Data and meta analysis

Question 1

What are the different types of data?

Answer 1

Qualitative
Quantitative
Primary
Secondary

Question 2

Describe quantitative data

Answer 2

• This is numerical data (as opposed to words)
• E.g. number of words recalled
• Data can be analysed with statistics
• Can be easily converted to graphs etc

Question 3

What are the advantages of quantitative data?

Answer 3

• Easy to analyse so comparisons between groups can be made easily
• data in numerical form tends to be more objective and less open to bias

Question 4

What are the disadvantages of quantitative data?

Answer 4

Fails to represent real-life as it is in less detail

Question 5

Describe qualitative data

Answer 5

• Expressed in words (as opposed to numbers)
• E.g. written description of thoughts/feelings opinions etc
• Could be from, for example, open questions in a questionnaire/interview or a diary record of behaviour

Question 6

What are the advantages of qualitative data?

Answer 6

• greater external validity as it provides the researcher with a more meaningful insight into the ppt

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of qualitative data?

Answer 7

• Difficult to analyse so patterns and comparisons are hard to find
• as a result conclusions rely on the subjective interpretations of the researcher and mahy be subject to bias

Question 8

Describe primary data

Answer 8

• This is original data collected by the researcher for the specific purpose of that piece of research
• Could be from an experiment, questionnaire, observation etc

Question 9

What are the advantages of primary data?

Answer 9

• researchers are collecting information for the specific purposes of their study.

Question 10

What are the disadvantages of primary data?

Answer 10

• Time consuming as conducting an experiment requires planning + preparation.

Question 11

Describe secondary data

Answer 11

• Collected by someone other than the researcher
• Already exists before the researcher started this piece of research
• Could be in journal articles, books, websites etc.
• An example would be government statistics

Question 12

What are the advantages of secondary data?

Answer 12

• inexpensive and easily accessed

Question 13

What are the disadvantages of secondary data?

Answer 13

• information may be outdated or incomplete
• the content of the data may not match the researcher’s needs or objective which may challenge the validity

Question 14

Describe meta analysis

Answer 14

• This method uses secondary data
• Data from a large number of studies which have involved the same research questions and methods of research are combined
• May do a qualitative analysis where they discuss the findings/conclusions
• May do a quantitative analysis and do a statistical analysis of the combined results to see the effect size i.e. the difference or relationship between variables across a number of studies
• One example of a meta analysis is the Van IJzendoorn key study from the cultural variations in attachment section from the Attachment topic (paper1).