QuarterInquiries,

Investigation, and
Immersion
2 Module 1-Lesson 1
Finding the Answers to
the Research
Vocabulary List

The following terms will be encountered in the lesson:

Data - factual information [as measurements or statistics]

used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation.

Data Analysis - a process of understanding data or known

facts or assumptions serving as the basis of any claims or
conclusions you have about something.
Bias - defined as any tendency which prevents unprejudiced
consideration. In research, bias occurs when “systematic error
[is] introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or
encouraging one outcome or answer over others”

Plagiarism - is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your

own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your
work without full acknowledgement. All published and
unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or
electronic form, is covered under this definition.

Intellectual honesty - is honesty in the acquisition, analysis, and

transmission of ideas. A person is being intellectually honest
when he or she, knowing the truth, states that truth.
 Data Analysis Methods

In reporting the results, the researcher stays close to the

statistical findings without drawing broader implications or
meaning from them. Further, this section includes summaries of
the data rather than the raw data (e.g., the actual scores for
individuals). A results section includes tables, figures, and detailed
explanations about the statistical results.

Before writing this section:

Rewrite the Chapters 1-3 before or after data analysis and
before writing Chapter 4.
Rewrite the chapters in past tense, wherever applicable, and
make corrections for actual data collection and data analysis
procedures.
 What is the first thing that comes to mind when we see data?
The first instinct is to find patterns, connections, and relationships.
We look at the data to find meaning in it.

Similarly, in research, once data is collected, the next step is to

get insights from it. For example, if a clothing brand is trying to
identify the latest trends among young women, the brand will first
reach out to young women and ask them questions relevant to the
research objective. After collecting this information, the brand will
analyze that data to identify patterns — for example, it may
discover that most young women would like to see more variety of
jeans.

Data analysis is how researchers go from a mass of data to

meaningful insights. There are many different data analysis
methods, depending on the type of research. Here are a few
methods you can use to analyze quantitative and qualitative data.

Analyzing Qualitative Data

Qualitative data analysis works a little differently from
quantitative data, primarily because qualitative data is made up of
words, observations, images, and even symbols. Deriving
absolute meaning from such data is nearly impossible; hence, it is
mostly used for exploratory research. While in quantitative
research there is a clear distinction between the data preparation
and data analysis stage, analysis for qualitative research often
begins as soon as the data is available.
Data Preparation and Basic Data Analysis

Analysis and preparation happen in parallel and include the

following steps:
1. Getting familiar with the data: Since most qualitative data is
just words, the researcher should start by reading the data
several times to get familiar with it and start looking for basic
observations or patterns. This also includes transcribing the
data.

2.Revisiting research objectives: Here, the researcher revisits

the research objective and identifies the questions that can be
answered through the collected data.
3. Developing a framework: Also
known as coding or indexing, here the
researcher identifies broad ideas,
concepts, behaviors, or phrases and
assigns codes to them. For example,
coding age, gender, socioeconomic
status, and even concepts such as the
positive or negative response to a
question. Coding is helpful in structuring
and labeling the data.
4.Identifying patterns and connections: Once the data is coded, the
research can start identifying themes, looking for the most common
responses to questions, identifying data or patterns that can answer
research questions, and finding areas that can be explored further.
Qualitative Data Analysis Methods
Several methods are available to analyze qualitative data. The most
commonly used data analysis methods are:
 Content analysis: This is one of the most common methods to
analyze qualitative data. It is used to analyze documented
information in the form of texts, media, or even physical items.
When to use this method depends on the research questions.
Content analysis is usually used to analyze responses from
interviewees.

 Narrativeanalysis: This method is used to analyze content from

various sources, such as interviews of respondents, observations
from the field, or surveys. It focuses on using the stories and
experiences shared by people to answer the research questions.
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 Framework analysis. This is more advanced method that consists of
severalstages such as familiarization, identifying a thematic framework,
coding, charting, mapping and interpretation.

 Discourseanalysis: Like narrative analysis, discourse analysis is used

to analyze interactions with people. However, it focuses on analyzing
the social context in which the communication between the researcher
and the respondent occurred. Discourse analysis also looks at the
respondent’s day-to- day environment and uses that information during
analysis.
 Grounded theory: This refers to using qualitative data to explain why a
certain phenomenon happened. It does this by studying a variety of
similar cases in different settings and using the data to derive causal
explanations. Researchers may alter the explanations or create new
ones as they study more cases until they arrive at an explanation that
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fits all cases.

 These methods are the ones used most commonly. However, other
data analysis methods, such as conversational analysis, are also
available.

Qualitative data analysis can also be conducted through the

following three steps:

Step 1: Developing and Applying Codes. Coding can be

explained as categorization of data. A ‘code’ can be a word or a
short phrase that represents a theme or an idea. All codes need to
be assigned meaningful titles. A wide range of non-quantifiable
elements such as events, behaviors, activities, meanings etc. can
be coded.
There are three types of coding:

1.Open coding. The initial organization of raw data to try to make

sense of it.
2.Axial coding. Interconnecting and linking the categories of
codes.
3.Selective coding. Formulating the story through connecting the
categories.
Coding can be done manually or using qualitative data analysis
software such as NVivo, Atlas ti 6.0, Hyper RESEARCH 2.8, Max
QDA and others.

When using manual coding you can use folders, filing cabinets,
wallets etc. to gather together materials that are examples of
4

similar themes or analytic ideas. Manual method of coding in

qualitative data analysis is rightly considered as labor- intensive,
time-consuming and outdated.
In computer-based coding, on the other hand, physical files and
cabinets are replaced with computer based directories and files.
When choosing software for qualitative data analysis you need to
consider a wide range of factors such as the type and amount of
data you need to analyze, time required to master the software and
cost considerations.
Moreover, it is important to get confirmation from your dissertation
supervisor prior to application of any specific qualitative data
analysis software.
The following table contains examples of research titles, elements
to be coded and identification of relevant codes:
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Qualitative data coding

Step 2: Identifying themes, patterns and relationships. Unlike

quantitative methods, in qualitative data analysis there are no
universally applicable techniques that can be applied to generate
findings. Analytical and critical thinking skills of researcher plays
significant role in data analysis in qualitative studies. Therefore, no
qualitative study can be repeated to generate the same results.

Nevertheless, there is a set of techniques that you can use to

identify common themes, patterns and relationships within
responses of sample group members in relation to codes that have
been specified in the previous stage.
 Specifically, the most popular and effective methods of qualitative
data interpretation include the following:

 Word and phrase repetitions – scanning primary data for words

and phrases most commonly used by respondents, as well as,
words and phrases used with unusual emotions;
 Primary and secondary data comparisons – comparing the
findings of interview/focus group/observation/any other qualitative
data collection method with the findings of literature review and
discussing differences between them;
 Search for missing information – discussions about which
aspects of the issue was not mentioned by respondents, although
you expected them to be mentioned;
 Metaphors and analogues – comparing primary research findings
to phenomena from a different area and discussing similarities and
differences.

Step 3: Summarizing the data. At this last stage you need to link
research findings to hypotheses or research aim and objectives.
When writing data analysis chapter, you can use noteworthy
quotations from the transcript in order to highlight major themes
within findings and possible contradictions.

It is important to note that the process of qualitative data analysis

described above is general and different types of qualitative studies
may require slightly different methods of data analysis.
Analyzing Quantitative Data
Data Preparation
The first stage of analyzing data is data preparation, where the aim is
to convert raw data into something meaningful and readable. It includes
four steps:

Step 1: Data Validation

The purpose of data validation is to find out, as far as possible,
whether the data collection was done as per the pre-set standards and
without any bias. It is a four- step process, which includes…
 Fraud, to infer whether each
respondent was actually interviewed or
not.

 Screening, to make sure that

respondents were chosen as per the
research criteria.

 Procedure, to check whether the data

collection procedure was duly followed.
 Completeness, to ensure that the
interviewer asked the respondent all the
questions, rather than just a few required
ones.
 To do this, researchers would need to pick a random sample of
completed surveys and validate the collected data. (Note that this
can be time-consuming for surveys with lots of responses.) For
example, imagine a survey with 200 respondents split into 2 cities.
The researcher can pick a sample of 20 random respondents from
each city. After this, the researcher can reach out to them through
email or phone and check their responses to a certain set of
questions.

Step 2: Data Editing

Typically, large data sets include errors. For example, respondents

may fill fields incorrectly or skip them accidentally. To make sure
that there are no such errors, the researcher should conduct basic
data
checks, check for outliers, and edit the raw research data to identify
and clear out any data points that may hamper the accuracy of the
results.

For example, an error could be fields that were left empty by

respondents. While editing the data, it is important to make sure to
remove or fill all the empty fields.

Step 3: Data Coding

This is one of the most important steps in data preparation. It

refers to grouping and assigning values to responses from the
survey.

For example, if a researcher has interviewed 1,000 people and

researcher will create age buckets and categorize the age of each
of the respondent as per these codes. (For example, respondents
between 13-15 years old would have their age coded as 0, 16-18 as
1, 18-20 as 2, etc.)

Then during analysis, the researcher can deal with simplified age
brackets, rather than a massive range of individual ages.

Quantitative Data Analysis Methods

After these steps, the data is ready for analysis. The two most
commonly used quantitative data analysis methods are descriptive
statistics and inferential statistics.

Descriptive Statistics
Typically descriptive statistics (also known as descriptive analysis)
is the first level of analysis. It helps researchers summarize the data
and find patterns. A few commonly used descriptive statistics are:

 Mean: numerical average of a set of values.

 Median: midpoint of a set of numerical values.
 Mode: most common value among a set of values.
 Percentage: used to express how a value or group of respondents
within the data relates to a larger group of respondents.
 Frequency: the number of times a value is found.
 Range: the highest and lowest value in a set of values.

Descriptive statistics provide absolute numbers. However, they do

not explain the rationale or reasoning behind those numbers. Before
applying descriptive statistics, it’s important to think about which
one is best suited for your research question and what you want to
show. For example, a percentage is a good way to show the gender
distribution of respondents.
Descriptive statistics are
most helpful when the
research is limited to the
sample and does not need to
be generalized to a larger
population. For example, if
you are comparing the
percentage of children
vaccinated in two different
villages, then descriptive
statistics is enough.
Since descriptive analysis is mostly used for analyzing single
variable, it is often called univariate analysis.
Intellectual Honesty in Research
Intellectual Honesty is an applied method of problem solving,
characterized by an unbiased, honest attitude, which can be
demonstrated in a number of different ways including:

Ensuring support for chosen ideologies does not interfere

with the pursuit of truth;
Relevant facts and information are not purposefully omitted
even when such things may contradict one's hypothesis;
 Facts are presented in an unbiased manner, and not twisted to
give misleading impressions or to support one view over
another;
 References, or earlier work, are acknowledged where
possible, and plagiarism is avoided.

Ten Signs of Intellectual Honesty

1.Do not overstate the power of your argument. One’s sense of
conviction should be in proportion to the level of clear evidence
assessable by most. If someone portrays their opponents as
being stupid or dishonest for disagreeing, intellectual dishonesty
is probably in play. Intellectual honesty is most often associated
with humility, not arrogance.
2. Show willingness to publicly acknowledge that reasonable
alternative viewpoints exist. The alternative views do not have
to be treated as equally valid or powerful, but rarely is it the case
that one and only one viewpoint has a complete monopoly on
reason and evidence.

3. Be willing to publicly acknowledge and question one’s own

assumptions and biases. All of us rely on assumptions when
applying our world view to make sense of the data about the
world. And all of us bring various biases to the table.

4. Be willing to publicly acknowledge where your argument is

weak. Almost all arguments have weak spots, but those who are
trying to sell an ideology will have great difficulty with this point
and would rather obscure or downplay any weak points.
5. Be willing to publicly acknowledge when you are wrong.
Those selling an ideology likewise have great difficulty admitting
to being wrong, as this undercuts the rhetoric and image that is
being sold. You get small points for admitting to being wrong on
trivial matters and big points for admitting to being wrong on
substantive points. You lose big points for failing to admit being
wrong on something trivial.

6. Demonstrate consistency. A clear sign of intellectual

dishonesty is when someone extensively relies on double
standards. Typically, an excessively high standard is applied to
the perceived opponent(s), while a very low standard is applied to
the ideologues’ allies.
7. Address the argument instead of attacking the person
making the argument. Ad hominem arguments are a clear sign
of intellectual dishonesty. However, often times, the dishonesty is
more subtle. For example, someone might make a token effort at
debunking an argument and then turn significant attention to the
person making the argument, relying on stereotypes, guilt-by-
association, and innocent- sounding gotcha questions.

8.When addressing an argument, do not misrepresent it. A

common tactic of the intellectually dishonest is to portray their
opponent’s argument in straw man terms. In politics, this is called
spin. Typically, such tactics eschew quoting the person in
context, but instead rely heavily on out-of-context quotes,
paraphrasing and impression. When addressing an argument,
one should shows signs of having made a serious effort to first
understand the argument and then accurately represent it in its
strongest form.

9.Show a commitment to critical thinking.

10.Be willing to publicly acknowledge when a point or

criticism is good. If someone is unable or unwilling to admit
when their opponent raises a good point or makes a good
criticism, it demonstrates an unwillingness to participate in the
give-and-take that characterizes an honest exchange.

While no one is perfect, and even those who strive for

intellectual honesty can have a bad day, simply be on the lookout
for how many and how often these criteria apply to someone. In
the arena of public discourse, it is not intelligence or knowledge
that matters most – it is whether you can trust the intelligence or
knowledge of another. After all, intelligence and knowledge can
sometimes be the best tools of an intellectually dishonest
approach.
Cooling Down

A.Identification
Instruction: Provide the correct answer of each item and write it
in your notebook or separate sheet of paper.
1. It is applied method of problem solving, characterized by
an unbiased, honest attitude.
2. This is how researchers go from a mass of data to
meaningful insights
3. Interconnecting and linking the categories of codes.
4. It is also known as descriptive analysis—the first level of
analysis
5. Can be a word or a short phrase that represents a theme
or an idea 12
Cooling Down

B.Enumeration
Instruction: Enumerate the items asked and write your answers in
a separate sheet of paper.

6-10 What are the methods to analyze qualitative data?

11-12 What are two most commonly used quantitative data
analysis methods.
13-18 Enumerate the few commonly used descriptive statistics.
19-20 Give 2 importance of intellectual honesty in research.
Points to Ponder

Data analysis is perhaps the most important component of

research. Weak analysis produces inaccurate results that
not only hamper the authenticity of the research but also
make the findings unusable. It’s imperative to choose your
data analysis methods carefully to ensure that your findings
are insightful and actionable.

Exercise moral virtue, find the facts, increase respect, seek

insights, and search for common ground whenever you
share ideas with others. Because false beliefs are often
harmful, we have moral obligation to seek true beliefs.
Challenge dishonesty in yourself and other