Quantitative Data

Analysis 101
Grad coach
Quantitive analysis
is easy, not difficult.
What is quantitative
data analysis?
Quantitative data analysis simply means
analysing data that is numbers-based – or
data that can be easily “converted” into
numbers without losing any meaning.
 What is quantitative
analysis used for?
1. To measure differences between groups.
2. To assess relationships between variables. For
example, the relationship between weather
temperature and ice cream sales.
3. To test hypotheses in a scientifically rigorous way.
For example,
students who eat breakfast will perform better on a math
exam than students who do not eat breakfast or
drinking sugary drinks daily leads to being overweight.
The two “branches” of
quantitative
analysis
To understand the difference
between these two branches of
statistics, you need to understand
two important words. These words
are population (N) and sample (n).
 First up, population. In statistics,
the population is the entire
group of people (or animals or

Population organisations or whatever) that

you’re interested in researching.

For example, if you were

interested in researching Proton
owners in Malaysia, then the
population would be ALL Proton
owners in Malaysia.
 Sample
However, it’s extremely unlikely that you’re going
to be able to interview or survey every single
Proton owner in Malaysia. Realistically, you’ll
likely only get access to a few hundred, or maybe
a few thousand owners using an online survey.
This smaller group of accessible people whose
data you actually collect is called your sample.
So, why is this sample-
population thing important?
Well, descriptive statistics focus on describing
the sample, while inferential statistics aim to
make predictions about the population, based
on the findings within the sample.
Branch 1:
Descriptive
Statistics

Describe your data set.

In other words, they help you understand
the details of your sample. Descriptive
statistics are purely interested in the details
of your specific sample.
 Mean – this is simply the mathematical average of a
range of numbers.
Median – this is the midpoint in a range of numbers
when the numbers are arranged in numerical order. If
the data set makes up an odd number, then the median
is the number right in the middle of the set. If the data
set makes up an even number, then the median is the
midpoint between the two middle numbers.
Mode – this is simply the most commonly occurring number in the data set.
Standard deviation – this metric indicates how dispersed a range of
numbers is. In other words, how close all the numbers are to the mean
(the average).
In cases where most of the numbers are quite close to the average, the standard deviation will be
relatively low.
Conversely, in cases where the numbers are scattered all over the place, the standard deviation
will be relatively high.
 Skewness indicates how

Skewness
symmetrical a range of numbers
is. In other words, do they tend to
cluster into a smooth bell curve
shape in the middle of the graph,
or do they skew to the left or
right?
Skewness
Branch 2:
Inferential Statistics

To make predictions.
Inferential statistics aim to make inferences
about the population. In other words, you’ll
use inferential statistics to make
predictions about what you’d expect to find
in the full population.
Two common types of
predictions 02
01
relationships between
predictions about variables – for
differences between example, the
groups – for example, relationship between
height differences body weight and the
between children number of hours a
grouped by their week a person does
favourite meal or gender. yoga.
hypothesis testing

inferential statistics are used for

hypothesis testing – in other
words, to test hypotheses that
predict changes or differences.
 T-Tests
T-tests compare the means (the
averages) of TWO groups of data to
assess whether they’re statistically
significantly different.
ANOVA
“analysis of variance”. This test is
similar to a T-test in that it
compares the means of various
groups, but ANOVA allows you to
analyse multiple groups
the average birth weight for male babies
is 3,410 grams and wish to compare the
average birth weight of a sample of
female babies to this value.
Do four types of steel have the same
structural strength?
correlation analysis
This type of analysis assesses the
relationship between two variables. In
other words, if one variable increases,
does the other variable also increase,
decrease or stay the same.
regression analysis
Quite similar to correlation in that it assesses
the relationship between variables, but it
goes a step further to understand cause and
effect between variables, not just whether
they move together.
 How to choose
the right analysis
method
To choose the right statistical
methods, you need to think
about two important factors:
The type of quantitative data you have
(specifically, level of measurement and the
shape of the data). And,
Your research questions and hypotheses
Factor 1 – Data type
The first thing you need to consider is the type of
data you’ve collected (or the type of data you will
collect). By data types, I’m referring to the four
levels of measurement – namely, nominal, ordinal,
interval and ratio.
2 types of data

1. Categorical data
Data that reflects qualitative
characteristics:
Gender
Favourite food
Favourite color
2 types of data

2. Numerical data
Data that ar e numbers-based

Age
Height
Weight
1. Categorical data
Norminal (demographics, basic data)
-Characteristics or group
-No inherent order or rank
- Example: gender, ethnicity; favourite meal
Ordinal
-Has order and rank, natural order
-Each option has value
-Example: income levels, levels of satisfaction, levels of
agreement.
 2. Numerical data
Interval
-Have order; space between points is equal
-Can measure between points.
-No meaningful zero point
Example: Temperature, income ranges

Ratio (sophisticated level data)

-the zero point reflects a meaningful zero.
Example: weight, height, length
0 celsius refers to zero heat/zero seconds
 Another important factor to
consider is the SHAPE of your
data.
Specifically, does it have a normal distribution (is it
a bell-shaped curve, centred in the middle) or is it
very skewed to the left or the right? Again, different
statistical techniques work for different shapes of
data – some are designed for symmetrical data while
others are designed for skewed data.
SPOTTING NON-NORMAL DATA
Just looking at a simple histogram (“eye-balling” it)
will usually reveal whether or not a given variable is
normally distributed (follows a bell curve), is skewed
(has a left or right tail), or otherwise deviates from a
bell shape (eg, is flat).
 Factor 2: Your research
questions
The next thing you need to consider is your specific
research questions, as well as your hypotheses (if
you have some). The nature of your research
questions and research hypotheses will heavily
influence which statistical methods and techniques
you should use.
Use... Use both
Descriptive
descriptive
statistics +inferential
If you’re just interested in
if you aim to
understanding the
understand
attributes of your
differences between
sample.For example, if
groups or
you just want to assess
relationships between
the means (averages)
variables and to infer
and medians (centre
or predict outcomes in
points) of variables in a
the population
group of people.