Experiment!: Planning, Implementing and Interpreting

12.7 Summary

• Analysis can be seen as distilling the complex information in raw data into components that are meaningful in light of your research question. It commences with data processing and finishes with the actual analysis.
• Processing includes any steps necessary to turn the raw data into a quantitative format.
• The measures used in the analysis may be an indirect representation of the phenomenon under study. They are thereby similar to the theoretical concepts discussed in Chapter 5.
• We should connect our response variables to the experimental factors or other variables that are firmly coupled to the research question.
• It is good practice to begin the analysis by arranging the processed data in a table and look for patterns. The hypothesis will make you expect certain patterns but it does no harm to take a wider view. This stage should be followed by graphical and mathematical analysis.
• Multivariate techniques can be used to analyze non-structured data.
• A research paper presents a scientific argument. It begins by clearly stating a research question and ends with conclusions that answer it. It also describes the methods and gives all the data that underlie the conclusions.
• The parts of a Ph.D. thesis are similar to those of a paper but they focus more on demonstrating the research skills of the student.
• The synthesis consists of specifying your scientific contribution: putting the parts of your research together and relating them to the larger body of knowledge in your field. ...