PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 : How to Conduct Data Analysis

Data analysis is an important step in answering an experimental question. Analyzing data from a well-designed study
helps the researcher answer questions. With this data, you can also draw conclusions that further the research and
contribute to future studies. Keeping well-organized data during the collection process will help make the analysis
step that much easier.

Organizing the Data

1. Use an electronic database to organize the data. Copy the data into a new file for editing. You never want to
work on the master data file in case something gets corrupted during the analysis process. A program such
as Excel allows you to organize all of your data into an easily searchable spreadsheet. You can add filters to
your data to make it easier to copy and paste discrete datasets between files.
2. Code text responses into numerical form. If you are working with survey data that has written responses,
you will need to code the data into numerical form before you can analyze it. You may have to develop your
own coding system for responses based on the information you have received and the questions you are
trying to answer with your data.
3. Develop a system to group your data. As you start collecting data, start thinking about the best way to group
everything. If you’re working with human subjects or responses, you’ll need to give each person a number or
letter code to protect confidentiality.

For example: If you want to know differences between males and females, you would want to make sure all of the
male data was grouped together and all of the female data was grouped together.

4. Check the data for mistakes. When organizing data, there can be a lot of copying and pasting between files.
Periodically check the master file against the data you have organized to make sure that numbers haven’t
been mixed up or placed in the wrong columns.

Choosing Statistical Tests

1. Run a t-test to compare two groups. A t-test is a very common statistical test used to compare the means
(averages) of samples. A one-sample t-test is used to test that the average sample is statistically significant
from a known value. A two-sample t-test is used to test that two groups have statistically different means.[5]

One sample t-tests are generally used in physics and product manufacturing: you know the value that your sample
should have so you compare the average that you get to that known value.

Two sample t-tests are commonly used in the biomedical and clinical fields.

2. Use an ANOVA to analyze means of groups. An ANOVA (analysis of variance) is very commonly used in the
biomedical fields to compare means of multiple groups. ANOVAs are a very powerful tool for finding
differences when you are looking at many comparisons.

A one-way ANOVA can be used to compare the means of multiple groups to one control group. For example, if you
had one control group and three test groups, you would use a one-way ANOVA to compare all of the means and see
if any are different.

A two-way ANOVA is used to compare the means of multiple groups with multiple variables. For example, if you
wanted to know if both genotype and sex of an organism affected your data, you would run a two-way ANOVA
against the control groups.

3. Run a linear regression to test variable effects. A linear regression test looks at the variation of the
independent variable and tests to see whether that variation is causing the variation seen in the dependent
variable.

For example, if you wanted to test the relationship between your heart rate and the speed you move on a treadmill,
you would use a linear regression.
 4. Use an ANCOVA to compare two regression lines. If you want to compare the relationship of two different
groups to the same variable, you can use an ANCOVA (analysis of covariance). An ANCOVA allows you to
control for the variation you might see from the independent variable between two groups.[10]

For example, if you wanted to test to see if males and females had different resting heart rates at different
temperatures you would use an ANCOVA. You would make two regression lines (one for females and one for males)
of heart rate vs temperature. Then you would use an ANCOVA to compare the two lines to see if they were different.

5. Explore more statistical tests on your own. The tests presented are not an exhaustive list of tests available.
These are some of the more common tests used, but there are many variations and more complex tests that
may be better for your data. When planning your experiments, do a thorough search to decide which tests
to use.

Analyzing the Data

1. Clearly define the research questions. Never lose focus of the study and stick to the research design and
defined variables. A good research strategy involves running well designed experiments and collecting the
right amount of data to answer the research question.
2. Consult a statistician. Statistics can get very complicated very quickly, especially with large datasets. Before
you begin the experiment, discuss everything with a statistician. They can help you figure out what tests are
appropriate for analyzing your data and how many samples you will need in each group to have the proper
power to run your tests.[12]

Remember, a statistical test simply tells you the probability of an outcome occurring or not occurring. You must be
careful not to confuse statistical significance with clinical significance or physiological relevance.[13]

3. Run the chosen statistical tests. Once the data has been collected and prepared, you can start to run all of
the tests you decided to run before the experiment began. Programs specific for analyzing data should be
used for this process. These tests are complex and it is much easier to run them using a program such as SAS,
R, Stata, or GraphPad Prism.

SAS, Stata, and R require some programming experience. You may need to consult someone trained to use these
programs or take a course to become proficient in their use.