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QUANTitative Analysis & Statistics

This is a "starting point" guide for those taking a statistics and [quantitative] data analysis courses and/or doing a data analysis project.
On this page:
  • Secondary Data: For those not collecting their own data
  • Survey: For those who will collect their own data.

Secondary Data

Secondary Data

If this is your first solo project, be nice to yourself and use a dataset provided by your professor (if possible) or from one of the sources listed at Browse Data for Projects (best bets from there are below). Experienced data collectors produce the cleanest and easiest to use data files. All the major software packages will open/import files in SPSS, Stata, or SAS formats, so download the file for your software if you can, or any of the others if you cannot. 

Always download and read the documentation that comes with it to find variables of interest (note the variable name) and to learn about the population that was surveyed. Also, look for information about how missing or implausible values are represented.

 

Best Bets

These have smaller datasets on interesting topics. The General Social Survey is also great, but is quite big unless you use the tools to select your variables before downloading

Survey

Create Your Own Survey

It takes time to collect good data, from designing and pilot testing the questionnaire to recruiting a large and representative sample. If you are doing a data analysis project in one semester, time is the one thing you don't have. Thus, you will probably be doing convenience sampling, which restricts generalizability.

If you are doing a longer project and need to collect data, check out our longer Collect Data with a Survey guide.

Use Qualtrics

  • It is a high-quality research-focused survey platform available to all GMU students and faculty for free.
    • You must request an account through your department. Ask your professor for help, or check for a person in your area on the list of Qualtrics Administrators.
  • Data can be downloaded with both numeric values AND labels to be used in any statistical software
    • Always download the data in SPSS format and open it directly in the software you will use (each can import it). Do NOT open/edit it in Excel.
  •  If you are not required to use any particular software, you can use the built-in analysis and visualization features. If those aren't sufficient, consider jamovi.

See our recommended video tutorials for Learning Qualtrics. Tutorials from the company require you to sign in first.