Data Construction and Data Analysis for Survey Research

Book excerpt: Based on the needs of business, marketing and social science students, this book provides an accessible and easy-to-follow guide to survey data analysis. The book avoids the more usual statistics-driven perspective. Rather, it provides an intuitive feel for handling survey data by emphasising that data analysis is more about understanding the research objectives, what kinds of data have been collected, how quantitative data were generated by the process of measurement, how to create a data matrix and how to transform raw data before thinking about appropriate statistical calculations. The author begins by considering what data are, the different kinds of data that surveys generate, and the tripartite format of all quantitative data. The processes of measurement and the errors that may arise are carefully explained. Coverage of the creation and analysis of a data matrix using SPSS is then provided. The author then reviews what kinds of statistical procedure are required for what kinds of data and for what purposes. The book concludes by giving a review of strategies for coping with all the kinds of practical problems that arise in survey research. Reader-friendly throughout, Data Analysis: A Guide to Market and Social Research provides numerous worked examples, end-of-chapter questions and points for further discussion to help reinforce concepts learnt. A data diskette containing the worked examples in SPSS is also provided in the back of the book. Also available is a companion website with extra features to accompany the text, please take a look by clicking below - http://www.palgrave.com/business/kent/index.asp