Analysis and Presentation of Data
Introduction to the unit................................................................................................. 3
1. Making sense of the information collected .......................................................... 3
2. Creating tally charts ............................................................................................. 5
Comments ............................................................................................................ 5
3. What do the tally charts tell you? ........................................................................ 6
Comments ............................................................................................................ 7
4. Presenting quantitative information ..................................................................... 8
4.1 Individual Variables ....................................................................................... 8
4.2 Comparable Variables .................................................................................. 11
4.3 Adding qualitative information from your questionnaire ............................ 13
Commentary and qualitative information .......................................................... 14
4.4 Adding interview information...................................................................... 14
4.5 Adding information from your business plan .............................................. 16
Collating and presenting your information ........................................................ 17
5. What are recommendations? .............................................................................. 17
Recommendations for future surveys ................................................................ 19
6. Making customer service recommendations ...................................................... 19
Summary ............................................................................................................ 22
7. Making changes in relation to recommendations .............................................. 22
8. Implementing changes ....................................................................................... 23
Checklist for change management: .................................................................... 24
9. Measuring and Reviewing Change .................................................................... 25
1
Do this ................................................................................................................ 26
Try this ............................................................................................................... 26
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 26
2
Introduction to the unit
Once market research has been conducted the data needs to be analysed and
presented. This unit provides examples of how to achieve this using tally charts and
graphs. It also provides suggestions of how best to draw conclusions from your
research and present your findings.
By the end of this unit you should have gained knowledge on:
 Making sense of information collected
 Collating and presenting quantitative information
 Presenting qualitative information
 Drawing and evaluating conclusions from a survey
 Comparing and contrasting the conclusions with a business plan
 Making customer service recommendations, in relation to a business plan and
survey conclusions
 How to make changes in relation to your recommendations
 Implementing, measuring and reviewing changes
1. Making sense of the information collected
3
Description
'4 June 2007: Back to work': Photograph of lots of folders and papers.
End of description
This may sound straight forward but this is often the place where a survey can
come unstuck! Think about it – you have collected your questionnaires and
possibly interviewed a few people and you have an idea about what you want to
know but how do you extract that information and how do you tell others about it?
There is no easy way of doing this, it has to be a logical, systematic and analytical
trawl through all the information at your fingertips and only YOU can express what
that information says.
This approach can be broken down into stages and it is easier to deal with one stage
at a time:
1. Number or code all your questionnaires so that if you made any comments
about one of them you can find it again easily. e.g. If you gave out 20
questionnaires number them 1 – 20
4
2. Create a tally chart for each question separately. This is simply a way of
collecting the information from many people about the same subject.
3. Understand what the tally charts are telling you.
4. Convert this information into pictures and diagrams, so that this information
is easy for others to read.
2. Creating tally charts
For example, if you asked the question 'What is your age group?' and you gave out
20 questionnaires your answer might look something like this:
Table 2.1: What is your age group?
15 - 25 26 - 40 41 - 60 61+
1
6
10
3
If you add all the age groups together the total number of replies should equal 20.
Some questions are more complicated however and need a more complex tally
chart.
For example if you asked the same people which shampoo they preferred your tally
may look like this:
Table 2.2
15 - 25 26 - 40 41 - 60 61+ Total
Shampoo X 0
0
1
3 4
Shampoo Y 1
5
7
0 13
No preference 0
1
2
0 3
Some questions may have qualitative information attached as well. This is where
your questionnaire coding can be useful.
For example, if you asked the same people which shampoo they preferred and
allowed space for their comments your tally may look like this:
Table 2.3
15 - 25 26 - 40 41 - 60 61+ Total
Shampoo X 0
0
1
3 4
Shampoo Y 1
5
7
0 13
No preference 0
1
2
0 3
Comments
5
(Questionnaire 5 - age group 61+, shampoo X) “This shampoo makes my hair
feel thicker and stronger”
(Questionnaire 7 - age group 26 – 40, shampoo Y) “I like this shampoo because
my hair seems shinier after using it”
(Questionnaire 3 - age group 26 – 40, shampoo Y) “ My hair seems shiny”
(Questionnaire 12 - age group 15 - 25, shampoo Y) “ My mum buys it but I like it
too”
If you use Microsoft Excel you will see that there is a function especially for
creating tally charts in exactly the same way by:
1. Opening a Microsoft Excel worksheet
2. Blocking out the number of squares needed for the tally chart
3. Using the spreadsheet functions to create a command for Excel to calculate
the totals automatically
3. What do the tally charts tell you?
It is important not to underestimate this step as it is here that you will do most of
your analysis.
Taking the examples from Section 2 the following multiple-choice questions will
help to analyse the data in more detail.
These questions will take you approximately 30 minutes to complete. Try and note
down what you think is the answer before revealing the final answer.
Question 1
Table 3.1: What is your age group?
15 - 25 26 - 40 41 - 60 61+
1
6
10
3
What does the information in Table 3.1 tell you?
(a) That most of your customers are aged between 41 and 60
(b) That you only have 3 customers aged 60+
(c) That out of 20 customers 6 were aged between 26 and 40
Answer
The information in figure 3.1 tells you:
6
(c) That out of 20 customers 6 were aged between 26 and 40. It is not accurate to
say that most of your customers are aged between 41 and 60, just that more of this
age group were willing to fill in your questionnaire. It is also not accurate to say
that you only have 3 customers aged 60+. There may have been some reason why
only 3 customers 60+ were able to fill in your questionnaire.
End of answer
Question 2
Table 3.2
15 - 25 26 - 40 41 - 60 61+ Total
Shampoo X 0
0
1
3 4
Shampoo Y 1
5
7
0 13
No preference 0
1
2
0 3
What does the information in Table 3.2 tell you?
(a) That most of your customers prefer Shampoo Y
(b) That none of your customers aged 26 – 40 like Shampoo X
(c) That there is a possible trend for your customers 15 - 60 towards Shampoo Y
and a slight trend for your customers 61+ towards Shampoo X
Answer
The information in figure 3.2 tells you:
(c) That there is a possible trend for your customers 15 - 60 towards Shampoo Y
and a slight trend for your customers 61+ towards Shampoo X. If you wanted to
know what more of your customers thought you would have to conduct a bigger
survey.
End of answer
Question 3
Table 3.3
15 - 25 26 - 40 41 - 60 61+ Total
Shampoo X 0
0
1
3 4
Shampoo Y 1
5
7
0 13
No preference 0
1
2
0 3
Comments
7
(Questionnaire 5 - age group 61+, shampoo X) “This shampoo makes my hair
feel thicker and stronger”
(Questionnaire 7 - age group 26 – 40, shampoo Y) “I like this shampoo because
my hair seems shinier after using it”
(Questionnaire 3 - age group 26 – 40, shampoo Y) “ My hair seems shiny”
(Questionnaire 12 - age group 15 - 25, shampoo Y) “ My mum buys it but I like it
too”
What might the additional comments in Tabe 3.3 tell you about which shampoo
they prefer?
(a) That there is a possibility that younger customers buy Shampoo Y because they
feel that it makes their hair shiny
(b) That your younger customers prefer Shampoo Y because it makes their hair
shine
(c) That your older customers prefer Shampoo X because it makes their hair feel
thicker and stronger
Answer
The additional comments tell you:
(a) That there is a possibility that younger customers buy Shampoo Y because they
feel that it makes their hair shiny. Again nothing is conclusive about your survey
but it does give you an idea about what people are thinking. If you want to be more
certain about what your customers think you would need to conduct a larger survey.
End of answer
4. Presenting quantitative information
4.1 Individual Variables
Once you have completed your tally charts for each question you will have a very
good idea about what your survey is telling you. You then need to convert the
results into something readable.
The simplest way of presenting this information is by creating charts and graphs.
These are easy to read and easy to understand and with a little annotation they tell
the reader exactly what you found out.
Let's look at ways of presenting the three questions from Section 3.
8
When dealing with simple sequential information (individual variables) a bar chart
or a pie chart is often the easiest way of presenting the information. Take a look at
the first question:
Figure 4.1
Description
A bar chart showing different age groups.
End of description
Or the information may be displayed like this:
9
Figure 4.2
Description
A pie chart showing different age groups.
End of description
Activity 1
This activity will take approximately 5 - 10 minutes to complete.
The bar chart or the pie chart will need explaining. Look at figure 4.2 again and
make a note of how you would describe the data presented in this pie chart.
Answer
From the pie chart, you may have concluded that:

20 questionnaires were returned
10


50% of the questionnaires were completed by customers aged 41- 60
If you were given some background information about the survey you could
explain this result
End of answer
4.2 Comparable Variables
When dealing with complex information (comparable variables) and a variety of
answers that need to be shown together, you may choose a chart like this that shows
the preference for one product in relation to another and in relation to the
respondent’s age groups.
Figure 4.3
Description
A bar chart showing different age groups and their shampoo preference.
End of description
11
Equally this information may be displayed like this:
Figure 4.4
Description
A bar chart showing different age groups and their shampoo preference.
End of description
Activity 2
This activity will take approximately 5 - 10 minutes to complete.
Again, the bar chart or the pie chart will need explaining. Study figure 4.4 again
and make a note of how you would describe the data presented in this pie chart.
Answer
From studying the bar chart, you might have written something like:
12
It can be seen by the customers surveyed that shampoo Y is preferred by more
people than shampoo X. The 61+ age group however showed the most preference
towards shampoo X.
End of answer
4.3 Adding qualitative information from your questionnaire
Qualitative information cannot be used to create charts and graphs because it
represents thoughts and feelings. Therefore the respondent’s comments that have
been added to the questionnaires can be used to help justify your quantitative
results.
Let's look at the example from Sub-section 4.2 with the addition of qualitative
information:
Figure 4.5
Description
13
A bar chart showing different age groups and their shampoo preference.
End of description
Commentary and qualitative information
It can be seen by the customers surveyed that shampoo Y is preferred by more
people than shampoo X. The 61+ age group however showed the most preference
towards shampoo X.
In relation to shampoo X, one respondent commented that this shampoo made her
hair feel thicker and stronger.
In relation to shampoo Y, two respondents commented that it made their hair shine
and one used the shampoo because it was bought by her mother.
4.4 Adding interview information
Once interviews have been completed and transcribed, it is necessary to extract
useful information from them. The easiest way to do this is to highlight interesting
comments and suggestions in relation to the questionnaire questions.


Work through each of the transcripts and highlight relevant information in
relation to your first question
Then repeat the process with your next question in mind.
Let's look at the example from Section 4.3 Adding qualitative information from
your questionnaire with the addition of interview information:
14
Figure 4.6
Description
A bar chart showing different age groups and their shampoo preference.
End of description
An analysis of this bar chart along with qualitative information and interview
information might look something like this:



It can be seen by the customers surveyed that shampoo Y is preferred by
more people than shampoo X. The 61+ age group however showed the most
preference towards shampoo X.
In relation to shampoo X, one respondent commented that this shampoo
made her hair feel thicker and stronger. In relation to shampoo Y, two
respondents commented that it made their hair shine and one used the
shampoo because it was bought by her mother.
Interviewee 1 explained that she had used shampoo X for many years,
although satisfactory, her hair needed frequent washing and often felt heavy.
15
She changed to shampoo Y six months ago and has seen a great
improvement. Her hair feels lighter and has more shine.
4.5 Adding information from your business plan
This is the final stage of analysis. Is there anything relevant from your business
plan that needs to be referenced? Let's look at the example from Section 4.4 Adding
interview information with the addition of information taken from a business plan.
Figure 4.7
Description
A bar chart showing different age groups and their shampoo preference.
End of description
An analysis of this bar chart along with qualitative information, interview
information and information from a business plan might read something like this:
16




It can be seen by the customers surveyed that shampoo Y is preferred by
more people than shampoo X. The 61+ age group however showed the most
preference towards shampoo X.
In relation to shampoo X, one respondent commented that this shampoo
made her hair feel thicker and stronger. In relation to shampoo Y, two
respondents commented that it made their hair shine and one used the
shampoo because it was bought by her mother.
Interviewee 1 explained that she had used shampoo X for many years,
although satisfactory, her hair needed frequent washing and often felt heavy.
She changed to shampoo Y six months ago and has seen a great
improvement. Her hair feels lighter and has more shine.
In reference to the business plan target to increase sales of shampoo by 5%
this year, it would seem appropriate to focus on sales of shampoo Y to our 15
– 40 year old customers whilst expressing the benefits of “shine”. Our 60+
market may prefer shampoo X for its “thickening and strengthening
qualities”.
Assessing the strength of the relationship
What is being referred to here is the relationship between two or three issues –
cause and effect theory. Is the change of one variable dependent upon another
variable?
Take, for instance, a number of people commenting on the opening of a new salon.
One might hear it said that "If it were cheaper, I would use it" but another might
say "If the opening times were better, I would too". But what if a third was to add "I
do not use it because I don’t like the products”. Managers have to weigh up all
these comments before making judgments on price, opening times and products.
Collating and presenting your information
In summary, this unit so far has provided the basics of statistical analysis, so you
should now know how to:






Code questionnaires
Create tally charts for each of your questionnaire questions
Highlight interesting information from interviews in relation to a
questionnaire
Highlight interesting relationships to your business plan, targets etc in
relation to your questionnaire
Present each question
Link qualitative information into appropriate sections
5. What are recommendations?
17
Description
'4 June 2007: Back to work': Photograph of lots of folders and papers.
End of description
Recommendations act as the final summing up of your survey and can propose two
things:


Action to be taken based on your findings
Future surveys in related topics
This section concentrates on recommending action to be taken. This is the most
immediate benefit of a survey and needs to be conveyed back to employers and
colleagues for it to start to take effect.
However, in some cases further surveys need to be carried out, and for that purpose
there is a brief introduction below on how to write recommendations for further
studies.
18
Recommendations for future surveys
These recommendations are used to explain the limitations of your survey and
explain any follow-up work or work that remains to be done.
Your recommendations are based on the findings of your survey and your
conclusions, so new ideas should not be introduced at this stage. You must only
clarify your existing information.
These recommendations may:



Advise colleagues to extend the survey that you have just carried out e.g.
include a greater sample, send out more questionnaires or interview more
people.
Advise colleagues to undertake a survey into another topic which you were
unable to attempt at this stage but you think would be useful.
Advise colleagues of the weaknesses, omissions and difficulties you
encountered whilst conducting your survey: the purpose of this is to help
others avoid the same pitfalls.
6. Making customer service recommendations
19
Description
'TOC': Close up photograph of a printed report index page.
End of description
The recommendations section of a report should be short and to the point, spelling
out clearly what the business can realistically do to make future improvements to
customer services.
Guidelines:





Where possible recommendations should be Specific, Measurable, Realistic
and time bound (SMART target settings).
Recommendations should be linked to evidence (ie. your survey).
Recommendations should be linked to business plans, targets and codes of
practice.
Recommendations should avoid conflict with current business targets, unless
agreed with your employer.
Recommendations should avoid replicating a current business target, but can
be used to describe how to achieve a target more easily. For example, a
20

current target for a salon may say that shampoo sales need to increase by
15%. Your recommendations may present ways of doing this.
Recommendations should be numbered so that each recommendation can be
easily identified and recognised in future discussions.
Activity 3
This activity will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
It is often difficult to visualise what recommendations might look like. Download
and read the following example of a report with recommendations.
Click 'View document' below to open the Customer Service Department Report.
View document
Once you have read the Customer Service Department Report answer the following
questions. Before revealing the answers make a note of your thoughts in a notepad
or use your learning journal.
Question 1
What did customers say would be the most suitable extension to the CSD opening
hours?
Answer
69% of customers said that Saturdays would be most suitable
End of answer
Question 2
What level of customer satisfaction were the CSD providing?
Answer
67% Of customer said their queries was dealt with effectively
92% Of customers felt they were dealt with professionally
65% Of customers were happy with the outcome of their query
End of answer
Question 3
What was recommended for the topic of future surveys?
Answer
21
The time frames involved in dealing with customer queries
End of answer
Summary
So far this unit will hopefully have provided you with the knowledge of how to:



Evaluate the conclusions of your survey
Compare your findings against your salons business plans and targets
Record your recommendations for future action and where necessary future
surveys
7. Making changes in relation to recommendations
At this stage you should have completed your report. However, having undertaken
your survey and painstakingly analysed the results it would be a pointless exercise
in customer services skills if the information is not shared with your employer and
colleagues (if appropriate). These are skills that can be used in the day to day
organisation operations.
Ultimately, you need the opportunity to share your findings with your employer
and colleagues (if appropriate). Due to work commitments it might not be possible
to discuss your findings straight away, however this needs to be completed for you
to view the full cycle of meeting your customers changing needs. This cyce is
illustrated in figure 7.1
22
Figure 7.1
Description
An illustration showing the cycle of how to meet the changing needs of your
customers.
End of description
Professional Activity 1
If you are working in industry and are in a position to do so, propose a meeting
with your employer to discuss the conclusions and recommendations of your report.
Meet with your employer and discuss your recommendations. You may want to
make some notes about how your recommendations could be implemented.
8. Implementing changes
23
Recommending changes and implementing them in any business or organisation
can create stress and anxiety amongst employees. The following checklist can help
convey recommendations for change whilst minimizing anxiety levels.
Checklist for change management:









Provide sufficient notice of any changes
Give full reasons for any changes
Involve people in the planning and implementation stages
Effective communication
Introduce changes gradually, if possible
Offer employees the chance to develop new skills
Ensure employees know how the changes will be beneficial for them
Always remember how changes may affect individuals
Check on how employees are coping and remember to support them
individually
It is important that change should cause minimal disruption to a business. This
means that staff need to be prepared for change and not fear it. If their concerns are
ignored or mismanaged they will feel vulnerable and demotivated and the quality of
their work may suffer.
Whatever the nature of the change, leadership during this time is built on good
communication. So business leaders need to:




Eliminate uncertainty: Be honest and upfront from the beginning of the
change process. Provide as much information as possible about proposed
changes and the impact it will have on people and their ways of working.
Be visible: Try to give key messages face-to-face. Employees will appreciate
hearing it from the boss in person.
Match the mood to the message: The manner in which you communicate is
almost as important as the message itself. If you've got bad news, give it
sensitively.
Delegate: You can control the information you give by using managers who
know their staff and know how best to communicate it.
Give people the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. Make sure this
is not just a cosmetic exercise.
Try to see change as an opportunity, rather than a threat. Because it requires more
leadership, it's a chance for you to grow in the eyes of your employees. If you earn
more respect it will increase their motivation to work for you.
Professional Activity 2
If you are working in industry and are in a position to do so, Propose a meeting
with your colleagues and employer (if appropriate) to discuss the recommendations
you have decided to implement. Using your survey recommendations form and
bearing in mind the above checklist for change management, share your ideas with
24
your colleagues. At the conclusion of the meeting you may be able to formalise the
way forward with customer service changes.
9. Measuring and Reviewing Change
Description
A photograph of a salon receptionist at a computer.
End of description
The final stage in this process is to measure and review the benefits of the changes
you have proposed. Periodically, it is necessary to review the targets set and
whether they are being achieved. This is an ongoing process and links directly back
into the organisations business plan.
Research Activity 1
This activity should take approximately 40 minutes to complete.
25
Using an internet search engine access the Business Link website and search for
‘Improve the performance of your staff’
Read the available material and make notes in your learning journal.
To summarise this unit, visit the website for The Chatered Institute of Marketing
and read the “10 minute guide – Customer Service Programme”. Again, make
relevant notes in your learning journal.
Professional Activity 3
If you are in a position to do so, to conclude this unit you could undertake the
following activities:





Arrange a meeting with your employer to discuss your recommendations.
With your employer discuss if, how and when these recommendations can be
implemented.
With your employers consent, arrange a meeting with your colleagues to
explain the conclusions of your survey and share your ideas for customer
service improvements.
Ask your employer to consider these new recommendations when business
planning and target setting.
Measure the benefits of the changes.
Do this
Now you have completed this unit, you might like to:



Post a message to the unit forum
Review or add to your Learning Journal
Rate this unit
Try this
You might also like to:

Find out more about the related courses ran by the University of
Derby Buxton: FdA Hairdressing and Salon Management and Spa Therapies

Book a FlashMeeting to talk live with other learners

Create a Knowledge Map to summarise this topic
Acknowledgements
Authors: Louise Buxton and Paula Batters.
Image of Wrapping One's Head Around The Data by Unhindered by Talent
available from Flickr under the CC-Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
26
Image of 4 June 2007: Back to work by Joel Down available from Flickr under the
CC-Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic
Image of TOC by D'Arcy Norman, available from Flickr under the license CCAttribution 2.0 Generic
All other written material contained within this unit originated at the University of
Derby.
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