Business

Research Methods

William G. Zikmund

Chapter 19:
Editing and Coding
Stages of Data Analysis
EDITING

CODING
ERROR
CHECKING
AND
DATA ENTRY VERIFICATION

DATA ANALYSIS
Editing
 The process of checking and adjusting
the data
 for omissions
 for legibility
 for consistency
 And readying them for coding and
storage
Coding
 The process of identifying and
assigning a numerical score or other
character symbol to previously edited
data
Editing
FIELD
EDITING

IN-
HOUSE
EDITING
 Reasons for Editing

QUESTIONS
CONSISTENCY COMPLETENESS ANSWERED
OUT OF ORDER
Codes
 The rules for interpreting, classifying,
and recording data in the coding
process
 The actual numerical or other
character symbols
“I believe that people judge your
success by the kind of car you drive.”
Strongly disagree 1
Mildly disagree 2
Neither disagree
nor agree
3
Mildly agree 4
Strongly agree
5
Rules for Coding
 Categories should be exhaustive
 Categories should be mutually
exclusive and independent
Coding Open-Ended Responses
 Purpose: To reduce the large number of
responses to a few general, meaningful
categories that can be assigned numbers.
 Steps:
 Take 20% of surveys to develop coding
scheme
 Separate into individual responses
 Look for themes in the answers
 Assign like themes a numerical code
 Continue process until responses have been
grouped into a meaningful, categorical
scheme
 Have at least 2 new coders code remaining
survey responses
 Check for intercoder reliability
 Key codes into data file
Data Entry
 The process of transforming raw data from
the research project to computers.
 Controllable source of error.
 ALWAYS verify data entry by either:
1. Having two people key the data into two
separate files and comparing files electronically.
2. Having someone other than the original key
stroker to manually check the file either on
screen or paper.
For your projects, be sure to report the method
used in your paper.
 Optical scanning systems
 Marked-sensed questionnaires
Recode
 Recoding is the process of using a
computer to convert original codes used
for raw data to codes that are more
suitable for analysis.
 Examples: Attitude items in scales with
both positive and negative statements.
 Reverse the coding for negative statements
to reflect the same direction and order or
magnitude as the positive statements
 greater magnitude = higher number
Error Checking and Verification
 Data cleaning
 If properly verified, data should be 100%
clean already.
 Use frequency tables for good triple-
check.