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Good MorningGood Morning

Topic:- Editing and Coding

( Business Research Method )

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Overview of the Stages of Data Analysis

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EDITING

T he process of checking and adjustingresponses in the completed questionnairesfor omissions,legibility, and consistency andreadying them for coding and electronicstorage.

Purpose of editing is to eliminate errors & confusion.

Editing involves inspection & correction of each questionare.

T he main role of editing is inspecting,correcting & modifying the data.

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Types of Editing

1. Field EditingPreliminary editing by a field supervisor on thesame day as the interview to catch technicalomissions, check legibility of handwriting, andclarify responses that are logically orconceptually inconsistent.

The main probl e m fac e d in fi e ld e ditingi. Inappropriat e r es pond e nt s .ii. Incmpl e t e int e rvi ews .iii. Improp e r und e r s tanding.iv. Lack of con s i s t e ncy.v. Le gibility.

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i. Inappropriat e R es pond e nt s:I t is intended to include house owners in thesample for conducting the survey. I f a tenantis interviewed, it would be wrong.

ii. Incompl e t e int e rvi ew: All Questions are to be answered.there should

not be any blanks, Blanks can have different meaning like :(a) No answer.(b) Refusal toanswer. (c) Question not applicable.(d)Interviewer by overright dint record.

iii. Lack of und e r s tanding :The interviewer in a hurry, would haverecorded some abbreviation answer. Later at the end of the day, s(he) cant figure out what is meant.

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V i. Con s i s t e ncy :The earlier part of the questionnaire indicates

that there are no children and in the later part the age of children is mentioned .V . L e gibility :

if what is said is not clear, the interviewer must clarify the same on the spot.

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2 . In- h ou se/ offic e Editing

Editing performed by a central office staff &the job of an office editor is often moredifficult than field editing.

e.g- A respondent indicated that he doesnt drink coffee, but when questioned about hisfavourite brand,he replied Bru.

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Purpose of Editing

1. For consistency between and amongresponses

2. For completeness in responses toreduce effects of item non-response

3. T o better utilize questions answered

out of order4. T o facilitate the coding process

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Facilitating the Coding Process

Data Clean-upChecking written responses for any straymarks

Editing And T abulating Dont Know AnswersLegitimate dont know (no opinion)R eluctant dont know (refusal to answer)Confused dont know (does notunderstand)

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Data Cleaning: Consistency Checks

Consistency checks identify data thatare out of range, logically inconsistent, orhave extreme values.

Computer packages like SPSS, SAS,EXCEL and M INIT AB can be programmedto identify out-of-range values for eachvariable and print out the respondentcode, variable code, variable name, recordnumber, column number, and out-of-range value.

Extreme values should be closelyexamined.

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Data Cleaning: T reatment of MissingR esponses

1. Substitute a Neutral Value A neutralvalue, typically the mean response to thevariable, is substituted for the missingresponses.

2. Substitute an Imputed Response T herespondents' pattern of responses to otherquestions are used to impute or calculate asuitable response to the missing questions.

3. Casewise deletion - cases, or respondents,with any missing responses are discarded fromthe analysis.

4. Pairwise deletion - instead of discarding allcases with any missing values, the researcher

uses only the cases or respondents withcom lete res onses for each calculation.

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CODING

T he process of identifying andclassifying each answer with anumerical score or other charactersymbol

T he numerical score or symbol is called acode , and serves as a rule for interpreting,classifying, and recording data

I dentifying responses with codes isnecessary if data is to be processed bycomputer

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Coding - Continued

Coded data is often stored electronically in theform of a data matrix - a rectangulararrangement of the data into rows (representingcases) and columns (representing variables)

The data matrix is organized into fields, records,and files:

F i e ld : A collection of characters that represents asingle type of dataR e cord : A collection of related fields, i.e., fieldsrelated to the same case (or respondent)F il e: A collection of related records, i.e. recordsrelated to the same sample

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An I llustrative Computer File

R ecords 1-3 4 5-6 7-8 ... 26 ... 77

R ecord 1 001 1 31 01 6544234553 5R ecord 11 002 1 31 01 5564435433 4R ecord 21 003 1 31 01 4655243324 4R ecord 31 004 1 31 01 5463244645 6R ecord 2701 271 1 31 55 6652354435 5

FieldsColumn N umbers

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K ey Issues in Coding

1 . Pr e -Coding F ix e d-Alt e rnativ e Qu es tion s ( F AQ s) -Writing codes for FAQs on thequestionnaire before the data collection

2 . Coding Op e n-End e d Qu es tion s - A 3-stageprocess:

(a) Perform a test tabulation, (b) Devise acoding scheme, (c) Code all responsesTwo Rules For Code Construction are:

a) Coding categories should be exhaustive

b) Coding categories should be mutually exclusive

and independent

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Issues in Coding - Continued

3 . Maintaining a Cod e Book - A bookthat identifies each variable in a study, thevariables description, code name, andposition in the data matrix

4 . Production Coding - T he physicalactivity of transferring the data from thequestionnaire or data collection form [to thecomputer] after the data has been collected.Sometimes done through a coding sheet ruled paper drawn to mimic the data matrix

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Maintaining a Codebook

Codebook A document that contains codinginstructions and the necessary informationabout variables in the data set.G enerally contains the following informationabout each variable:

1. R ecord number ( R espondent number)2. Question number3. Variable name4. Variable label

5. Variable type6. Codes (Value labels) - e.g. 1=Strongly agree,

etc)7. Coding instructions

Example :-

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Question variable N O Code Description Variable name ______ 1 R ecord number R ECNU M ______ 2 R espondent number R ES I D

1 3 5 digit zip code Z I P2 4 2 digit birth year B IRTH3 5 G ender G EN DE R

1=Male2=Female9=Missing

4 6 Marital Status MA RIT AL1=Married2=Widow3=Divorced4=Separated

5=Single6=Missing

5 7 Own_ R ent H OU S ING

1=Own2= R ent

3=Provided9=Missin

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A FTER CODING ..

1 . Data Entry - T he transfer of codes fromquestionnaires (or coding sheets) to acomputer. Often accomplished in one of threeways:

a) On-line direct data entry e.g. as for CA TI systems

b) Optical scanning for highly structured

questionnairesc) Keyboarding data entry via a computer

keyboard; often requires verification

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A fter Coding - Continued

2 . Error C he cking Verifying theaccuracy of data entry and checkingfor some kinds of obvious errors madeduring the data entry. Oftenaccomplished through frequencyanalysis.

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A fter Coding - Continued

3 . Data T ran s formation Converting someof the data from the format in which theywere entered to a format most suitable for

particular statistical analysis.Often accomplished through re-coding, to:reverse-score negative (or positive)statements into positive (or negative)

statements;collapse the number of categories of avariable

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