Quantitative Data Analysis: Resources and Team
Essential Resources for Quantitative Data Analysis
Performed Quantitative Analysis: Most Common Means
- A computer with sufficient capacity to work smoothly with the regular programs of statistical data analysis (e.g., SPSS).
- Availability of photocopiers and paper.
More Specific Means
- A scanner designed to perform content analysis of texts.
Materials Supplied
- Final report
- Preview of conclusions
- Literal transcription of interviews and/or focus groups (in qualitative research)
- First complete result tables, with a basic business plan
- Output tables used in the report
Budget
The budget is broken down by category of expenditure (e.g., human resources, professionals, materials, space or premises, etc.) and also by the phased implementation of the project. The breakdowns should not leave a marginal place in the formulation of the total budget.
Research Team
The project will start with a computer. A representative is responsible for writing, noting that the project is primarily a practical document, but in the order of the project, which is usually placed last, just before the annexes (if any). The point for the presentation of the research team acts as a firm commitment to all the above in the project.
The research project is the work of a number of subjects, although the responsibility of the study will focus on one or two people. Characteristics to be highlighted in the project are, in principle, people who are supposed to have special knowledge and experience in social research and in the specific field of social relations that is intended to be observed.
Many times, the recognition of a name becomes a more consistent basis for trusting a study and the means, especially when the projects are quite similar to each other. This personalization of the investigation may take several forms depending on whether a company or a research team is behind the project. If it is a business or social research institute, this presentation tends to some anonymity. It is the mark of the company’s main hallmark, even until the publication of the report. Then, there is no need to give a detailed history of who will conduct the study, as it will be under the supervision of the institution/company. The researchers are under the imprint of the power of the brand; their only option is to present their experience in the particular field, especially when they have intervened in it.
Before presenting the history of each piece of equipment, the structure of the team should be established:
- Director(s) of research: The top leaders and representatives of the research.
- Coordinator of the research team: Their main tasks shall include ensuring all members are informed of the team, with the maximum current situation of research, and convening meetings between team members.
In this team presentation, two things should be pointed out: the number of members and the discipline or profession in which they are specialists.
If the equipment is working time as such, it is easier to trust a team that has already shown its efficiency than one that is launched for the first time, where there is a danger of personal disagreements and mismatches that can lead to ruining the investigation.
Most research requires a number of collaborators, which varies depending on the characteristics of the research. The most common types of partners are:
- People who are going to do field work are going to be different from the rest of the team. If the technique they will use will be in-depth interviews, provide here the number of interviewers to be available. When the field work involves interviewing, using questionnaires to a sample of people, note here the group of interviewers.
- Number of people or team of people responsible for performing support tasks.
- In some projects, such as those made for public administration, a kind of pre-written agreement of such employees is required, including personal details of every employee.