Data Analysis

You’ve done your experiments,

conducted your surveys and
interviews and collected your
data…
Analyzing your Data

Looking for patterns

that are relevant to
your research question

Patterns are observed

in order to compare
two or more groups
Analyzing your Data
Quantitative
• Numerical information
• Perform descriptive and
inferential statistics
• To answer questions related to
magnitude (how many, how
much, to what extent)
• Use numeric data to relate
variables and compare groups
Qualitative
• Information in narrative form
• Organize text into themes or
categories, then summarize by
percentages
• To understand more complex
issues related to how and why
• Use text and image data to relate
themes
Quantitative Analysis

 Different types of variables

 Categorical
 Describe people and things in discrete categories
 Example: gender, proficiency level

 Continuous
 Numbers on a continuous scale that can be measured with different levels
of precision
 Example: age (years, months, days), score
Descriptive Statistics for Categorical Variables

 Frequencies
 Counts from survey responses
 Usually translated into percentages and rates

 Crosstab
 Calculation of a set of frequencies using two or more categorical
variables to describe a group
 Contingency table shows how the members of the groups are sorted
into subgroups based on their categories
http://nche.ed.gov/ome_toolkits/pe/e.pdf
Descriptive Statistics for Continuous Variables

 Central tendency – Mean

 The same as the average for a set of continuous, numerical values
 One of several “measures of central tendency”
 Used to calculate a “typical” number to describe a whole group of
numbers or the people they represent and compare it to the typical
value of another group, or the same group at another point in time
Descriptive Statistics for Continuous Variables

 Central tendency – Median

 Another measure of central tendency
 Often used to describe a set of numbers that includes some extreme
values or outliers
 The number in the exact middle of the data set

 Central tendency – Mode

 The number or category that appears most frequently
Descriptive Statistics for Continuous Variables

 Variability
 Amount of variation or disagreement in your results
 Range
 Difference between the highest and lowest scores

 Standard deviation

http://www.evaluatod.org/assets/resources/evaluation-guides/analyzing-
interpretingdata-8-09.pdf
Which calculation will you use?

Do you want to know how many individuals checked each answer? Frequency
Do you want the proportion of people who answered in a certain way? Percentage
Do you want the average number or score? Mean
Do you want the middle value in a range of values or scores? Median
Do you want to show the range in answers or scores? Range
Do you want to compare one group to another? Cross tab
Do you want to report changes from pre- to post-test? Change score
Do you want to show the degree to which a response varies from the mean? Standard
deviation

http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/INF4260/h10/undervisningsmateriale/DataAnalysis.pdf
Examples – Quantitative Analysis
Data Collection Instrument:
• 5-pt Likert scale on User perception of Peer Interaction and of the computer-
generated Healthcare Stories

Learning about Good Healthcare Practices through Interactive Storytelling with Virtual Peers, Ong et al 2019
Qualitative Data Analysis - Approaches

 Content analysis
Chat logs
 Grounded analysis Social networks

 Social network analysis

 Discourse analysis
 Narrative analysis

 Conversation analysis
Qualitative Analysis

1. Organize individual responses into broad categories or themes

(level 1 coding)
2. Within each broad level 1 category, organize individual responses
into related sub-categories or sub-themes (level 2 coding)
3. Summarize results in a table showing percentages of responses in
each level 2 subcategories and for each level 1 category
http://nche.ed.gov/ome_toolkits/pe/e.pdf
Examples – Qualitative Analysis
Approach: Conversation Log Analysis
• Level 1 codes / themes: Specific and Generic user responses
• Level 2 codes / themes: Categories of user inputs

Learning about Good Healthcare Practices through Interactive Storytelling with Virtual Peers, Ong et al 2019
True Essence of
Research

Interpretation of Data
Interpreting Results and Drawing Conclusions

 Stepping back to consider what the results mean and to assess their
implications
 What patterns and themes emerge in the results?
 Are there any deviations from these patterns?
 What factors might explain these deviations?
 Do the results make sense?
 Are there any findings that are surprising?
 How do you explain these results?

http://www.evaluatod.org/assets/resources/evaluation-guides/analyzing-interpretingdata-8-09.pdf
Interpreting Results and Drawing Conclusions

 Are the results significant or meaningful?

 Do any interesting stories emerge from the responses?
 Do the results suggest any recommendations for improvement?
 Do the results lead to additional questions about your study? Do they
suggest that additional data may need to be collected?

http://www.evaluatod.org/assets/resources/evaluation-guides/analyzing-interpretingdata-8-09.pdf
Interpreting Results and Drawing Conclusions

 Tie the results of the study in both theory and application with the
following:
 Conceptual framework – how does your study support or deviate from the
theories?
 Related studies – how do your results compare with previous related
works?
 Potential significance

http://www.slideshare.net/31mikaella/presentation-analysis-and-interpretation-of-data
Presenting
your Results
Presentation of Findings

 Narrative or textual form

 Summary of findings
 Direct quotations
 Implications of the study

 Tables or tabular form

 Graphical form

http://www.slideshare.net/ludymae/chapter-10data-analysis-presentation
Visualizing log data
Further Examples
 Analyzing and Interpreting Data

http://nche.ed.gov/ome_toolkits/pe/e.pdf

 Analyzing and Interpreting Data

http://www.evaluatod.org/assets/resources/evaluation-guides/analyzing-interpreti
ngdata-8-09.pdf