Research Methods 4: Data analysis 😬

Question 1

What are the two types of data?

Answer 1

-Quantitative data
-Qualitative data

Question 2

What are some properties of qualitative data?

Answer 2

-Non-numerical
-Finds out what people think and how they feel
-Qualitative analysis can be used
-Collected in case studies, unstructured observations and unstructured interviews.

Question 3

What are some properties of quantitative data?

Answer 3

-Numerical data
-Involves measuring something
-Statistical analysis can be used
-Collected in experiment-based research methods

Question 4

What is a strength of quantitative data?

Answer 4

-It is less subjective than qualitative

Question 5

What is a strength of qualitative data?

Answer 5

-It gives the researcher more detailed and in-depth data because participants can elaborate on their answers.

Question 6

What is primary data?

Answer 6

The original data that has been collected first-hand, by the researcher specifically towards a research aim. This is data which has NOT been published before.

Question 7

What is secondary data?

Answer 7

Data collected second-hand, towards another research aim, which has been published before.

Question 8

What is the strength and weakness of primary data?

Answer 8

-Primary data is more valid as it has been specifically created for the purpose of the hypothesis and has been controlled
-Primary data is very expensive and time consuming to conduct

Question 9

What is the strength and weakness of secondary data?

Answer 9

-secondary data is cheaper and quicker to use as
-Secondary data is less valid as it might not fit the needs of the hypothesis exactly

Question 10

If there’s two white balls and 4 black balls in a bag, what is the ratio of white balls to black balls?

Answer 10

2:4

Question 11

what would be 9,162,375,231 to one significant figure?

Answer 11

9,000,000,000

Question 12

what is 8,600,000,000 in standard form?

Answer 12

8.6x10⁹

Question 13

What do descriptive statistics let us do?

Answer 13

Describe and summarise quantitative data

Question 14

What are the two types of summaries of results in descriptive statistics?

Answer 14

-Measures of central tendency
-Measures of dispersion

Question 15

What does a measure of central tendency do?

Answer 15

Reduce a large amount of data to a single value, which is representative of that data

Question 16

What are the three measures of central tendency?

Answer 16

-Mean
-Median
-Mode

Question 17

Which of: mean, mode or median would you choose to use in a set of data?

Answer 17

-The most appropriate one

Question 18

What is the mean in a set of data?

Answer 18

The statistical average of a set of data

Question 19

How is a mean found?

Answer 19

By adding all the scores together and dividing by the number of values.

Question 20

What is the advantage and disadvantage of using mean?

Answer 20

😀It uses all the scores and is therefore more representative of the data than other measures
😫It can be distorted by extreme scores (outliers/anomaly’s)

Question 21

What is the median in a set of data?

Answer 21

The central value of a set of data

Question 22

How is a median found?

Answer 22

By firstly putting the data into rank and then finding the middle score.

Question 23

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Median?

Answer 23

😀It is unaffected by extreme values. Therefore if a set of data has extreme values, median would be appropriate
😀It’s easier to calculate
😣It only takes into account one or two scores

Question 24

What is the mode in a set of data?

Answer 24

The score that occurs the most often

Question 25

How is a mode calculated?

Answer 25

By a frequency count

Question 26

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Mode?

Answer 26

😀It is unaffected by extreme values.
😀It is easier to calculate than mean
😫It is not useful in small sets of data or when there are too many modes
😫It doesnt take into account the other scores

Question 27

What are the two measures of dispersion?

Answer 27

-Range
-Standard deviation

Question 28

How is range found?

Answer 28

-By taking away the lowest score from the highest score

Question 29

How is standard deviation found?

Answer 29

-By making a graph and measuring the width of the peak

Question 30

What would a thin curve and fat curve say about standard deviation?

Answer 30

Fat curve- wider spread of winrates = high S.D
Thin curve- winrates remain close to the mean average = Low S.D

Question 31

What are the three main types of graphs?

Answer 31

-Bar chart
-Histogram
-Frequency Polygon

Question 32

Where are categories placed in bar charts?

Answer 32

On the x-axis

Question 33

What is the main difference between bar charts and histograms?

Answer 33

The main difference is that histograms are used for continuous data, such as test scores e.g. graph below.

Question 34

What are the properties of a frequency polygon (line graph)

Answer 34

-Similar to a histogram in that the data on the x-axes are continuous.
-Produced by drawing a line from the mid-point top of each bar in a histogram

Question 35

What is the advantage of frequency polygons?

Answer 35

-Two or more frequency distributions can be displayed on the same graph in comparison

Question 36

What are the two types of tables?

Answer 36

-Results table, which is the main findings of the study
-Data table, which is the raw scores from the research study

Question 37

What does a normal distribution bell curve look like?

Answer 37

The mean, mode and median are all located at the highest peak, to create a symmetrical spread of data.

Question 38

What is a skewed distribution?

Answer 38

Where the bell curve appears to lean to one side

Question 39

What is a positive skewed distribution?

Answer 39

Where the distribution is concentrated to the left of the graph, with the tail pointing to the right

Question 40

What is a negative skewed distribution?

Answer 40

Where the distribution is concentrated to the right of the graph and the tail is pointing to the left.