Performance Objective

Collect quantitative data through numerical instruments and qualitative data through the techniques discussed in this chapter and Chapter 7. Edit the data to detect errors and omissions, consistency across participants, and unclear, incomplete, or inappropriate responses. Analyze your data initially by describing, searching for patterns, and looking for relationships that answer your questions through exploratory graphical analysis, descriptive summary statistics, and inferential testing and evaluation of hypotheses.

Enabling Objectives

1. Edit your data to detect errors and omissions and certify them to obtain quality standards.
2. Prepare for data irregularities such as out-of-range responses and various types of missing data.
3. Find specialized sources for handling open and closed question coding, textual coding, missing data diagnostics, and the treatment of “don’t know” responses.
4. Become familiar with the use of exploratory data analysis to discover patterns in your data that guide your selection of inferential statistics.
5. Prepare for reporting your findings by reviewing the structure of business and academic reports.
6. Discover how IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) can be adapted to the needs of your target audience.