Recording and Analyzing Data
This section provides some tips for recording and analyzing your survey and other program
data. This is meant only as an introduction to the topic. We have included several sample
spreadsheets at the end of the tool kit to provide examples of a simple database and
analysis.
A.
Getting Started: Creating a Database in Excel ..................................29
B.
Working with Your Database in Excel...............................................30
C.
Analyzing Your Data / Survey Results..............................................31
D.
Analyzing Qualitative Data ..............................................................34
E.
Spreadsheet Formulas and Tutorials ................................................36
28
A.
Getting Started: Creating a Database in Excel
ƒ
Your rows are your “records.” A record is (typically) the information you have
collected for a single person. So in your camper database, each row would be a
single camper.
ƒ
Your columns are your “fields.” A field is a specific data point, such as a first
name, last name, phone number, response to a single survey question, etc. In
your camper database, you may have fields for your information about each
camper and their attendance each day of your program.
ƒ
Include a separate field for every piece of data that is important to you.
For example, if you want to create an alphabetical list of campers by last name,
you will want at least two fields for the camper’s name: first name and last name.
Likewise, if you have a survey question with multiple parts, you will probably want
a field for each response.
ƒ
Use numbers where possible. Create a code list (1=Yes, 0=No; 1=Male,
2=Female) to make it easier to enter and analyze your data.
Sample Start of a Database
This sample database has some initial fields for tracking retention in the program. The last
three columns track participation in the program over time. John Doe is participating for
the first time this year, while Bill Jones is participating for his third year.
ID #
1
2
3
First name
John
Jane
Bill
Last name
Doe
Smith
Jones
Phone
222-2222
333-3333
444-4444
Part 2006?
0
1
1
Part 2007?
0
0
1
Part 2008?
1
1
1
29
B.
Working with Your Database in Excel
ƒ
Sorting data. Once your data has been entered, you can work with it in many
ways. It is useful to sort your data by one or more categories. You can sort by
last name and first name; by town; by a demographic category (male/female), by
participation over time (2008, 2007, 2006).
ƒ
Filtering data. Excel allows you to create a “filter” where you can view data for a
specific group of youth without seeing the rest of the records. For example, you
may want to add data only for your current campers. In this case, you can set the
filter for the “Part 2008” field to “1”. Or you might want to see only the
participants in a specific site or course.
ƒ
Adding fields. The nice thing about Excel is that you can keep adding fields as
you collect data. Just type in a new column heading at the end of your database
and add the data.
ƒ
Limitations of Excel. Excel is primarily for simple databases. If you are
interested in having multiple linked tables, it is better to use a program like
Microsoft Access. For example, many programs want to have a table that keeps
track of basic camper data (name, address, demographics), with a separate linked
table that tracks program daily attendance. In Excel, you need to have a column
for each day’s attendance, which will make for a very large (and wide)
spreadsheet.
See Sections 6C, 6E and 9B for examples of spreadsheets and different analyses.
30
C.
•
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
•
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Analyzing Your Data / Survey Results
Average scores. Campers rated your program on a scale of 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent).
What is the average score? Excel has formulas you can enter to answer these
questions. Below is a simple example for 6 answers to Question 1. The formula
calculates the average for cells B2 through B7.
A
Camper #
1
2
3
4
5
6
B
Question 1
4
4
3
4
4
2
Average:
=AVERAGE(B2:B7)
3.5
C
Question 2
1
1
1
1
1
0
D
Question 3
3
4
3
3
4
4
Response Frequencies and Percentages. It may be interesting to look at how responses
are distributed. How many campers rated the program poor, fair, good and excellent?
What percent of campers “agreed” (3) or “strongly agreed” (4) with Question 3? Excel
can calculate FREQUENCIES to answer these questions. [This requires more knowledge
of Excel, see Section 6E.] In our example, the formulas would result in the following:
A
Camper #
1
2
3
4
5
6
B
Question 1
4
4
3
4
4
2
Average:
3.5
3.5
0
1
1
4
0
0
3
3
0%
16.7%
16.7%
66.7%
0%
0%
50%
50%
100%
Frequencies
1
2
3
4
Percents
1
2
3
4
C
Question 2
1
1
1
1
1
0
Percent agreeing (3
or 4):
D
Question 3
3
4
3
3
4
4
31
•
Percent achieving the standard. Programs may want to report on their results for a
specific standard. For example, the number and percent of campers learning to swim,
as defined as achieving Level 2 or better in swimming.
A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
•
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
B
Swimming Level
1
2
3
3
3
2
4
2
Camper #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Frequencies
1
2
3
4
C
D
1
3
3
1
Percents
1
2
3
4
12.5%
37.5%
37.5%
12.5%
# at Level 2 or better
% at Level 2 or better
7
87.5%
Percent improving by a certain level. Programs that conduct pre- and post-tests may be
more interested in showing student progress over the summer. How many students
increased their reading grade level by more than 2 months? How many students
improved their scores by more than 5 or more points?
A
Student #
1
2
3
4
5
6
Average
Score:
B
Pre-Test
38
27
36
42
28
31
C
Post-Test
49
35
38
41
38
36
D
Increase?
11
8
2
(1)
10
5
33.67
38.00
5.83
E
Increased 5+ points
1
1
0
0
1
1
10
32
A
B
C
D
# increasing 5+
% increasing 5+
11
12
•
E
4
66.7%
Analyzing data by groups or categories. You can use “Pivot Tables” in Excel to analyze
data for different sub-groups or categories. For example, you want to look at program
ratings by town, or by full-pay students vs. financial aid students. Using Excel, you can
create a new worksheet that summarizes this information quickly. (See Section 6E.)
Data Sheet
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
A
ID #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
B
Site
Hartford
Manchester
Manchester
Manchester
Hartford
Hartford
Manchester
Hartford
Hartford
Manchester
Manchester
Hartford
Hartford
Hartford
C
Program Rating
3
4
4
4
3
2
3
4
3
4
4
1
3
3
The pivot table (below) shows the number of survey respondents by site, and the average
program rating by site. Program staff can use this information in program improvement
efforts.
Pivot Table Sheet
A
B
1
2
3
Site
Data
Hartford
4
# Responses
5
Average of Rating
Manchester
6
# Responses
7
Average of Rating
8
Total # Responses
9
Total Average of Rating
10
C
Total
8
2.75
6
3.83
14
3.21
33
D.
Analyzing Qualitative Data (answers to open-ended questions)
•
Organize responses into categories. Read through all of your responses to the questions
and try to develop categories. For example, campers may report their favorite part of
the program was: the staff, a specific activity, making new friends, learning a new skill
or topic, etc. Usually, you will also have some responses that don’t seem to form a
group, so create an “other” category as well. Sometimes, one child may report 2 or
more categories. We generally will split up the response and put each in the appropriate
category.
•
Create a document with the main categories and specific responses below each
category. Once you feel like you have a good sense of the categories, write them down
and put each quote below the category.
•
Check your work with a colleague. This is by its nature a subjective process. Different
people will categorize answers in different ways. If possible, give your initial analysis to
a colleague to review, and discuss / refine your categories based on their feedback.
•
Order your categories from high to low. Count the number of responses by category
and list them in order from most responses to fewest.
•
Show your work. When you report results, include at least some of the quotes below
each category, so readers will have an idea of how you organized the data. If you have
a large number of responses, select several “illustrative quotes” for each category to
show the range of responses in that category.
•
This takes time. As noted in Section 3, analyzing qualitative data takes a great deal of
time. Carefully consider how many open-ended questions you want to include in your
survey.
Below is a sample report on answers to an open-ended question:
1. Please tell us at least one strength of the training:
The trainers (7 respondents)
• Very well explained
• Very enthusiastic, knowledgeable trainer who presented information in an
interesting way
• Knowledgeable trainers
• They were all knowledgeable with topics
• Well knowledge trainers,
• All the knowledge the trainers had about the topics!
• Dynamic presenters -- know and present material well
Sharing experiences, discussions (3)
• Sharing resources
• Shared experiences with other educators
• Group discussions
34
Multiple trainers (3)
• I like having more than 1 trainer
• 3 trainers
• Using different facilitators
Group activities (3)
• The activities are varied and helps to pay attention
• Meaningful activities that went along with presentation
• Group activities
Information (3)
• The information provided to me
• All the information was excellent
• A lot of good and useful lessons and resources
Well organized (2)
• Organized
• Great time management
Other
•
•
•
•
Informal
Practical
Listening
Good listening
35
E.
Spreadsheet Formulas and Tutorials
Sample Data for Examples
1
2
3
4
5
6
A
ID #
1
2
3
4
B
Rating (1-4)
3
4
4
4
C
Score
86
72
91
95
1. Addition (+), Subtraction (-), Multiplication (*), and Division (/)
All formulas start with: =
Adding up cells:
Adding up all 4 ratings:
Subtracting:
Multiplying:
Dividing:
=cell1+cell2+cell3…
=B2+B3+B4+B5
=cell1-cell2
=cell1*cell2
=cell1/cell2
2. Adding up a group of numbers (the SUM function)
Enter a range of cells by typing the top cell, a colon, and the bottom cell
Adding up all ratings:
=SUM(B1:B5)
3. Calculating an average (the AVERAGE function)
Average score:
=AVERAGE(C1:C5)
4. Counting the number of non-blank cells (the COUNT function)
This formula can be helpful when you want to see how many people actually responded to a
question. It will count each cell that has a number in it (including 0’s).
Number of responses to Q1:
=COUNT(B2:B5)
36
5. Calculating the number of responses for each scale score (FREQUENCY)
The FREQUENCY function is very useful if you would like to know how many participants
rated your program a 1, how many rated it a 2, how many rated it a 3, and how many rated
it a 4. It is a more complicated formula, because you will calculate the formula for a range
of cells at once.
The main steps are:
•
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
A
ID #
1
2
3
4
B
Rating (1-4)
3
4
4
4
C
Score
86
72
91
95
Rating Scores:
1
2
3
4
•
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Enter your potential responses in a column below your data. For the Rating
column, these would be 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Select the cells where you want the frequencies to be calculated.
A
ID #
1
2
3
4
B
Rating (1-4)
3
4
4
4
Rating Scores:
1
2
3
4
Frequencies
•
C
Score
86
72
91
95
Enter the formula.
=FREQUENCY(cells with data, cells with potential responses)
37
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
A
ID #
1
2
3
4
B
Rating (1-4)
3
4
4
4
Rating Scores:
1
2
3
4
Frequencies
=FREQUENCY(B2:B5,A9:A12)
•
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
C
Score
86
72
91
95
To make the formula appear in all of the cells, hold down the following keys to
enter the formula: Ctrl-Shift-Enter .
A
ID #
1
2
3
4
B
Rating (1-4)
3
4
4
4
Rating Scores:
1
2
3
4
Frequencies
0
0
1
3
C
Score
86
72
91
95
Microsoft’s website has step-by-step instructions for using the FREQUENCY function at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HP052090971033.aspx?pid=CH062528311033
6. Using Pivot Tables
As noted in Section 6C, pivot tables are ways to analyze your data for different types of
respondents. Microsoft’s website has demos on how to create pivot tables at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA011989031033.aspx?pid=CH011275561033
38