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G R O U P 4 / 1 0 - N E W T O N

CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS
AND
NTERPRETATION

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 G R O U P 4 / 1 0 - N E W T O N 2

CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION
Data Analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing,
transforming, and modeling data with the goal of
discovering useful information, informing conclusions,
and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has
multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse
techniques under a variety of names, while being used
in different business, science, and social science
domains.
Data Interpretation refers to the implementation of
processes through which data is reviewed for the
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purpose of arriving at an informed conclusion. The
interpretation of data assigns a meaning to the
information analyzed and determines its signification
 C H A P T E R 4
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DATA ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION
Analytics
is the discovery, interpretation, and communication of
meaningful patterns in data.
Computational Physics
is the study and implementation of numerical analysis to
solve problems in physics for which a quantitative theory
already exists.

Business Intelligence
Business intelligence comprises the strategies and
technologies used by enterprises for the data analysis of
business information.
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C H A P T E R 4

DATA ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION
.

NOMINAL ORDINAL I N T E RVA L RAT I O

SCALE SCALE
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D A T A A N A LY S I S
A N D I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

NOMINAL SCALE

ORDINAL I N T E RVA L RAT I O

Non-numeric categories SCALE
that cannot be ranked or
compared quantitatively.
Variables are exclusive
and exhaustive.
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C H A P T E R 4

DATA ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION
.

NOMINAL ORDINAL I N T E RVA L RAT I O

SCALE SCALE
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D A T A A N A LY S I S
A N D I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

ORDINAL SCALE
.

NOMINAL I N T E RVA L RAT I O

S C A L E Exclusive categories that are exclusive and
exhaustive but with a logical order. Quality
ratings and agreement ratings are
examples of ordinal scales (i.e., good, very
good, fair, etc., OR agree, strongly agree,
disagree, etc.).
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C H A P T E R 4

DATA ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION
.

NOMINAL ORDINAL I N T E RVA L RAT I O

SCALE SCALE
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D A T A A N A LY S I S
A N D I N T E R P R E TAT I O N

INTERVAL
.

NOMINAL ORDINAL RAT I O

SCALE SCALE A measurement scale where
data is grouped into categories
with orderly and equal
distances between the
categories. There is always an
arbitrary zero point.
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C H A P T E R 4

DATA ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION
.

NOMINAL ORDINAL I N T E RVA L RAT I O

SCALE SCALE
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D A T A A N A LY S I S
A N D I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

RATIO

NOMINAL ORDINAL I N T E RVA L

SCALE SCALE Contains features of all
three.
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D A T A A N A LY S I S
A N D I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

CL ASSIFICATION OF DATA

Q U A L I TAT I V E

Q U A N T I TAT I V E

GEOGRAPHICAL

CHRONOLOGICAL
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D A T A A N A LY S I S
A N D I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

CL ASSIFICATION OF DATA

Q U A L I TAT I V E Q- Grouped
U A N Taccording
I TAT I VtoE
- Same quality or
group quantity

G E O G RA P H I C A L C H R O N O LO G I C A L
-Data is classified
-Data is classified
according to the
according to
order of their
location
occurrence
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QUALITATIVE DATA
INTERPRETATION
Observations
Detailing behavioral patterns that occur within an observation group. These
patterns could be the amount of time spent in an activity, the type of activity and
the method of communication employed.
Documents
Much like how patterns of behavior can be observed,
different types of documentation resources can be coded
and divided based on the type of material they contain.

Interviews
One of the best collection methods for narrative data.
Enquiry responses can be grouped by theme, topic or
category. The interview approach allows for highly-focused
data segmentation.
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QUANTITATIVE DATA
INTERPRETATION
Mean
A mean represents a numerical average for a set of responses. When dealing with a data set (or
multiple data sets), a mean will represent a central value of a specific set of numbers. It is the sum of
the values divided by the number of values within the data set. Other terms that can be used to
describe the concept are arithmetic mean, average and mathematical expectation

Standard Deviation
This is another statistical term commonly appearing in quantitative analysis. Standard deviation reveals
the distribution of the responses around the mean. It describes the degree of consistency within the
responses; together with the mean, it provides insight into data sets

Fr e q u e n c y D i s t r i b u t i o n
This is a measurement gauging the rate of a response appearance within a data set. When using a survey,
for example, frequency distribution has the capability of determining the number of times a specific
ordinal scale response appears (i.e., agree, strongly agree, disagree, etc.). Frequency distribution is
extremely keen in determining the degree of consensus among data points