Ch.

12
Analysis and Interpretation of
Data
Novpreti Maharani
Rahadian R. Purnama

Topics Discussed
GETTING DATA READY FOR ANALYSIS
Editing Data
Handling Blank Responses
Coding
Categorizing
Entering Data
DATA ANALYSIS
Basic Objectives in Data Analysis
Feel for the Data
Testing Goodness of Data
Hypothesis Testing

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Use of Several Data-Analytic Techniques
Descriptive Statistics
Inferential Statistics

Flow Diagram of Data Analysis Process

pg. 301/ pg.

169

Getting Data Ready For

Analysis
After
data
are
obtained
through
questionnaires, interviews, observation, or
through secondary sources, they need to be
edited.
The blank responses, if any, have to be
handled in some way, the data coded, and a
categorization scheme has to be set up.
The data will then have to be keyed in, and
some software program used to analyze
them. Each of these stages of data
preparation is discussed below.

Getting Data Ready For Analysis

Editing Data
Data have to be edited, especially
when they relate to responses to openended questions of interviews and
questionnaires,
or
unstructured
observations.
In
other
words,
information that may have been noted
down by the interviewer, observer, or
researcher in a hurry must be clearly
deciphered so that it may be coded
sys- tematically in its entirety. Lack of
clarity at this stage will result later in
confusion.

Getting Data Ready For Analysis

Handling Blank Responses
If a substantial number of ques- tionssay, 25% of the items
in the questionnairehave been left unanswered, it may be a
good idea to throw out the questionnaire and not include it in
the data set for analysis. In this event, it is important to
mention the number of Returned but unused responses due
to excessive missing data in the final report submitted to the
sponsor of the study. If, however, only two or three items are
left blank in a questionnaire with, say, 30 or more items, we
need to decide how these blank responses are to be handled.
a way to handle a blank response :
1.
assign the midpoint in the scale as the response
2.
allow the computer to ignore the blank responses when
the analyses are done.
3.
give the item the mean of the responses of this
particular respondent to all other questions measuring
this variable.
4.
give the missing response a random number within the
range for that scale.

Getting Data Ready For Analysis

Coding
Coding the Serakan Co. Data
(Case)
In the Serakan Co. questionnaire, we
have 5 demographic variables and 16
items measuring involvement and
satisfaction as shown in Table 12.1.

Getting Data Ready For Analysis

Coding

Getting Data Ready For Analysis

Coding

The responses to the demographic variables can be

coded from 1 to 5 for age, and 1 to 6 for the variables of
education and job level, depending on which box in the
columns was checked by the respondent. Sex can be
coded as 1 or 2 depending on whether the response
was from a male or a female. Work shift can be coded 1
to 3, and employment status as either 1 or 2.
It is easy to see that when some thought is given to
coding at the time of designing the questionnaire,
coding can become simple. For example, since numbers
were given within the boxes for all the above items
(instead of simply putting a box for marking the
appropriate one), it would be easy to transfer them to
the code sheet, or directly key in the data.
Items numbered 6 to 21 on the questionnaire can be
coded by using the actual number circled by the
respondents. If, for instance, 3 had been circled for the
first question, then the response will be coded as 3; if 4
was circled, we would code it as 4, and so on.

Getting Data Ready For Analysis

Categorization
Note that with respect to negatively worded
questions, a response of 7 on a 7-point scale,
with 7 denoting strongly agree, really
means strongly disagree, which actually is a
1 on the 7-point scale. Thus the item has to be
reversed so as to be in the same direction as
the positively worded questions. This can be
done on the computer through a Transform
and RECODE statement.
In the Serakan Co. data, items 16 to 21 will
have to be recoded such that scores of 7 are
read as 1; 6 as 2; 5 as 3; 3 as 5; 2 as 6; and 1
as 7.

Getting Data Ready For Analysis

Entering Data

If questionnaire data are not collected on scanner

answer sheets, which can be directly entered into the
computer as a data file, the raw data will have to be
manually keyed into the computer. Raw data can be
entered through any soft- ware program. For
instance, the SPSS Data Editor, which looks like a
spread- sheet, can enter, edit, and view the contents
of the data file. Each row of the editor represents a
case, and each column represents a variable. All
missing val- ues will appear with a period (dot) in the
cell. It is possible to add, change, or delete values
easily after the data have been entered.
It is also easy to compute the new variables that
have been categorized earlier, using the Compute
dialog box, which opens when the Transform icon is
chosen. Once the missing values, the recodes, and
the computing of new vari- ables are taken care of,
the data are ready for analysis.