1. Brandy Shelton, Action Research Comprehension Questions
Chapter 6, Analyzing Data
1. The main steps in qualitative data analysis are reducing the information that has been collected by
organizing it into important themes and patterns. This is typically accomplished through the
development of a coding scheme, which is used to group data that provide similar types of information.
Coding narrative data often needs rereading data many times. Once all of the narrative data has been
coded, the main features of each of the categories must be described. The final step involves the
interpretation of the data that has been coded into categories.
2. Quantitative data is analyzed using descriptive or inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics are
relatively simple mathematical procedures used to simplify, summarize, and organize large amounts of
data. Inferential statistics are used to determine how likely a given statistical result is for an entire
population, based on data collected from a smaller sample of that population. There are three
categories of descriptive statistics which include measures of central tendency, dispersion, and
relationship. The most common types of inferential statistical tests are the independent- measure t
test, the repeated-measures t test, analysis of variance, and the chi-square test.
3. I observed behavior patterns in students with ADD out on the playground and then spoke with them
about their perceived-peer relationships at another time. Through my observations and informal
interviews I found that many students with ADD interact in a more aggressive and physical manner with
their peers on the playground. They are more likely to put their hands on another student (i.e. pushing
in the back, chest, or shoulders, grab on to the arms, touch their head or hair), rather than trying to get
their attention by calling to them or talking to them. When asked if they put their hands on their friends
while playing most students say they never touched their friends and if they did it was because it was a
rule in the game they were playing. Most ADD students perceived that their interactions with their
peers was normal and “exactly like everyone else played.” From a teacher’s point of view it is obvious
that many of these students do not understand personal space boundaries or exactly how their actions
affect their peers.