Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis

Chapter 15

Introduction
Quantitative or Qualitative?

What is the difference been qualitative and quantitative?

The distinction between qualitative and quantitative data is not as important as the distinction between the strategies driving their collection

Introduction
Quantitative data analysis

Analysis that tends to be based on the statistical summary of data Quantitative researchers typically focus on the relationship between or among variables, with a natural science-like view of social science in the backs of their minds.

Introduction
Qualitative data analysis

Analysis that tends to results in the interpretation of action or representations of meanings in the researcher's own words Empathic understanding or an in-depth, thick description

Quantitative Data Analysis

Presumes one has collected data about a

reasonably large, and sometimes representative, group of subjects, whether these subjects are individuals, groups, organizations, social artifacts, etc. The data does not always come in the form of numerical data

Quantitative Data Analysis

Sources of Data for Quantitative Analysis When data is collected by researcher, coding is an important first step Coding is the process by which raw data are given a standardized form. This means making data computer usable.

For example, if you are coding gender you may have Male = 1 and Female = 2

The assignment of numbers to words is arbitrary

Quantitative Data Analysis

Elementary Quantitative Analyses

Descriptive statistics

Statistics used to describe and interpret sample data Example

Fifty-five percent of the people sampled were married.

Quantitative Data Analysis

Elementary Quantitative Analyses

Inferential statistics

Statistics used to make inferences about the population from which the sample was drawn Example
Men are significantly more likely than women to have been employed full-time.

Quantitative Data Analysis

Univariate analyses

Analyses that tell us something about one variable

Quantitative Data Analysis

Bivariate analyses

Analyses that focus on the association between two variables

Quantitative Data Analysis

Multivariate analyses

Analyses that permit researchers to examine the relationship between variables while investigating the role of other variables

Univariate Analysis
Measures of Central Tendency

Mode The measure of central tendency designed for nominal level variables. The value or category that occurs most frequently. It can be computed for any variable because all ordinal and interval level variables are also nominal.

Univariate Analysis
Measures of Central Tendency

Median The measure of central tendency designed for ordinal level variables. The middle value when all values are arranged in order. Can also be used for interval variables because they are also ordinal variables.

Univariate Analysis
Measures of Central Tendency

Mean The measure of central tendency designed for interval level variables. The sum of all values divided by the number of values.

Univariate Analysis
How does a researcher know which measure

of central tendency (mode, median, or mean) to use to describe a given variable?

Do not use a measurement that is inappropriate for a given level of measurement

Example: Mean or Median for a nominal level variable like gender

Univariate Analysis
Variation

Frequency Distribution

A way of showing that number of times each category of a variable occurs in a sample Assume we have 20 people in our sample, with 17 females and 3 males

Frequency Distribution
GENDER FREQUENCY %

Female

17

85

Male

15

Total

N = 20

100

Univariate Analysis
Variation

Examining frequency distribution, and their percentage distribution is a good way of understanding variation in nominal or ordinal variables Example

If you are looking at gender and discern that 100% of your sample is female and 0% is male, you know that there is no variation in gender in your sample.

Univariate Analyses
Measures of Dispersion of Variation for

Interval Scale Variables Measures of dispersion

Measures that provide a sense of how spread out cases are over categories of a variable

Univariate Analyses
Measures of Dispersion of Variation for

Interval Scale Variables

Range

A measure of dispersion or spread designed for interval-level variables. The difference between the highest and lowest values.

Univariate Analyses
Standard Deviation

A measure of dispersion designed for intervallevel variables and that accounts for every value's distance from the sample mean The standard deviation has properties that make it useful in measuring variation when the variable is normally distributed

Univariate Analyses
The graph of a normal distribution is bell-

shaped and symmetric In a normal distribution 68% of cases would fall between one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below the mean Standard deviation is not as useful if the variable is not normally distributed.

Bivariate Analyses
Examining the relationship between variables

Crosstabulation is the process of making a

bivariate table to examine a relationship between two variables

Bivariate Analyses
Measures of association

Measures that give a sense of the strength of a relationship between two variable or how strongly two variables go together

Bivariate Analyses
Measures of correlation

Measures that provide a sense not only of the strength of the relationship between two variables, but also the direction of the association Pearsons r is a measure of correlation designed for examining relationships between interval level variables.

Stop and Think

Would you expect the association between

education and income for adults in the US to be positively or negatively correlated?

Bivariate Analyses
Inferential Statistics

P-value

Allows the reader to make an inference about the relationship between variables.

The typical cut off is 0.05, p<.05

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Why would a researcher want to examine

more than two variables at a time?

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Elaboration

The process of examining the relationship between two variables by introducing the control for another variable or variables

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Control variable

A variable that is held constant to examine the relationship between two other variables

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Partial relationship

The relationship between an independent and a dependent variable for that part of a sample defined by one category of a control variable

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Four kinds of elaboration

1.
2. 3.

4.

Replication Explanation Specification Interpretation

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Replication

A kind of elaboration in which the original relationship is replicated by all of the partial relationships

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Explanation

A kind of elaboration in which the original relationship is explained away as spurious by a control for an antecedent variable

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Specification

A kind of elaboration that permits the researcher to specify conditions under which the original relationship is particularly strong or weak

Multivariate Analysis and the Elaboration Model

Interpretation

A kind of elaboration that provides an idea of the reasons why an original relationship exist without challenging the belief that the original relationship is causal.

Qualitative Data Analysis

The outputs of qualitative data analyses are

usually words, the inputs are also usually words typically in the form of extended texts Data is almost always derived from what the researcher has observed, heard in interviews, or found in documents

Qualitative Data Analysis

Social anthropological versus interpretivist

approaches

Social anthropologists (and others, like grounded theorists and life historians) believe that there exist behavioral regularities (for example, rules, rituals, relationships, and so on) that affect everyday life and that it should be the goal of researchers to uncover and explain those regularities.

Qualitative Data Analysis

Social anthropological versus interpretivist

approaches

Interpretivists (including phenomenologists and symbolic interactionists) believe that actors, including researchers themselves, are forever interpreting situations, and that these, often quite unpredictable, interpretations largely affect what goes on.

Qualitative Data Analysis

Does qualitative data analysis emerge from

or generate the data collected?

The question of which comes first

Data or ideas about data

Qualitative Data Analysis

The strengths and weaknesses of qualitative

data analysis revisited

Strengths

Can produce theories More likely to be grounded in the immediate experiences of those participants than in the speculations of researchers.

Qualitative Data Analysis

The strengths and weaknesses of qualitative

data analysis revisited

Weaknesses

Generalizability

Qualitative Data Analysis

Are there predictable steps in qualitative data

analysis?

First researchers code their own data or acquire computer-ready data Other steps are much more fluid Typical flow includes data collection data reductiondata displayingconclusion drawing and verification

Qualitative Data Analysis

Data Collection and Transcription

Several software packages exist to facilitate the processing of qualitative data Qualitative data software packages have many pros an cons and should be considered carefully before adopting.

Qualitative Data Analysis

Data Reduction

The various ways in which a researcher orders collected and transcribed data Coding and memoing are common data reduction techniques

Qualitative Data Analysis

Coding

The process of assigning observations, or data, to categories In qualitative analysis, coding is more openended because both the relevant variables and their significant categories are apt to remain in question longer

Qualitative Data Analysis

Coding

The goal of coding is to create categories that can be used to organize information about different cases Assigning a code to a piece of data is the first step in coding The second step is putting the coded data together with other data coded the same way

Qualitative Data Analysis

Coding Types of Coding

One purpose of coding is to keep facts straight called descriptive coding Coding to advance your analysis is analytical coding The preliminary phase of analytical coding is called initial coding Initial coding eventually becomes focused coding, which is concentrating or elaborating on codes specific to analysis

Qualitative Data Analysis

Coding

Memos

Extended notes that the researcher writes to help herself or himself understand the meaning of codes

Qualitative Data Analysis

Data displays

Visual images that summarize information

Summary
Quantitative data analyses

Qualitative data analyses

Quiz Question 1
Measures of central tendency do not include
a.
b. c.

d.

the mode. median. mean. standard deviation.

Quiz Question 2
In a frequency distribution, we are
a.

b.

c.

d.

displaying the number of cases that fall in categories. showing the connections between descriptive statistics. examining the central tendencies of variables. testing out our coding schemes.

Quiz Question 3
As a measure of dispersion, a _______ tells us how far the mean is from individual scores.
a. b.

c.
d.

range standard deviation mode regular distribution