LESSON 7

Dr. John M. Ritz

CHAPTER IV

    * Findings Chapter IV is the place in the research study where the findings or data are reported.
    * Plans for the organization and presentation of the data should be prepared in advance for any research report.
    * Tables and figures should be used when they can be designed to present information effectively and accurately, permitting the reader to examine the data more readily than in a purely textual presentation.

Tables and Figures

    * The textual presentation, then, should supplement or expand upon, rather than duplicate, the contents of tables and figures.
    * Tables and figures should always be referred to in the narrative text.

Components of CHAPTER IV

    * Introduction (no sub-title)
          o Restate the Problem
          o List other parts of the chapter
    * Findings (use tables and narrative)
          o Overview of Responses
          o Break-out of items or observations
    * Summary (do not draw conclusions)

CHAPTER IV

    * Opinion??   No Way!!! Report only facts and data in CHAPTER IV
    * Opinion is reported in CHAPTER V in the recommendations section.
    * Also, conclusions are drawn in CHAPTER V, not in CHAPTER IV.

Types of Data/Numbers

    * Due to the differences in the way we measure things, the numbers we accumulate do not always mean the same thing.
    * INTERVAL DATA - the intervals between the numbers are equal.
    * ORDINAL DATA - when placed on a line, the numbers do not have equal intervals or distances between them.
    * NOMINAL DATA - numbers serve as labels.

Measures of Central Tendency

    * MEAN (X) - the most commonly used measure of central tendency. It is defined as the sum of the measures divided by the number of measures.
    * MEDIAN - it is defined as the mid-point of the distribution.
    * MODE - it is defined as the most frequently occurring score in the distribution.

Uses of Central Tendency

    * The mean is appropriate when:
          o The scores are distributed approximately symmetrically about the center of the distribution.
          o The most stable measure of central tendency is desired.
          o Additional statistics are to be computed later.
    * The median is used when the distribution is substantially skewed such that the mean is affected greatly by extreme scores (often used with surveys).
    * The mode is used when the value for a "typical" case is desired, most occurring.

Measures of Variability

    * Concerned with the dispersement of measures in a distribution (spread).
    * RANGE - the difference between the most extreme scores in a distribution.
    * VARIANCE - it is an average which reflects the distance of individual scores from the mean of the distribution.
    * STANDARD DEVIATION - it is an index of the degree to which the scores do or do not cluster around the mean.

Computing Variance (s2) and Standard Deviation (s)

    * Variance (s2)
          o First compute the mean.
          o Subtract the mean from each raw score in the distribution.
          o Square the deviations.
          o Total the squared deviations.
          o Divide the totaled squared deviations by the number of scores - N.
    * Standard Deviation (s)
          o Take the squared root of the variance to obtain the standard deviation.