Chapter 18 m303 final

involves the inspection and, if necessary, correction of each questionnaire or observation form

a preliminary edit designed to detect the most glaring omissions and inaccuracies in data

ÊCompleteness

ÊLegibility

ÊComprehensibility

ÊConsistency

ÊUniformity

aka "eyeball" edit - thorough and exacting scrutiny and correction of completed data collection forms, including a decision about what to do with the data

ÊTo convert all responses to
consistent units

ÊDegree of nonresponse

ÊWhere possible, for consistency
across responses

ÊFor evidence that respondent
wasn’t really thinking about answers

ÊTo add any needed codes

ÊThe process of transforming raw
data into symbols (usually numbers) that can be utilized for analysis

ÊTransforming responses to each
question into a set of meaningful categories

ÊAssigning numerical codes to the
categories

ÊCreating a data set suitable for
computer analysis - may need to transform raw variables

An error that arises during
editing, coding or data entry

usually due to
researcher carelessness

Two types of outliers

Logically inconsistent responses and should be corrected

Decisions must be made as to how to handle these extreme coded values given by respondents

Alternatives to handling missing data