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How to analyze data and present results for the thesis?


Treatment of the Data 


The treatment of the data section of the chapter is typically a short presentation of the manner in which the data were analyzed. Generally, this section of the chapter is one or two pages in length. In this section you should cover each of the following points: 

1. What statistical procedures were utilized for each research instrument? 
2. If necessary, present a schematic representation of the analysis model. 
3. Specify the level of confidence that you will employee for rejection of the hypothesis Results 

This chapter, unfortunately, has the distinction of being the most boring and dry in terms of the project. In this chapter, only the facts are presented, totally devoid of any accompanying interpretation. The meaning/interpretation of the facts comes in Chapter Five and should not be allowed to creep in at this point. 

This chapter should begin with a description of the sample - the number of subjects and summaries of all the relevant demographic information. If not all of the subjects solicited actually participated, then the percentage participating needs to be reported to allow the reader to judge the representativeness of the sample. 

It is preferable to organize the presentation of the information along the lines of the hypotheses or research questions. Frequently, there will be more than one source of information bearing on an individual question and the information may be analyzed more than one way. Returning to the hypothetical examples presented previously, there might be more than one measure of competition, greed, or unethical acts. The project student must take responsibility for organizing the findings in a way that is comprehensible to the reader. The student must use discrimination in deciding what is relevant to answering the questions, rather than burying the unsuspecting reader under an avalanche of detail. 

If the study was quantitative, the findings will be presented in tables with accompanying verbal explanations of the tables. The APA Publication Manual (1994) requires that tables be numbered with Arabic numerals, Table 2, not Table II. Tables are titled by variable(s) and sometimes by the sample. All subjects or scores must be accounted for in tables so that the number of subjects adds up to the total in the sample or percentage adds up to 100%. Missing is accounted for by footnotes or “01 categories. 

APA has numerous rules directing the presentation of statistical copy. The most important is the requirement when discussing statistics in the text, that the symbol, degrees of freedom, value probability level be given (APA, 1994), 

Presenting Qualitative Results 


While APA has many rules governing the presentation of quantitative results, the only guidelines for presenting qualitative results come under the guidelines for the use of quotations. Qualitative studies generate volumes of raw data as the responses to questionnaires are often lengthy and the responses to interviews can be even lengthier. In the case of the interview, the verbatim transcripts are produced. In the data analysis, all of the raw data is synthesized into themes that occur in the responses of all or most subjects. In the case of the interview, the verbatim transcripts are produced. In the data analysis, all of the raw data is synthesized into themes that occur in the responses of all or most subjects. In the results section of the project, it is these themes that are presented along with representative quotes which illustrate the theme. In qualitative data analysis, the student will be faced with many, many themes some of the major importance and some of lesser importance. Just as in quantitative analysis, the student must guide the reader through the findings in a manner that directs attention to what is important the student of qualitative design must be discriminating in the presentation of findings. Again, the interpretation of the themes is reserved for Chapter Five. 
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