Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE DATA

EXAMPLE BOX 2

Raw Data and Frequency Distributions

COMPOUND FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION:

AGE GROUP AND ATTITUDE TOWARD CHANGING THE DRINKING AGE

Age Attitude Number of Cases

Under 30 Agree 20
Under 30 No Opinion 3
Under 30 Disagree 3
30–45 Agree 10
30–45 No Opinion 10
30–45 Disagree 5
46–60 Agree 4
46–60 No Opinion 10
46–60 Disagree 21
61 and older Agree 3
61 and older No Opinion 2
61 and older Disagree 10
Subtotal 101
Missing on either variable 8
To t a l 10 9

TWO FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTIONS:

AGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARD CHANGING THE DRINKING AGE

Age Group Number of Cases Attitude Number of Cases

Under 30 26

30–45 30 Agree 38

46–60 35 No Opinion 26

61 and older 15 Disagree 40

Missing 3 Missing 5

To t a l 10 9 To t a l 10 9

EXAMPLE OF RAW DATA

Case Age Gender Schooling Attitude Political Party, etc....

01 21 F 14 1 Democrat

02 36 M 8 1 Republican

03 77 F 12 2 Republican

04 41 F 20 2 Independent

05 29 M 22 3 Democratic Socialist

06 45 F 12 3 Democrat

07 19 M 13 2 Missing Information

08 64 M 12 3 Democrat

09 53 F 10 3 Democrat

10 44 M 21 1 Conservative

(Attitude scoring, 1 Agree, 2 No Opinion, 3 Disagree)