Presentation and interpretation of quantitative data

Question 1

what is qualitative data?

Answer 1

it is results in the form of description of behavior and narrative/ quotes. it is taken from interviews and questionnaires. it is of a high validity and detail rich. it maintains the individuals experience. not as reliable and harder to generalize.

Question 2

what is quantitative data?

Answer 2

it is results in the form of numerical figures and statistics. figures are economic in terms of prepossessing and the findings are more reliable because they can be easily replicated. it is presented in graphs, tables, graphs and numerical data.

Question 3

what is central tendency?

Answer 3

the tendency for the values of a random variable to cluster round its mean, mode, or median.

Question 4

name the four levels of measurement?

Answer 4

Nominal data, Ordinal data, Interval data, Ratio data.

Nominal data - this is frequency count data, data is organized into categories (it is ‘tallied’). This data is graphically represented by bar charts – where categories are represented as separate bars.

Ordinal data – data can be ranked, i.e. scores can be ordered in some way. However, scores may not represent exact units

Interval data – units of equal intervals, can be represented by line graphs as the data is continuous (values on the x axis) – the Y axis =frequency. Can also be represented in bar form, bars are ‘touching’ –this is called a histogram

Ratio data – units of equal intervals that begin with a true zero

Question 5

what is a mean?

Answer 5

The mean is the average of a set of numbers, results or data.

Question 6

how is the mean calculated?

Answer 6

Add all numbers in the data set and divide by the number of items in the set.

Question 7

what is a median?

Answer 7

The median is the middle value in the list of numbers.

Question 8

how is the median calculated?

Answer 8

Is the middle value in an ordered list.

Question 9

what is the mode?

Answer 9

Is the most common value that occurs in a list of numbers.

Question 10

how is the mode calculated?

Answer 10

Is the most common value that occurs in a list of numbers.

Question 11

name the two measures of dispersion?

Answer 11

the range, standard deviation.

Question 12

what is the range?

Answer 12

the difference in the largest and smallest number in a list of numbers.

Question 13

how is the range calculated?

Answer 13

Subtracting the lowest score from the highest – the difference.

Question 14

what is standard deviation?

Answer 14

a quantity expressing by how much the members of a group differ from the mean value for the group.

Question 15

how is standard deviation calculated?

Answer 15

By a formula – shows the amount of variation in a data set. It assesses the spread of data around the mean.

Question 16

name the strengths of using the mean?

Answer 16

Makes use of all values in the set

Question 17

name the weaknesses of using the mean?

Answer 17

Can misrepresent the data if extreme values are included in the calculation.

Question 18

name the strengths of using the median?

Answer 18

Not affected by extreme scores.

Question 19

name the weaknesses of using the median?

Answer 19

Not as sensitive as the mean because not all values are reflected in the median.

Question 20

name the strengths of using the mode?

Answer 20

Useful when the data is in categories.

Question 21

name the weaknesses of using the mode?

Answer 21

Of limited use when the data is multi modal.

Question 22

name the strengths of using the range?

Answer 22

Easy to calculate, direct

Question 23

name the weaknesses of using the range?

Answer 23

Affected by extreme values, doesn’t take into account the number of observations in a data set.

Question 24

name the strengths of using standard deviation?

Answer 24

Precise, all values taken into account.

Question 25

name the weaknesses of using standard deviation?

Answer 25

Conceals extreme values.