Institute of Social and Economic

Research, Rhodes University

Data Analysis Training Workshop

24- 26 June 2024
Day 1
Virtual workshop

Presented by Dr Reesha Kara

 Objectives and possible outcomes of the
workshop
Objectives Possible outcomes
1. Broadly overview the various 1. Have a conceptual understanding
facets of quantitative research of quantitative research
methodology and data analysis methodology and data analysis
2. Provide introductory training to 2. Gain skills in basic Excel functions
Excel and data analysis in Excel and producing output
3. Explore statistical tests using 3. Conduct and interpret statistical
Excel to answer research tests in Excel to answer research
questions questions
 Structure of the day
Section A: Introduction to Quantitative Section B: Introduction to MS Excel
Research Methodology

1. Types of Research 1. File Formats

2. Types of Data 2. Importing Data in Excel
3. Attributes of Datasets
3. Basic Commands in Excel
4. Measurement Scales
4. Graphing Function in Excel
 Section A:
Introduction to Quantitative
Research Methodology
1. Types of Research
2. Types of Data
3. Attributes of Datasets
4. Measurement Scales
 1. Types of Research

Quantitative Qualitative

Focuses on testing theories and Focuses on exploring ideas and

When to use it?
hypothesis formulating a theory or hypothesis

Analysed through maths and Analysed by summarising, categorising

How is it analysed?
statistical analysis and interpreting

Mainly expressed in numbers, graphs

How is it expressed? Mainly expressed in words
and tables

Many respondents - the larger the

Sample size Required few respondents
sample size, the better
 1. Types of Research

Quantitative Qualitative

Questionnaires, close-ended, Interviews, interview guide, open-

How is it collected?
multiple choice questions ended questions

Descriptive statistics, hypothesis

Common analysis methods Thematic analysis
testing

Software packages Excel, Stata, R, SPSS NVIVO, ATLAS.ti, Quirkos

Testing, measurement, objectivity, Understanding, context,

Key terms
replicability complexity, subjectivity
 2. Types of Data
Primary Data Secondary Data

1. Data that is collected by the 1. Data that has already been

researcher/s collected
a. Statistics South Africa
2. Research design steps
b. Human Science Research Council
a. Identify research questions, aims of
the study c. South African National Biodiversity
Institute
b. Analysis methods, design a
questionnaire d. Medical Research Council
c. Identify sample and geographic area e. Department of Agriculture and
for data collection Fisheries
d. Ethical clearance f. Department of Labour
e. Collection of data g. Department of Basic Education
 3. Attributes of Datasets
Publicly available data Type of data Representation
Population census Cross-sectional data Nationally representative

Quarterly Labour Force Survey Time-series data Nationally representative

National Income Dynamics Study Panel data Nationally representative

KwaZulu-Natal Income Dynamics Study Panel data Provincially representative

eThekwini Large and Medium Manufacturing Cross-sectional Representative of a particular strata

Firm Survey, 2013-2014
 4. Measurement Scales
1. Nominal
a. Used for labelling values
b. No numerical significance or order to the labels
c. The scales are mutually exclusive
d. Examples:
• 1 – male 2 – female
• 1 - African, 2 – Coloured, 3 – Indian, 4 - White
• 1 – urban area, 2 – rural area
• 1 – Samsung, 2- HiSense, 3 – LG, 4 - Telefunkin
2. Ordinal
a. Values are ordered
b. Used to impose some kind of hierarchy or order
c. Examples: Likert scales, rating job satisfaction from a scale of 1-10, socioeconomic status
 4. Measurement Scales
3. Interval
a. Numerical in nature
b. The order and difference between the values are know.
c. Equal distance between values
d. Does not have a true zero, zero does not mean anything, can have negative values
e. Examples: temperature using Celsius or Fahrenheit, ph levels, credit score, Likert scales
4. Ratio
a. Numerical in nature
b. Order and exact value between each unit is known
c. Has a true zero, does not have negative values
d. Examples: height, weight, length
 4. Measurement Scales
1. Is the number used to label or identify variables? If yes then it is a nominal
scale

2. Are the numbers used to impose some kind of hierarchy or order? If yes then it
is an ordinal scale

3. Are the numbers separating each value equal? Yes

Interval scale
4. Does it make sense to have a zero? No
5. Does zero represent absence of a property? No

6. If yes to the above three questions and you can say that a value (eg: 20) is
twice as much as another value (eg: 40) then it is a ratio scale
Section B: Introduction to MS
Excel
1. File formats
2. Importing data in Excel
3. Basic commands in Excel

4. Graphing function in Excel

 1. File Formats
1. File formats that Excel will import/read
a. Text (.txt, tab delimited) – the data in each cell will be separated by a tab
b. CSV (.csv, comma delimited) – the data in each cell will be separated by a comma
c. Formatted text (.prn, space delimited) – the data in each cell will be separated by a
space
d. Excel workbook format (.xlxs)

2. The default file format when saving data in Excel is .xlxs however,
the workbook can be saved in any of the discussed formats,
including .pdf
3. .xlxs files easily imported into statistical software packages like Stata
and SPSS
 2. Importing Data into Excel
1. Click the File tab
2. Select Open
3. Search for the File Name
4. Select File
Import the ‘example1.xlsx’ file into Excel

Two Sheets:
1. Dataset 1
2. Dataset 2
 3. Basic Commands in Excel
1. Sum – adds values 7. Min and Max – provides the
2. Average – provides the mean min and max number in a
for a certain range of values range of values
3. Count – counts only numeric 8. Concatenate – combines
values values from multiple cells into
one cell
4. CountA – counts numeric,
strings, dates, time, text, etc 9. Decimal places – formats
values
5. IF – allows you to restrict data
10. Percentage = (𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡
𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣
) ∗ 100
6. Trim – removes spaces in cells 𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣

11. Proportion = (𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡

𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣
𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣
)
 Exercise - In class or homework
Using the first sheet (dataset 1) in the ‘example1.xlxs’ data work on the following examples:

1. Sum the test scores for each student across all tests
2. What is the average score of each test?
3. What is each students average score?
4. Which students scored higher in the test 1 compared to test 4?
5. Count the number of cells between D4:18
6. Count the number of cells between A15:F15
7. Count the number of cells in the entire dataset
8. What is the minimum score obtained in test 3?
9. What is the maximum score obtained in test 3?
10. Neaten up the dataset by removing unwanted spaces
11. Create a new variable which contains the names and surnames of students in one column
12. Create a new variable which rounds the average test score of each student to the nearest whole number
13. Reorder the new ‘names and surnames’ variable into alphabetic order
14. Reorder test 2 scores from lowest to highest
15. Reorder test 3 scores from highest to lowest
 4. Graph Function in Excel
1. Graphs are an effective tool to communicate your data or results
graphically/visually
2. Used to display data and allow for further exploration of the topic
3. Used when tables don’t adequately demonstrate important
relationships or patterns between data points
4. Different types of charts that are available in MS Excel however, the
most common include:
a. Column graph
b. Line graph
c. Pie chart
d. Histogram
A. Column Graph

Column charts use

vertical bars to
represent data.
They work with
different types of
data and is
commonly used to
compare
information
B. Line Graph

Line graphs are ideal

for showing trends
over time. The
datapoints are
connected with lines,
making it easy to see
whether values are
increasing of
decreasing over time.
C. Pie Chart

Pie charts are useful

when comparing
proportions. Each
value is shown as a
slice of the pie, so it
is easy to identify
which values make up
more of the pie.
D. Histogram

Histograms are
used to
graphically
summarize the
distribution of
data. It shows
how often each
value in the
dataset appears.
 Exercise – In class or homework
1. Plot a graph showing Lisa Reddy’s performance across all tests
2. Plot a graph showing the average score of each test
3. Plot a graph showing the average score across all tests for the first
10 students
4. Using the second sheet (dataset 2) in the ‘example1.xlxs’ data
calculate the following:
a. The percentage and proportion for each category of the gender, race and cell phone
types variables
b. Plot the frequencies of the race variable
c. Plot the proportions of the race gender variable
d. Plot the percentage of the cell phone types variable
End of day one, thank you!