Research Methods Correlations

RESEARCH METHODS FOR
POSTGRADUATE STUDY
NV4602

Data Analysis: Exploring
Relationships
Ethical Use of Data

Descriptive Statistics
Last session review

Descriptive Statistics
“The sample consisted of 300 company employees (52% male, 48% female), ranging in age from 21 to 52 years (mean
= 30 years, standard deviation = 5 years).” (H.L., 2013, p.24) lbic.navitas.com navitas.com

Descriptive Statistics
“The sample consisted of 300 company employees (52% male, 48% female), ranging in age from 21 to 52 years (mean
= 30 years, standard deviation = 5 years).”  What is the difference between population and sample?
 What is a ‘good’ sample?

lbic.navitas.com

navitas.com

Descriptive Statistics
“The sample consisted of 300 company employees (52% male, 48% female), ranging in age from 21 to 52 years (mean
= 30 years, standard deviation = 5 years).”  Spot the categorical variable!
 What descriptive statistics did HL perform for it?

lbic.navitas.com

navitas.com

Descriptive Statistics
“The sample consisted of 300 company employees (52% male, 48% female), ranging in age from 21 to 52 years (mean
= 30 years, standard deviation = 5 years).”  Spot the continuous variable!
 What descriptive statistics did HL perform for it?

lbic.navitas.com

navitas.com

Descriptive Statistics
 HL’s data on age are normally distributed.
“... (mean = 30 years, standard deviation = 5 years)...”  What is the age range of 68% of the employees?
 If a participant is
50 yo, how many SDs away from the mean is he/she? lbic.navitas.com navitas.com

Quantitative Research: the process so far
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Research Topic/Research Questions
Quantitative Research Design
Run Experiment or Survey
Collect Quantitative Data
Set up your SPSS file
Enter data
Explore data using descriptive statistics
Now you can analyse your data!
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Conduct statistical analyses to explore relationships
Conduct statistical analyses to compare groups

lbic.navitas.com

navitas.com

NV4602 Research