Data Handling And Analysis

Question 1

what is primary data?

Answer 1

• information collected directly from first-hand experience
• specifically relates to purpose of the study
• collected from interviews, observations, questionnaires etc

Question 2

what would collecting primary data involve?

Answer 2

• designing a study
• gaining ethical approval
• piloting the study
• recruiting and testing participants
• analysing data and drawing conclusions

Question 3

what is a strength of primary data?

Answer 3

data collection is designed so it fits purpose of study

Question 4

what is a limitation of primary data?

Answer 4

time-consuming and expensive

Question 5

what are the 2 types of primary and secondary data?

Answer 5

quantitative and qualitative data

Question 6

what is secondary data?

Answer 6

data was collected for a purpose other than the current study

Question 7

what can secondary data include?

Answer 7

• conducting met-analysis on data
• review studies use secondary data

Question 8

what are the strengths of secondary data?

Answer 8

• simper and cheaper, less time consuming
• data may already have been subjected to statistical testing (known if its significant)

Question 9

what is a limitation of secondary data?

Answer 9

data may not exactly meet needs of the study

Question 10

what is quantitative data?

Answer 10

numerical data

Question 11

what is qualitative data?

Answer 11

non-numerical data
(open questions, interviews etc.)

Question 12

what are descriptive statistics?

Answer 12

• they summarise quantitative data
• involves measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, graphs and charts

Question 13

what is the nominal level of measurement?

Answer 13

data can be placed or counted into different categories

Question 14

what is the ordinal level of measurement?

Answer 14

• data is ranked in order or rated on a scale
• when using scale, points may be labelled
• is subjective and each point on ordinal scale are not same value

Question 15

what is the interval level of measurement?

Answer 15

• interval scale orders measurements
• intervals are equal - based on standard unit of measurement

Question 16

what is the ratio level of measurement?

Answer 16

like interval data but has a genuine zero point

Question 17

what are the measures of central tendency?

Answer 17

mean, median, mode

Question 18

what is the mean, median and mode?

Answer 18

mean - arithmetic average
median - middle value when numbers are in order
mode - most common value

Question 19

what are the advantages of using the mode?

Answer 19

• represents figure that occurs in data
• useful when other measures of central tendency are meaningless
• unaffected by 1 or 2 extreme scores

Question 20

what are the disadvantages of using the mode?

Answer 20

• doesn’t tell us anything about other values
• not always a single mode
• small changes in data can radically alter mode

Question 21

what are the advantages of using the median?

Answer 21

• relatively unaffected by extreme values
• can be used on data with skewed distributions

Question 22

what are the disadvantages of using the median?

Answer 22

• doesn’t work well in small data sets
• ignores most scores
• affected by alteration of central values

Question 23

what are the advantages of using the mean?

Answer 23

most powerful measure of central tendency

Question 24

what are the disadvantages of using the mean?

Answer 24

• can’t be used on skewed data that has anomalies
• can give misleading average
• inappropriate to use on ordinal & nominal data

Question 25

what are the characteristics of a normal distribution curve?

Answer 25

- symmetrical, bell-shaped - mean, median, mode at same point - dispersion of scores either side of midpoint

Question 26

what is a negative skew?

Answer 26

- the highest point is to the right of the center - mean has lower value than mode & median - affected by lots of HIGH scores

Question 27

what is a positive skew?

Answer 27

- highest scores are to the left of the center - mean has higher value than mode & median - affected by lots of LOW scores

Question 28

in a negative skew, where are the mean, median and mode?

Answer 28

mean (left) - lower end median (middle) mode (right) - higher end

Question 29

in a positive skew, where are the mean, median and mode?

Answer 29

mean (right) - lower end median (middle) mode (left) - higher end

Question 30

what are investigator effects?

Answer 30

occur when a researcher unintentionally, or unconsciously influences the outcome of any research they are conducting

Question 31

what are pilot studies?

Answer 31

small, trial versions of proposed studies to test their effectiveness and make improvements

Question 32

what are the measures of dispersion?

Answer 32

range standard deviation

Question 33

what is the range?

Answer 33

difference between highest and lowest value of data set

Question 34

what is an advantage of the range?

Answer 34

easy to calculate

Question 35

what are the disadvantages of the range?

Answer 35

- only considers extreme values - very sensitive to outliers - doesnt tell us anything about middle scores/distribution

Question 36

what is a standard deviation?

Answer 36

measures average distance of each score away from the mean

Question 37

what is an advantage of standard deviation?

Answer 37

- most powerful measure of dispersion - uses all scores in set of data in calculation

Question 38

what is a disadvantage of standard deviation?

Answer 38

less effective when there are outlying scores that skew data

Question 39

what are desriptive statistics?

Answer 39

used to describe the data and show a summary of the results