How to Manage, Analyze, and Interpret Survey Data

--Cameron Lee, Fuller Theological Seminary

Clearly written with useful checklists, guidelines, and examples, How to Manage, Analyze, and Interpret Survey Data shows readers how to manage survey data and become better users and consumers of statistical and qualitative survey information. Fink explains the basic vocabulary of data management and statistics, and then demonstrates the principles and logic behind the selection and interpretation of commonly used statistical and qualitative methods to analyze survey data: from cleaning the data to measurement scales through to how to read computer output and judge significance using confidence intervals. Thoroughly reorganized and revised, the book now includes coverage of:

* How to organize and manage data for analysis

* How to draft an analysis plan

* How to define and format a data file

* How to create a complete code book, including how to establish the reliability of the coding

* How to calculate the odds ratio and risk ratio

* How to do the basic steps in a content analysis of qualitative data

* How to recognize and deal with missing data and outliers for recoding

* How to enter data accurately into spreadsheets, database management programs, and statistical programs

--Kathy Sexton-Radek, Elmhurst College

Arlene Fink (PhD) is Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, and president of the Langley Research Institute. Her main interests include evaluation and survey research and the conduct of research literature reviews as well as the evaluation of their quality. Dr. Fink has conducted scores of evaluation studies in public health, medicine, and education. She is on the faculty of UCLA’s Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and is a scientific and evaluation advisor to UCLA’s Gambling Studies and IMPACT (Improving Access, Counseling & Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer) programs. She consults nationally and internationally for agencies such as L’institut de Promotion del la Prévention Secondaire en Addictologie (IPPSA) in Paris, France, and Peninsula Health in Victoria, Australia. Professor Fink has taught and lectured extensively all over the world and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and 15 textbooks.