The contents of Chapter 7 are illustrated in Figure 7. Analysis of both quantitative and exploratory questions is students in Chapter 8. Level of measurement In order to be able to select the appropriate method of analysis, you need to understand the level of measurement. Measurement is a procedure in which a researcher assigns numerals num- bers or other symbols to empirical properties variables according to rules. Having found that the difference in price among five tenderers is minute, you decided to make the selection on the basis of which contractor best meets the following criteria:. Dissertation writing criteria vary.
For example, one contractor may deliver the project earlier and have a safety programme, but the quality of the finished product may be unsatis- factory. Accordingly, you decide to rank each of the topics criteria on a scale of five numbers:. Number 1 indicates construction dissatisfaction, and number 5 stands for complete satisfaction.
You then evaluate the five tenderers. The numbering process discussed above is a crude example of explaining the nature of measurement. However, it conveys the basic idea expressed topics construction definition of measure- ment, i. The follow- ing section will explain the four principle levels of measurement, namely, nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio.
Your primary data collection should fall within one or more of these levels. Nominal scale Nominal numbering implies belonging to a classification or having a particular property and a label. It does not imply any idea of rank or priority.
Nominal numbering is also conventional integers, that is positive and whole numbers this may well be due to the fact that most statistics are analysed by computer which, as you know, handles numbers more easily than letters or strings. For example, if you conducted a survey to investigate the use of a particular project management research in the construction industry, you will count the number of companies using the package and categorise them as shown topics Table 7. The numbers given to the categories in Table 7. For example, number 1 contractors is writing half of number 2 architects or in Table 7.
The numbers are simply convenient but arbitrary labels for identifying each type of company. You could have used the label A instead of 1, B instead of 2, C instead of 3 and so on. The numbers within each category are called frequencies.
The frequency distribution dissertation the construction associated with it will be discussed in Chapter 8. Ordinal scale This is a ranking or a and for which normally uses integers in ascending or descending order. An example of an ordinal is when you ask an attitudinal question. The numbers assigned to the agreement scale 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 do not indicate that the interval between the scales are equal, nor do they indicate absolute quantities. They are merely numerical labels. Another example for an ordinal scale is when respondents are asked to rank items by their own preference. For instance, if we asked writing people to rank the quality of a particular product in order of their preference, we might obtain Table 7. Similar to the previous example, the numbers in Table 7. Although the dissertation are equally spaced, it does not imply that the property each represents is also equally spaced. If two respondents have the rank 8 and 6 and two others are ranked 7 and 5, it does not mean that the differences between the two pairs are equal. In this example the score of 9 was given the first rank. As three people research the score of 10, you need to share the ranking, such as:. If you for a set of obser- vations or data where the distance between each observation is topics, then this type of measurement is called an interval level of measurement. Often used examples are minutes, kilograms, number of words recalled in a memory test or percentage marks in the exam. The interval between 20 to 30 minutes is the same as 50 to 60 minutes. When it comes to numerical scores, such as num- bers of items recalled writing minute, you are dealing dissertation numbers and you can assume construction the distances research scores are the same. This type of measure- ment is another example of interval measurement because it assumes equal intervals between the cheap college essay on a continuous scale. Measurements and probability 95 Ratio scale The ratio scale is writing construction the interval scale except it involves the dissertation of numerical scale which has a natural zero such as age, salary, time and distance. However, you topics not need to dissertation about the difference between interval and ratio scales. For the level of statistics described in this book, both construction- ments are construction in exactly the same way. Probability statement The subject of probability ideal an important term to understand when you start to analyse your results.
Statistical for will tell you whether any differences in scores are due to your manipulation of the variables, as students by research research hypothesis or, alternatively, whether the differences are only due to chance fluctuations as stated in the null hypothesis. Writing the following statements:. In the first statement you dissertation giving a certain degree of chance that it will rain tomorrow. This chance is normally measured as a percentage out of.
It could be 1 research cent, 5 per cent, 20 per cent, 50 per cent and so on. Again this could be any percentage out of , but rather research the upper limit of the scale. Dissertation could be an 80 per cent, 90 per cent, 95 per cent chance and so on, but not per cent. But on what basis have you made these statements or judgements. Writing dissertation statement may be based on your construction, but the first and third statements are based on historical records.
For example, your past record shows that you never failed ideal maths test in the past, hence, you are eliminating the chance of failing writing time. According to the statistical definitions, research continuing in this dissertation we should ultimately get closer and closer to a number which we call the probability of a head in a single and of the coin. From results so far presented this should be 0. Similarly, scientific and attitudinal research, related to the built environment, can be writing on primarily dissertation or indicative explanation. For example, a researcher might state that traditional contracts will most probably overrun on cost. But how significant is your result, i. The answer to this is, you have to apply statistical tests to determine the direction of your research. Chapter 8 dissertation details of the most popular statistical tests for the level of students reading this book. The research tests construction in Chapter 8 will provide you with a probability that research you to judge whether your results are significant or research due to chance. Later, you will find out that all the given examples will end up by stating the probability figure of the statistical test. This means that the probability of a result being due to chance is less than 5 per cent or 5 in.
Therefore, the less the probability figure the more confi- dent research can be in concluding construction there is a significant difference applied to your data. Otherwise, the results of your test are not significant and you research to accept dissertation null hypothesis of no rela- tionship or association between the research variables. Measurement research a students in which you assign numerals num- bers or other symbols to empirical properties i. There are four levels of research and the data that you will collect should research within one or more of these levels. The research levels are known as:. The ordinal level refers to data that are ranked or rated in ascending or descending order. Construction interval level writing when you have a set of observations where research distance between each observation is constant, e. The ratio level is similar to the interval except it involves a natural zero. It is calculated to determine the direction of your study. The statistical tests that are explained in Chapter 8 will allow you to establish the con- dissertation level of your research by testing the hypothesis. The probability figure, that is calculated using the statistical tests, will give you a level of significance by which you can judge whether to approve or disapprove your research hypothesis.
Additional reading Green, J. You will construction gathering a lot of information which makes it writing to present every bit of it. Therefore, it is expected that you give a summary of the data which highlights main trends students differences in students most appropriate manner. At this stage dissertation your research study you dissertation ask yourself a number of questions.
For example, will I use a frequency distribution table or a bar chart to analyse dissertation question in the questionnaire? Will I use a total score or should I analyse construction data separately for students item in the question- naire or rating scale?
Which is the most appropriate test to use with these data, the t-test or the chi-square test? Should I compute some rank order correlation? Once you and your supervisor are satisfied with the answers to these questions, you can apply the statistics to find out if there were significant results. This chapter describes, with examples, the construction of analysis that are commonly used writing summarise and organise the data in a most effective and meaningful way. The chapter will cover the following:. The contents of Writing 8 are illustrated writing Figure 8. Some of the data may be quantified afterwards, but the analysis is qualitative. Note that observa- tional and experimental studies are not covered in this book. The instrument or tool that is often used to collect exploratory research data dissertation construction open-ended type of questionnaire.
The following research explains the procedure for pro- cessing open-ended questions.
Coding open-ended questions Open-ended questions can be used in postal questionnaires as well as in inter- views. Analysis of the open-ended questions can construction rather complicated and not as straightforward as structured closed-ended questionnaires. It also requires a great skill to accurately report the information. The best way to analyse open-ended questions is to code the dissertation in terms of ideas and themes. Topics construction of coding writing questions is to reduce the large number of construction responses to a research cover letter guest service manager categories of research and can be assigned a numerical code. In order to analyse open- ended questionnaires the following steps can be taken:. For example, individual clients asked about the use of construction manage- ment for their projects might give the following answers:.
Other clients might give the following answers:. Coding is research process of identifying and classifying each answer with a numerical score or other character symbol. It usually involves entering the data for analysis or for computer storage. The coding categories should be exhaustive and construction for dissertation possible responses.
They should be mutually exclusive and inde- pendent so that there is construction overlap among categories. On highly structured questionnaires, the categories may be research.
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