on the part of the researcher, e.g. conducting an experiment requires planning, preparation and resources
what is secondary data?
- data that has been collected by someone other than the researcher, it is second hand
- located in journal articles, books or websites e.g government statistics
evaluate secondary data
:) - doesn’t require time and effort on the researchers part, it is pre-existing data
:( - may be substantial variation in the quality and accuracy of secondary data, may be out-dated or incomplete, may not match researchers objectives
what is meta-analysis?
‘research about research’: referring to the process of combining results from a number of studies on a particular topic to provide an overall view
- uses secondary data
evaluation of meta-analysis
:) - allows us to view data with confidence, also allows large generalisations to be made due to the larger sample size
:( - may be prone to publication bias, may leave out studies with negative or non-significant results, only represent some of the relevant data in which incorrect conclusions may be drawn
what is a measure of central tendency?
general term for any measure of the average value in a set of data (mean, mode, median)
what is the mean and evaluation?
- average calculated by adding up all the values in a set of data and dividing by the number of values there are
:) = most sensitive, includes all values/scores, more representative of the data as a whole
:( = easily distorted by extreme values, unrepresentative
what is the median and evaluation?
- the middle value in a data set making the data more representative of the data
:) = not affected by extreme scores, data more representative
:( = less sensitive, not all scores are included so doesn’t represent every participant
what is the mode and evaluation?
- most frequent occurring score/value, may be a bi-
modal
:) = easy to calculate
:( = mode doesn’t represent all participant scores
what are measures of dispersion?
- general term for any measure of the spread or variation in a set of data
range and evaluation
- simple calculation of the spread/ dispersion of the scores worked out by subtracting lowest score from highest
:) = easy to calculate
:( = only takes into account two most extreme values, not representative of whole data
standard deviation
- single value that tells us how far scores deviate from the mean
- large standard deviation suggests participants not all affected by IV in the same way, large spread across scores, may be anomalies
- low standard deviation suggests that all participants responded in a similar way as data is tightly clustered
evaluation of standard deviation
:) - much more precise measure of dispersion than the range as it includes all values within the calculation
:( - can be distorted by a single extreme value
when are bar charts used?
- used when data is divided up into categories, used with discrete and non-continuous data
X axis = IV
Y axis = DV - title = a bar chart to show the mean number of words recalled in one minute in the organised word list condition and in the random word condition
when are scatter graphs used?
- used for correlations, show relationships/ association
title = scattergram to show the relationship between…
when are histograms used?
- the bars touch each other, data is continuous rather than discrete e.g. percentages
