Quantitative Data Analysis Flashcards
What is data analysis?
A methodology by which individual data points are rendered into meaningful and intelligible information
What is a product of data analysis?
Knowledge
What are the two categories of data analysis?
Qualitative analysis
Quantitative analysis
What are two statistical categories that quantitative fall into?
Descriptive Statistics
Inferential Statistics
What is qualitative analysis?
The systematic rational process by which narrative (written data) are organized into meaningful descriptions, of themes, patterns, models or theories
What is quantitative analysis?
Use statistical procedures to reduce, summarize, organize, evaluate, interpret, and communicate numeric information.
What are descriptive statistics used for?
Use to describe and synthesize data
What are inferential statistics used for?
The use of a statistic created from a smaller group (sample) to draw a conclusion about a population.
What are descriptive statistics?
Description and/or summarization of sample data.
Allow researchers to arrange data visually to display meaning and to help in understanding the sample characteristics and variables under study.
In some studies, descriptive statistics may be the only results sought from statistical analysis.
What are some ways that descriptive statistics are summarized to make the data manageable?
Measure of central tendency Scatter plot Range Mean Average percentages
What are inferential statistics?
Combines mathematical procedures and logic; allow researchers to test hypotheses about a population using data obtained from probability and nonprobability samples.
What is “level of significance” or alpha level?
Probability of making type I error = .05
The researcher is willing to accept the fact that if the study was done 100 times, the decision to reject the null hypothesis would be wrong 5 times out of those 100 trials
Can set probability at .01 if one wants a smaller risk of reflecting a true null hypothesis (the decision to reject the null hypothesis would be wrong 1 time out of 100 trials)
What three things determine which statistical test should be chosen?
An appropriate statistical procedure is a function of:
- The research design
- The level of data provided by the data collection instrument
- Sampling procedure
What types of studies use descriptive statistics?
- Exploratory Descriptive Designs (case studies)
- Correlational Designs
What types of studies use inferential statistics?
– Correlational Designs
– Comparative Designs
– Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs
What determines the level of data?
Responses of an instrument determine your level of data.
What are four levels of data?
Nominal Measurement
Ordinal Measurement
Interval Measurement
Ratio Measurement
What is nominal measurement?
The assignment of numbers to simply classify characteristics into categories
What kind of variables are used in nominal measurement? (examples)
Categorical variables. Sometimes called “dummy variables” (Used to quantify variables)
Examples:
Gender
Marital status
Religious affiliation
No= 0 Yes = 1 Female= 1 Male = 0
What is ordinal measurement?
Permits the sorting of objects on the basis of their standing on an attribute relative to each other
• A higher score is better (or worse), but how much better (or worse) is not known
***It can’t be demonstrated that the intervals between categories are equal in nature (hence, unequal intervals here).
What are two types of ordinal measurement?
Class ranking
Likert scale responses
What is interval/ratio measurement?
Determines both the rank ordering of objects on an attribute and the distance between those objects
What are some examples of interval/ratio measurement?
• Examples: – Scores on an intelligence test – Temperature _ Blood pressure _ Height – Length – confidently say that an object is twice as long as another object
What are parametric inferential statistics?
More powerful and more flexible than nonparametric; Assumes normal distribution of data; used with interval and ratio variables
What are nonparametric inferential statistics? What kind of variables are nonparametric inferential statistics used with?
Not based on the estimation of population parameters;
used with nominal or ordinal variables
What are confidence intervals?
An estimated range of values that provides a measure of certainty about the sample findings
What is the most commonly reported confidence interval in research?
Most commonly reported in research is a 95% degree of certainty, meaning 95% of the time, the findings will fall within the range of values given as the CI
What are some important questions to ask when performing quantitative data analysis?
Are data analysis procedures clearly described?
Were appropriate statistical tests used given the level of measurement that is used to describe each of the major variables?
Are results presented in an understandable way?
Are the results significant?
Which sections of an article present the findings of a study?
Results section
Discussion section
What findings are presented in the results section?
Presentation of the raw data and analysis.
What findings are presented in the discussion section?
The interpretation of the results/findings.
What are some questions to ask/aspects to examine when interpreting the results of a quantitative studie?
What are the major findings?
Are the findings accurate and discussed in relation to problem/purpose, hypothesis, framework and lit review?
Are various explanations for the findings examined?
Do the conclusions fit with the findings?
What do the results mean?
Are the results important?
Are the results generalizable?
What are some questions to ask/aspects to examine when critiquing the implications and recommendations of a quantitative study?
Do the researchers discuss the study’s implications for clinical practice, education, administration and research?
If yes, are the stated implications appropriate, given the study’s limitations?
Are there important implications that the researchers neglected to include?
How do the findings contribute to current knowledge?
