Inquiries, Investigation and Immersion
Module 5: Finding the Answers to the Research Questions
Research data- is any information that has been collected, observed, generated, or created to validate a
research study.
Data analysis- a process that involves examining, and molding collected data for interpretation to discover
relevant information, draw or propose conclusions, and support decision-making to solve a research problem.
Data Interpretation- is the process of making sense of numerical data that has been collected, analyzed,
and presented.
A Conceptual framework - is an analytical tool that is used to get a comprehensive understanding of a
phenomenon. It can be in different fields of work and is most commonly used to visually explain the key
concepts or variables and the relationships between them that need to be studied.
LESSON 1: Interpretation and Data Analysis
Individual Interview - It is a conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee to gather relevant
information using prepared questions.
Questionnaires - These are series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information
from respondents
Observation - It deals with an actual encounter with respondent particular activities of the day.
Surveys - It can be open or closed-ended questions
Themes - These are ideas or categories that emerge from a grouping of lower-level data points
Data analysis - is a way of simplifying numerous and wordy data to a meaningful story and interpreting it to
arrive at an insight to behold. It is a process of converting a multitude of data into a smaller group of sensible
data.
To start with, data must be organized. The next step is to summarize and categorize data together.
Through data analysis, you can find patterns and themes to identify and link ideas. Lastly, is to really
analyze data from the start to finish, or one may go backward in analyzing it.
Data analysis in qualitative and quantitative research
Qualitative data analysis - usually involves texts, phrases, images, objects, and sometimes symbols.
Quantitative data analysis - involves numbers and statistics.
Statistical analysis - is the core of quantitative analysis. It deals with basic calculations including average
and median to more sophisticated analyzes like correlations and regressions.
Descriptive statistics - gives details on your specific data set.
Inferential statistics - aim to make inferences about the population.
Common Inferential Methods
1. T-Test - is used to compare the average (mean) of two groups to see if they are significantly
different from each other.
Example:
A teacher wants to know if Class A and Class B have different average math scores.
2. ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) - is used to compare the averages of three or more groups to
see if at least one group is significantly different.
Example:
A researcher compares the test scores of students using three teaching methods:
Method 1: Online learning
Method 2: Face-to-face learning
Method 3: Blended learning
3. Correlation Analysis - Correlation analysis is used to see if there is a relationship between two
variables and how strong that relationship is.
(It does not show cause and effect, only relationship.)
Example:
A student studies the relationship between hours of study and exam scores.
4. Regression Analysis - Regression analysis is used to predict one variable based on another
variable and to understand how one affects the other.
Example:
A researcher wants to predict exam scores based on hours of study.
Sample interpretation of data using the extracted table:
Interpretation of Data (Table 1)
Table 1 reveals that 45.33 percent of the respondents are in the age bracket of 21- 30 years old compared
to only 9.3 percent in ages 51 – 61 years old and above and 21.33 percent belonged to the 31- 40 age
range.
This age profile is important as it also reflects the current age demographic for the Filipinos according to
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). There is a much younger age cohort of teachers entering the
workforce.
There is a much younger cohort who has the capacity to purchase products and services.
Interpretation of Data (Table 2)
Table 2 shows that 61.33 percent of the respondents are female, compared to 38.67 percent males. This is
representative of the current gender distribution of the population in the Philippines.
According to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in 2015 of the total population in the Philippines, 50.40%
are males and the rest are females.
This gender distribution is common among most countries where male becomes more in population than
female (Skelton, 2012).