Research Methods - Data Analysis

Question 1

Name the types of data

Answer 1

Primary data
Secondary data
Quantitative data
Qualitative data

Question 2

Advantages and disadvantages of primary data

Answer 2

Research has control over the data
Data fits the aims and hypothesis of the study directly

Time consuming
Expensive

Question 3

Advantages and disadvantages of secondary data

Answer 3

Simpler quicker and less expensive
May have already been subject to statistical testing and so it’s known weather it is significant

Might not exactly fit the needs of the study

Question 4

Define meta analysis

Answer 4

This is a form of review study which analyses the findings of a number of studies on the same topic.

It looks for overall trends and patterns by producing an effective size .

Question 5

Pros and cons of meta analysis

Answer 5

(+) increases reliability of conclusions as it uses a wider sample

(-) the research designs of the different studies used may very considerably meaning that they are not truly comparable which has an impact on internal validity.

Question 6

What are the measures of central tendency?

Answer 6

Mean
Mode
Median

Question 7

Pros and cons of using the mean

Answer 7

(+) the most sensitive measure as it takes all scores into account

(-) can be distorted by extreme scores and thus made unrepresentative of the data

Question 8

Pros and cons of using the median

Answer 8

(+) unaffected by extreme schools therefore this is more appropriate than the mean in a data set with extreme scores exist

(-) only consider the middle one or two scores therefore less sensitive than the mean.

Question 9

Pros and cons of the mode

Answer 9

(+) easy to calculate
(+) unaffected by extreme scores

(-) can be affected dramatically by the change in just one school making it less representative than the mean

Question 10

Define measures of dispersion

Answer 10

How varied the results are

Question 11

Define standard deviation

Answer 11

The average amount that each individual result varies from the mean. If this is high, it represents the fact that participants have scored differently and the mean doesn’t represent all values evenly. If this is low, it suggests participants have scored similarly close to the main value this therefore accurately represents the data.

Question 12

Advantages and disadvantages of the range

Answer 12

(+) very quick and easy to calculate

(-) seriously affected by extreme scores
(-) doesn’t provide information about central distribution as it only uses highest and lowest scores.

Question 13

Standard deviation pro and con

Answer 13

(+) most powerful measure of dispersion
(+) more sensitive than the range because it makes use of all scores

(-) more complicated to calculate
(-) can only be used on interval or ratio data

Question 14

Name the distributions

Answer 14

Normal
Skewed
Negative skew
Positive skew

Question 15

Why do we use graphs and charts?

Answer 15

Provide a visual representation of the data set which allows us to see patterns in an easy to understand way.

They should simplify or summarise what you have found

Question 16

Name the graphs and chart used

Answer 16

Bar chart
Histogram
Line graph
Scattergram

Question 17

What is an inferential statistic?

Answer 17

Statistical test that calculate the likelihood of your results occurring by chance. This allows you to accept or reject your hypothesis objectively rather than simply on the basis of descriptive statistics.

Tell you the probability of getting differences in scores found in your study if scores are in fact occurring on a random basis