| Now is the time to begin your analysis of the data. But
before your data can be analyzed it may need to be edited,
coded and organized into some form for analysis. You might
want to consider using your data in a spreadsheet software
program such as Excel or SPSS. Depending on the type of
action research that you are doing can change the type of
analysis you might do. Descriptive statistics describe the
data and can provide information about how a group has changed
over time such as :
- Measures of central tendency
- Mean, median, mode
- Measures of variability
- Variance, standard variation, range
- Measures of relative standing
- Percentile rank
Inferential statistics provide additional information for
your analysis. For example if you are looking at how a group
changes over time you can use a t-tests or Chi-Square. If you
are looking at differences between control and intervention
groups, it would be better to use a t-test or Chi-Square. Or
if your action research is set to look at differences among
more than 2 groups then perhaps an Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) would be the best choice.
Consider finding a parent, colleague, or university
partner(s) who already know how to input and analyze data.
This assistance can make this part of the research process
much easier.
One tool that can be easily used to assist in analysis is a
spreadsheet. The following is a list of some web locations for
assistance and instruction for using a spreadsheet to run
statistical analysis.
Introduction to Basis Statistics in Excel
Using Excel's Statistics Commands
Online
Analysis Tools In Excel Spreadsheets
Excel Tutorial
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