Guidelines

Analysing quantitative data

1. Quantify answers to open questions.
2. Identify each case and enter the data into your software program.
3. Name the variables and the coding labels, and identify the level of measurement.
4. If recoding is required, recode into a different variable, thus keeping the original intact.
5. For most business research, accept the SPSS default significance level of 0.05.
6. Decide whether your hypotheses are one-tailed or two-tailed.
7. Identify the dependent variable and the independent variable(s) (not applicable when testing for correlation).
8. Determine whether parametric or non-parametric tests are appropriate.
9. Decide whether you have independent or dependent samples.
10. Explore, describe and analyse the data using appropriate statistical methods to address your research questions.

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