Author: Alex wilson

6 Tips to Save Yourself From Committing Blunders in Data Analysis Stage of Research

In a research process, data analysis is considered as a crucial aspect as it helps in structuring the findings and provides meaningful insights to the critical decisions. In this step, cleaned data is put into analysis tools for identifying patterns, formulating results so as to make meaningful inferences and conclusions.  

Conducting data analysis is not every scholar’s cup of tea. One should know the types of data analysis, which approach one must use, how to perform it and which statistical tool one should use for each type. If done in an inaccurate manner, data analysis can ruin your study in one-shot. Below are a few tips that have the potential to help you with data analysis process and save your study.

  • Define your research question – Design the question such that they are measurable, concise, clear and can qualify potential solution.
  • Set measurement priorities – This step can be broken into (a) what to measure (b) how to measure it. (a) Here you will have to determine what type of data you will require to answer your research questions. Once the data surrounding the main question has been obtained, you have to ask yourself a few secondary questions. All the data obtained and the secondary questions can then be converted into useful information. It is vital to choose the apt data, the reason is that the data collected will determine how it gets analyzed in the later stage. (b) Your research dictates the research methodologies you use to measure the variables. For example, if you have collected quantitative data, you will be measuring variables and verifying existing theories/ hypothesis/ questioning them. Data is often used to create new hypotheses, that is based on the results of the data collected.
  • Gathering of data – The next phase gathering of data. Before gathering the data, check if there is any data available relevant to your research questions. Decide which method you will be using to gather data; Questionnaire method, survey method etc. It is always advisable to collect data in a simple and organised form. Once you have collected the data, screen the information for its accuracy.
  • Data scrubbing – Data scrubbing, also known as data cleansing, is the process where incorrect data is removed. Some of the data you have gathered may be duplicated, may be incomplete, or redundant. Through this you can eliminate all such “dirty data”.
  • Data analysis – Now that the data is collected, the next step is to analyse it. You can use various methods and tools for this purpose. Approaches:Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, exploratory data analysis and many more. Tools: SPSS, STATA, SAS etc.
  • Data interpretation – Once the data has been analyzed, it can easily be interpreted. Does it help you with any of your objections? Are the results limiting or inconclusive? etc.  If all your research questions are dealt with the data gathered accurately, then your research can be considered as complete.

The data analysis process is very intensive. Different researchers prefer different approaches. Some may prefer to use the software as the main way of analyzing the data, while others may use the software only to organize and manage the information.

 

Can you manipulate your primary data to accept the right hypothesis?

Should you manipulate your primary data to accept the right hypothesis is an extension to the above question, where we could bring in ethics, beyond the technique. In the informal lingua of research, the practice of creating false data or creating selective reporting of data according to requirement is called as “data fudging”. One of the most common example of this, that we see commonly in research, involves choosing that section of the data that shows consistency in that direction of the hypothesis that is preferred by the researcher. The remaining data is ignored or eliminated.

In general, the norms of research say that the validity of those results is always under question whose results cannot be reproduced by the investigators. With the fear of getting caught over fudging of data, some scientists keep away from publishing their data and the methods. They only give out the results and the interpretation.

By now we know that this practice is prevalent in the field of research and you may see its presence in all disciplines. But data manipulation is quite a serious concern that challenges the honesty and integrity of ethics. The outliers, missing data and the non normality of the data adversely affects not just the validity but the reliability as well of the data.

Researchers should not confuse removing of outliers from the data before analysis as a practice of data manipulation. Rather that is more appropriate, to study the real problems through scatter diagrams and remove those points that appear far away or detached from the main cloud. These points are removed only for a cause.

It is agreeable in research to accept the null hypothesis, how much ever trivial it be, as long as you are able to justify the reasons for this acceptance. These could vary from finding error in the theory or the observation, your interpretation of the theory could be the reason or some external interference with the experiment faltered the results. As long as you are able to give an explanation for the failure to support your thesis, there is some learning and it can become the base to form an alternate hypothesis that can be created on the grounds of failure of the first experiment.

Always remember that the searches for trivial techniques to play around with data is far from science. A good scientist is the one who strives to disapprove the hypothesis so that its acceptance can be ensured. Statistical significance isn’t the only proof.

Do not abandon your social life for your Ph.D.

It is a culture for Ph.D. scholars to move away from a social life during the course of the programme, at least at one time. With so many deadlines approaching and the pressure to perform at varied platforms, so many times in the tenure of the Ph.D.; often scholars live under the psychological pressure and guilt to not have fun, and socialise else they would be doing injustice to their effort.

I completely condemn this approach. Rather it is the most serious mistake that a scholar can make during Ph.D. Remember that this study isn’t a small race, it is instead a marathon which will go on for some crucial years of your life. If you decide to stay away from fun and socialising for this period, you would not be able to sustain with productivity for a long time as staying in isolation with no fun and enjoyment can start affecting your motivation and emotional health after some time. You need to divert your mind off work, at regular intervals so that you don’t lose your friends and your relationships, as with time everyone moves on with life and you would get left behind. Because of a Ph.D. programme, you would lose time, money and friends, all of them.

A successful life is a life of balance. You cannot do extreme of one thing and then expect to sustain. You may still survive, if you are perseverance is good, but you wouldn’t surely progress. It is important to fit in breaks of socialising, meeting friends, moving out so that you can draw energy from the universe and use it to bring in results in your research work. You may not agree with this theory because when you are out with friends, having fun, on a surface level, you are just simply wasting time and not doing anything constructive. But in the under current, your intellectual, emotional and psychological self is getting refreshed and the cells are getting recharged to perform again to the best potential.

This usually goes against the norms that are set by the society. We usually are expected to dig ourselves into our books before an exam, stay in isolation and study till there is no time left. But the most productive way is, to maintain balance and find time to do things that you love and recharge your cells.

So, now as a scholar, dread from the thought of bring a loner. A successful scholar is the one who knows how to balance it out.

The skills of a Ph.D. that can help him flourish outside academia too!

If you are pursuing your Ph.D. or have already completed, believe it, the future is all yours. The only way that you may not climb upwards on the ladder of success or growth is that you don’t let yourself do that. Having a Ph.D. gives you the great advantage over other candidates in many of the profiles that may not even belong to the academia.

  1. Ph.D.s are better than others in digging out answers: In any industry that you seek to work for, the employer is looking for a combination of 3 skill set. They being, critical thinking, complex problem solving and correct decision making. A Ph.D. scholar is a researcher who has trained himself, willingly or unwillingly to handle such situations countless number of times while doing Ph.D. While the inexpert lot is finding and struggling for solutions, an experienced researcher knows the place from which quick information can be dug out. Find a way to tell your interviewer that you possess these skills.
  2. Ph.D.s are experienced to learn from failure: A Ph.D. journey teaches you good enough, that no experiment would give results in the first go. Sometimes, even the minutest of answers need to be found by multiple attempts of experiments. The agony of a Ph.D. scholars life which gives him an edge at the employments stage is that he has repeatedly failed, over and over again without much recognition, in words or monetarily. But each failure has brought your closer to your success, and that is how you as a Ph.D. are more equipped to handle failure and challenges of a job.
  3. They can handle nasty Bosses: you have to thank the difficult Ph.D. supervisor here. In the long Ph.D. journey, they grill you good enough to prepare you well to deal with the most challenging of people in the future. It is surely a blessing in disguise as a scholar because when you step out to work, your skill set is equipped enough to allow you to handle almost any kind of challenging and difficult boss, anywhere that you go.
  4. They know that certainty is the most uncertain thing: Ph.D. scholars thrive on uncertainty as no discovery is possible without an element of ambiguity or uncertainty associated with it. Use this at your advantage, because you will be stronger and confident at taking risks as compared to others.

In a conference: How to handle the questions that follow your presentation?

A conference is a serious affair and your research is serious business too. You surely prepare hard and toil a lot, to not only create the research, but also present it effectively in the conference, so that none of the unique features and specialities of your research get unnoticed. But, how much do you actually prepare for the post presentation part; the questions that follow you presentation? They could be about unanswered queries of the presentation. They could come from experts in the subject matter who are here to test your knowledge and expertise on the area you have researched. You cannot take that lightly and give a disrespectful response, lest you know with all the seriousness that you presented the paper, has gone down the drain. With all this kept in mind while preparing yourself to deal with it, know very well that all the questions that will be shot at your or your team may not be benign. Some of the questions may, of course, be genuine queries and may ask you to give more information about your research, enlightening in the process on how you could further enrich and improvise your research. At the same time, there would be some questions that may not be the ones you want to hear or even answer. These could be bringing up your flaws in the research or presentation or something important that you have missed on to. The best thing to do here is to admit to your flaws and not get too defensive. Be graceful and gracious and thank the person for his contribution and at the same time, say that you would surely take the suggestions seriously, and see the best way in which they could be incorporated.

Being polite in your response to questions shot at you is required and imperative in the situation. Keep the moral ground higher and be courteous. However, you can handle them swiftly, and move on in a jiffy rather than hanging on to the question for a long time. Do not hold your attention to that one person in the audience who intends to pull you down, focus on the other audience, as quick as you can.

If you wish and have people such as peer, friends or family who can help you practice these responses with impromptu questions, it would be a great help. So, while you are preparing for your conference presentations, think beyond as well, and prepare for the Q & A session too. The more prepared you are the better you handle, always.