education

2. DATA ANALYSIS
• IS A METHOD OR PROCESS IN WHICH ONE SYSTEMATICALLY APPLIES TECHNIQUES TO
DESCRIBE, DRAW CONCLUSIONS FROM, OR EVALUATE DATA. DATA ANALYSIS IS THE
METHOD IN WHICH DATA IS COLLECTED AND ORGANIZED SO THAT THE RESEARCHER
WILL BE ABLE TO LOOK AT THE DATA AND DETERMINE RELATIONSHIPS. DATA IN
STATISTICS IS OFTEN AN INTERPRETATION OF RAW DATA TO SHOW RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN VARIABLES. FOR EXAMPLE, A RESEARCHER WANTS TO STUDY CHILDREN AND
ACHIEVEMENT IN MATH. THE RESEARCH WILL COMPILE DATA SUCH AS AGE, GENDER,
GRADE LEVEL, AND MATHEMATICS GRADES. THIS RAW DATA IS THEN INTERPRETED
THROUGH SPECIFIC STATISTICAL PROGRAMS TO SHOW RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE
DIFFERENT VARIABLES.

3. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH BOTH HAVE DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IS THE PROCESS THAT
GAINING INSIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING OF AN
INDIVIDUALS IN THE STUDY. OBSERVATIONS AND
FORMS OF DATA COLLECTION THAT TAKE PLACE
METHODOLOGY

4. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
FOCUSES ON NUMBERS OR NUMERIC REASONING. SURVEYS AND MEASUREMENTS ARE USED
FOR DATA COLLECTION IN THIS TYPE OF METHODOLOGY.
FOR EXAMPLE, IF A COMPANY WANTS TO SEE WHAT A CONSUMER RATES THEIR STORE,
THEY WOULD USE A SURVEY TO GATHER THAT DATA. IT IS EASY TO SEE THAT DATA
ANALYSIS IN QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH CAN BE DONE BECAUSE NUMBERS ARE USED AND
RUN THROUGH STATISTICAL PROGRAMS. QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS RELIES ON
NUMBER-BASED DATA. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, ON THE OTHER HAND, REQUIRES
PROCESSES FOR THE RESEARCHER TO GO THROUGH NON-NUMERICAL DATA, SUCH AS
INTERVIEWS TO ANALYZE THE DATA OF THE INTERVIEW. OFTEN, THIS PROCESS IS CALLED
CODING. CODING IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH RELIES ON THE RESEARCHER TO IDENTIFY
COMMON THEMES THROUGHOUT THE INTERVIEWS.

5. WHAT IS DATA ANALYSIS USED
FOR?
• DATA GATHERING - THE RESEARCHER WILL NEED TO LOOK AT THE RESEARCH
QUESTION AND DECIDE WHAT METHODOLOGY THEY ARE USING IN ORDER TO
DECIDE HOW TO PROPERLY COLLECT THE DATA.
• DATA COLLECTION - RESEARCHERS NOW HAVE THE IDENTIFIED METHODOLOGY
AND CAN NOW PROPERLY COLLECT THE DATA. THIS DATA CAN BE COLLECTED IN
TERMS OF SURVEYS, INTERVIEWS, OBSERVATIONS, FOCUS GROUPS,
MEASUREMENTS, OR QUESTIONNAIRES.
• CLEANING UP THE DATA - IN THIS STEP, THE RESEARCHERS LOOK AT THE DATA
GATHERED AND LOOK FOR ERRORS. CLEANING UP THESE ERRORS IS AN
IMPORTANT STEP IN ORDER FOR THE RESEARCH TO BE DETERMINED CORRECTLY.

6. •DATA ANALYSIS- HERE, THE RESEARCHERS WILL COMB THROUGH
DATA TO LOOK FOR THEMES OR COMMON WORD PHRASES. IF THE
DATA IS NUMERICAL IN NATURE, THE DATA WOULD BE PUT INTO A
DATA SOFTWARE TO UNDERSTAND AND ARRIVE AT CONCLUSIONS.
•INTERPRETATION - THIS IS IMPERATIVE TO THE RESEARCH. DATA IS
INTERPRETED BASED ON THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OR
ACTIONS ARE DECIDED.
•VISUALIZATION - DATA IS THEN GRAPHICALLY SHOWN IN CHARTS,
MAPS, OR GRAPHS. ALSO, IF USING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, PORTIONS
OF PHRASES AND QUOTES CAN BE USED TO SHOW THEMATIC ANALYSIS
OR COMMON PHRASES THROUGHOUT THE DATA. THIS IS WHERE
RELATIONSHIPS AND DATA SETS ARE COMPARED TO HELP GAIN
INSIGHT INTO THOSE CONCLUSIONS THAT THE RESEARCHERS FOUND.

7. DATA ANALYSIS EXAMPLE
• ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN STUDENTS IS ONE SUCH EXAMPLE. THIS TOPIC HAS BECOME
EXTREMELY PIVOTAL SINCE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. THE RESEARCH QUESTION IS HOW IS
GRADE POINT AVERAGE AND VIRTUAL LEARNING CORRELATED? THE RESEARCHER WOULD
FIND STUDY PARTICIPANTS IN A SPECIFIC GRADE. FOR THE EXAMPLE, WE WILL USE 3RD
GRADERS IN THREE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ON THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE RESEARCHER WOULD THEN COLLECT DATA VIA A SURVEY THAT WOULD ALLOW
PARTICIPANTS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON A SCALE OF 1-5 OF HOW VIRTUAL LEARNING
IMPACTED THEM; AS WELL AS HAVE TEACHERS SUBMIT THEIR GRADES FROM THE
BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, MIDDLE OF THE YEAR, AND END OF THE YEAR. THE DATA
COLLECTED WILL BE ANALYZED THROUGH A STATISTICAL PROGRAM IN ORDER TO GAIN
INSIGHT INTO THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE VARIABLES. THE RESEARCHER WILL THEN
NEED TO READ THE STATISTICAL DATA AND ANALYZE THE REPORT. THIS ANALYSIS WOULD
INCLUDE ANY TABLES, NUMERICAL FIGURES, AND DATA NECESSARY TO GIVE THE FULL
PICTURE TO THEIR AUDIENCE.