The analytical framework and the four stages of data analysis

Hello, my name is Dr. Christina Quinlan and I work at the Graduate Business School at the Technological University of Dublin. I'm going to talk to you today about the analytical framework and the four stages of data analysis.

Data Analysis, an Introduction. Data analysis is essentially the search for meaning in data. It is the search for patterns and trends in data. It is also the search for things that go against the trend. It is the search for things that stand out. Remember, you can't report everything that's in the data or everything that you find in data analysis. You report the key issues, the key aspects of the analysis that you carried out as they relate to your research question, your research issue. On the slide, now you can see the model of the research process. As you can see, analysing data is the third last step in the model. So we've come all the way through the whole process of research to this point where it's almost completed. We're going to analyse the data, draw conclusions, and then write up the research project and the research project is then complete.

On the slide now I'm showing you a sample research project. This research project is a survey exploring brand knowledge and brand loyalty among consumers. That's a research statement and it's quite a good research statement. It's concise, it's to the point. It contains all of the key concepts in the research project, key concepts or the key words, the key phrases in this research project. Those key concepts are brand knowledge and brand loyalty, and brand knowledge and brand loyalty among consumers. This research statement also contains a statement of the research methodology used in the research project, the research methodology's survey. So this research statement is short and succinct, but it's conveying a great deal of information about this research project. The aim of this research project is to conduct a survey exploring brand knowledge and brand loyalty among consumers. As you can see, the aim of the research project is the research statement restated as an aim. This is a very useful discipline because it helps the researcher maintain focus in the research project. Researchers not at this stage introducing any new key concepts into the research project. The objectives of this study are as follows: to explore brand knowledge among consumers; to explore brand loyalty among consumers; and to provide new insights into how brands can develop and enhance brand knowledge and brand loyalty among consumers. The objectives are not new aims, they are simply the steps the researcher is going to take in order to accomplish the aim of the project.