Analysis of Data : Quite a straight job...

Statistical analysis is an integral part of PhD research. In your research journey, by the time you reach the stage of data analysis, you have already crossed the most difficult and challenging stages. Within the chapterisation scheme of your PhD thesis, in the Research Methodology chapter itself there is so much to do, from defining of the research problem, developing a sampling plan, conceptualisation and designing of the structure are fundamental, as well as puzzling. In comparison to all the above, isn’t data analysis a fairly straightforward task? The job of data analysis comprises three main stages, respectively Data cleaning, sorting and preparation Descriptive analysis of data Hypotheses testing and models Data Cleaning, sorting and Preparation: At this stage the verification of the data is done for accuracy, cleaning out the data that is redundant and not of use, feeding the data in the computer in an organised manner, data transformation and creating a database that integrates the different measures together into one. Descriptive analysis of data: This is the mandatory stage of any study, like the previous one. Whatever are the objectives and hypotheses of the study, descriptive statistics is done to bring out the fundamental aspects of the study. Thus, it becomes the pre requisite for almost all research that call for a quantitative analysis of data. By doing this, you can bring out the graphical analysis, which is a comprehensive description of the data. In the preliminary stage, descriptive statistics can be voluminous and may appear confusing, but the researcher has to tactfully select and organise them into summary tables and graphs, bringing out only the most relevant information and leaving out the unnecessary and repetitive component of the analysis. Hypotheses testing and models: This is...