What have you learned?

If you have worked through the material and activities in this theme you should be able to:

• explain the basic vocabulary of research study design and the differences between the different types of study.
• describe the possible sources of bias in experiments and how they may be avoided.
• use a framework to evaluate your belief in causality for a study.
• list the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative approaches to data analysis and apply this knowledge to decide which approach is best suited to a given study.
• explain the advantages of using computers for analysis and be aware of some of the more common packages.

Qualitative component

• Offer a general definition of qualitative research, particularly one that is relevant to your discipline.
• Debate the general aims, purposes, advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research approaches.
• Outline the main qualitative research strategies/approaches and their relevance for your discipline.
• Identify some of the ethical issues inherent in qualitative research.
• Analyse the main similarities and differences between qualitative and quantitative research.
• Use the ‘language’ of qualitative research, for example be able to outline the key terms within the context of your discipline.
• Identify the main criteria that are used to judge the ‘quality’ of qualitative research.

Quantitative component

• Use excel to build a valid database of quantitative measures
• Use excel to calculate simple descriptive statistics
• Describe the concept of a probability distribution and in particular the normal distribution
• Explain the concept of sampling error
• Explain how choice of sample size improves accuracy
• Define the classes of problems to which quantitative analysis may usefully be applied

Activity 24: What have you learnt?

This final activity encourages you to reflect on your introduction to data analysis as a consequence of completing Core Theme 7 and assess how will prepared you think you are in order to get started on a plan for your own data analysis. Now open your log book and complete Activity 24.