Business

Research Method

Chapter 20:
Basic Data Analysis: Descriptive
Statistics

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Basic Business Research Methods
Organizations use research, especially in market research
activities. Market research is used to identify potential markets,
the needs and wants of each, how those needs and wants can be
met, how products and services could be packaged to be most
accessible to customers and clients, the best pricing for those
products and services, who the competitors are and how best to
complete against each, potential collaborators and how to
collaborate with each -- and many other applications of
research. Organizations can conduct this research without
having to have advanced skills. This topic aims to explain the
most important practices in research that provide the most
useful results.
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What are the limitations of descriptive statistics?
Descriptive statistics are limited in so much that they only allow you
to make summations about the people or objects that you have
actually measured. You cannot use the data you have collected to
generalize to other people or objects (i.e., using data from a sample to
infer the properties/parameters of a population). For example, if you
tested a drug to beat cancer and it worked in your patients, you cannot
claim that it would work in other cancer patients only relying on
descriptive statistics (but inferential statistics would give you this
opportunity).
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Steps in Data Preparation
Editing
Coding
Entering Data
Data Tabulation
Reviewing Tabulations
Statistically adjusting the data
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Editing
Treatment of Unsatisfactory Results:

Returning to the Field The questionnaires with unsatisfactory
responses may be returned to the field, where the interviewers
recontact the respondents.

Assigning Missing Values If returning the questionnaires to the
field is not feasible, the editor may assign missing values to
unsatisfactory responses.

Discarding Unsatisfactory Respondents In this approach, the
respondents with unsatisfactory responses are simply discarded.
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Coding Data and Data Code book
Data entry:
Data entry refers to the creation of a computer file that holds the raw data taken from
all of the questionnaires deemed suitable for analysis.


Data code book :
Data Coding:
Data Coding defined as the identification of codes that pertain to the possible
responses for each question on the questionnaire.

Data code book identifies all of the variable names and code
numbers associated with each possible response to each
question that makes up the data set.

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A codebook generally contains the following information:
column number
record number
variable number
variable name
question number
instructions for coding

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Data Reduction
Data Reduction is defined as the process of describing data
matrix by computing a small number of measures that
characterize the data set.

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Four Functions of Data Reduction
1.Summarization
2. Conceptualization
3. Communication
4. Interpolation

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Types of Statistical Analyses Used
in Research
Five basic types of statistical analyses
Descriptive analysis
Inferential analysis
Differences analysis
Associative analysis
Predictive analysis

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Types of Statistical Analyses
Used in Research
Five Types of Statistical Analysis:
1. Descriptive analysis: used to describe
the data set
2. Inferential analysis: used to generate
conclusions about the populations
characteristics based on the sample data

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Types of Statistical Analyses
Used in Research
3. Differences analysis: used to compare
the mean of the responses of one group
to that of another group
4. Associative analysis: determines the
strength and direction of relationships
between two or more variables

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Types of Statistical Analyses
Used in Research
5. Predictive analysis: allows one to make
forecasts for future events

Tabulation
Tabulation - Orderly arrangement of data in
a table or other summary format
Frequency table
Percentages
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Frequency Table
The arrangement of statistical data in a row-
and-column format that exhibits the count
of responses or observations for each
category assigned to a variable
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Descriptive Analysis
Two sets of descriptive measures:
Measures of central tendency: used to
report a single piece of information that
describes the most typical response to a
question
Measures of variability: used to reveal the
typical difference between the values in a
set of values
Measure of
Central Measure of
Type of Scale Tendency Dispersion

Nominal Mode None
Ordinal Median Percentile
Interval or ratio Mean Standard
deviation
Central Tendency
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Measures of Central Tendency
Use to report a single piece of information
that describes the most typical response to a
question

The term central tendency applies to any
statistical measure used that somehow
reflects a typical or frequently response

3 measures of central tendency are
commonly used mode, median & mean
Descriptive Analysis
Measures of Central Tendency:
Mode: the value in a string of numbers that
occurs most often
Median: the value whose occurrence lies in
the middle of a set of ordered values
Mean: sometimes referred to as the
arithmetic mean; the average value
characterizing a set of numbers

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Descriptive Analysis
Measures of Variability:
Frequency distribution: reveals the number (percent) of
occurrences of each number or set of numbers
Range: identifies the maximum and minimum values in a
set of numbers
Standard deviation: indicates the degree of variation in
a way that can be translated into a bell-shaped curve
distribution
Cross-Tabulation

A technique for organizing data by groups,
categories, or classes, thus facilitating
comparisons; a joint frequency distribution
of observations on two or more sets of
variables
Contingency table- The results of a cross-
tabulation of two variables, such as survey
questions
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Cross-Tabulation
Analyze data by groups or categories
Compare differences
Contingency table
Percentage cross-tabulations
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Base

The number of respondents or observations
(in a row or column) used as a basis for
computing percentages
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Elaboration and Refinement
Moderator variable
A third variable that, when introduced into an
analysis, alters or has a contingent effect on the
relationship between an independent variable
and a dependent variable.
Spurious relationship
An apparent relationship between two variables that
is not authentic.
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Two
rating
scales
4 quadrants
two-dimensional
table
Importance-
Performance
Analysis)
Quadrant Analysis
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Data Transformation
Data conversion
Changing the original form of the data to a
new format
More appropriate data analysis
New variables
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Interpretation
The process of making pertinent inferences
and drawing conclusions
concerning the meaning and implications of
a research investigation
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