Whether you are faced with performing quantitative or qualitative research managing and analyzing data is always going to be a major part of the work. Discover a wide variety of statistical software programs that you can use and learn the advantages and disadvantages of each depending on the type of data you will be using. This is a presentation developed through the Graduate Resource Center at the University of New Mexico.

1. D a t a A n a ly s is
RWJF || GRC

2. A v a ila b le
S o ftw a re
• Quantitative
R
• SPSS
• STATA
Qualitative
• NVivo
Atlas.ti

3. T h e B ig P r o b le m
How do you ask a question that a computer can
answer?

4. A s k in g t h e r ig h t
q u e s t io n
• Are you looking for descriptive statistics?
• Are you looking for confirmation/refutation of a
hypothesis?

5. A s k in g t h e r ig h t
q u e s t io n
• Descriptive statistics are perhaps
the easiest to structure.
Quantitative: Central
tendency, quartiles, data
range
• Qualitative: Frequent words,
reoccurring themes

6. A s k in g t h e r ig h t
q u e s t io n
• Hypothesis testing requires
additional steps
• Formulate hypothesis
prior to test, have a
clear null and
alternative established

7. A s k in g t h e r ig h t
q u e s t io n
H0: There is no
difference/relationship
Ha: There is a
difference/relationship

8. A s k in g t h e r ig h t
q u e s t io n
• Quantitative
Regression
• Is there a relationship between variable X and
Y?

9. A s k in g t h e r ig h t
q u e s t io n
• Quantitative
Difference
• Is there a difference between variable X and
Y?

10. A s k in g t h e r ig h t
q u e s t io n
Many problems with any kind of data analysis software
stem from impossible to answer questions.

11. S im p lif y
Q u e s t io n s
Break your question down to individual steps, as small
as you can go.

12. S im p lif y
Q u e s t io n s
“I need to test the GPA of students who scored below
a 26 on the ACT vs. those who scored above.”

13. S im p lif y
Q u e s t io n s
• To answer this question, you need a software function
that can order the data, split it, and test the variables
you need.
• It can be hard to find one program that does all that -
but it can be easier if you break the problem up into its
components.

14. S im p lif y
Q u e s t io n s
“I need to test the GPA of students who
scored below a 26 on the ACT vs. those
who scored above.”
• Break the question down into individual steps:
• Sort the data by lowest to highest ACT
• Divide into ACT scores below 26 and
scores above
• Run a two-sample T-test on the GPA’s from
each group.

15. S im p lif y
Q u e s t io n s
Data analysis is a lot easier when each step is made
smaller.

16. C h o o s in g y o u r
S o ftw a re
• Quantitative
R
• Pros: Most flexibility, free, customized
software
Cons: Very difficult to learn

17. C h o o s in g y o u r
S o ftw a re
• Quantitative
SPSS
• Pros: User friendly, frequently used.
Cons: Expensive, can be difficult to interpret
results.

18. C h o o s in g y o u r
S o ftw a re
• Quantitative
STATA
• Pros: Can handle large data sets
Cons: Expensive, can be difficult use

19. C h o o s in g y o u r
S o ftw a re
• Quantitative
Excel
• Pros: Ubiquitous, somewhat smaller learning
curve
Cons: Fundamental limitations in formulas

20. C h o o s in g y o u r
S o ftw a re
• Qualitative
NVivo
• Pros: Can structure qualitative data
Cons: Expensive, can be difficult use

21. C h o o s in g y o u r
S o ftw a re
• Qualitative
ATLAS.ti
• Pros: Can structure qualitative data
Cons: Expensive, can be difficult use

22. Whe re d o e s
s o f t w a r e f it in ?
Quantitative
Hypothesis
Test (Software)
Conclusion

23. Whe re d o e s
s o f t w a r e f it in ?
Qualitative
Hypothesis
Theory
Test (Software)
Conclusion

24. Q u a lit a t iv e D a t a
A n a ly s is
• Two upcoming workshops:
NVivo: Thursday, December 1st, 2011,
11.00am, RWJF Conference Room
• ATLAS.ti: Thursday, December 8th, 2011,
11.00am, RWJF conference Room