Step 3: Interpret the Pattern
Introduction to Interpreting Patterns
If a pattern is detected in Step 2, the second step is to interpret this pattern in
as much detail, and with as much creativity, as you can. This is typically where many
researchers fail, because it’s one thing to find a pattern but another to know what
to do about it.
Steps in Interpreting Statistical Patterns
The following are steps that I usually advocate:
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Summarize the pattern into statistical coefficients and parameters (the model): In Step 2 (the previous section) we discussed the fact that finding patterns in data most often compares the actual data to a mathematical model, which is a precise data relationship, like a normal distribution, an exact correlation-type ...
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