CHAPTER 8 Getting Your Data into the Computer 101

Chapter 8

Getting Your Data into

the Computer

B

efore you can analyze data, you have to collect it and get it into the

computer in a form that’s suitable for analysis. Chapter  5 describes this

process as a series of steps — figuring out what data you need and how they

are structured, creating data entry forms and computer files to hold your data, and

entering and validating your data.

In this chapter, we describe a crucially important component of that process,

which is storing the data properly in your research database. Different kinds of

data can be represented in the computer in different ways. At the most basic level,

there are numerical values and classifications, and most of us can immediately tell

the two apart — you don’t have to be a math genius to recognize “age” as numer-

ical data, and “occupation” as categorical information.

So why are we devoting a whole chapter to describing, entering, and checking dif-

ferent types of data? It turns out that the topic of data storage is not quite as trivial

as it may seem at first. You need to be aware of some important details or you may

wind up collecting your data the wrong way and finding out too late that you can’t

run the appropriate analysis. This chapter starts by explaining the different levels

of measurement, and shows you how to define and store different types of data. It

also suggests ways to check your data for errors, and explains how to formally

describe your database so that others are able to work with it if you’re not available.

IN THIS CHAPTER»

» ^{Understanding levels of}

measurement (nominal, ordinal,

interval, and ratio)»

» ^{Defining and entering different kinds}

of data into your research database»

» ^{Making sure your data are accurate»}

» ^{Creating a data dictionary to describe}

the data in your database