Assessment, monitoring, evaluation: - Download as DOC

							SOFTWARE FOR DATA ANALYSIS

COMPARING SOFTWARE
Data management and analysis software perform four basic functions:

                       What it is:                                   What to look for:
Data entry             Inputting the information from                 Is it easy to use? e.g. to allow input from
                       surveys and interviews into a                   low skilled personnel
                       computer application.                          Can you customise? i.e. can you create
                                                                       your own input forms to make data-entry
                                                                       easier?
Data management        Manipulating the data: sorting,                What data management power does it
                       indexing, creating subsets, grouping,           have? Software may have only basic
                       creating new variables from the                 functions (e.g. sorting and some
                       existing ones, etc.                             descriptive statistics) or the possibility of
                                                                       using advanced grouping functions
                                                                       necessary for more advanced statistical
                                                                       analysis.
Data analysis          Converting the data into intelligible          What data analysis power does it have?
                       information, such as averages,                  Software may allow only simple
                       frequency tables, sums and other                calculations or more advanced statistical
                       statistics                                      functions. Programming skills may be
                                                                       necessary to run more advanced analysis
Data reporting         Formatting the digested data into              What variety of reporting formats does it
                       table, charts and graphs that can be            have (e.g. types of graphs)? How easy is it
                       used in reports                                 to produce these?


Different types of software will score better for different functions and will therefore be more suitable for
different types of work.


                       Data entry                Data management           Data analysis              Data reporting
Databases              Excellent for entering    Excellent for             Data analysis              Database can
(e.g. Oracle, Dbase,   data: able to create      managing data             capability is limited to   generate polished
FoxPro, Access,        different customised      (creating subsets,        counts, means and          tabular (text) reports
Paradox)               forms. However,           grouping, etc.). , Most   sums                       but not for graphics
                       database can be           data management
                       complex to set up         operations may
                       (creating a new           require some skills to
                       database may require      be set up, but then
                       specialised skills, but   can be run
                       inputting routine data    automatically
                       is easy)
Spreadsheets           Easy data entry, but      Limited data              Good range of              Excellent graphing
(Lotus 123, Excel,     can be inadequate for     management                statistical function,      feature; charts
etc.)                  large dataset             capability                but could be               created this way can
                                                                           cumbersome to apply        be easily exported in
                                                                           to large datasets          word processors
Statistical            Data entry can be a                                 Excellent data
(e.g. EPIinfo, SPSS)   bit cumbersome                                      management




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QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS SOFTWARE

Specific software has been developed for qualitative data analysis (e.g. Ethnograph, Nudist). It is often
based on expanded text retrieval and handling capacities. The idea is to highlight segments and to label
concepts and key issues (e.g. from interview transcripts), then be able to retrieve it, build relationship trees or
query the data to pull out relevant concepts or interviews.

One problem is that such software packages are often based on implicit theories of qualitative research and
may force researchers to follow conventions set in the programme.




WHAT TO CONSIDER IN CHOOSING SOFTWARE
   Match -- What kind of analysis do you want to do and which software matches this best? (see above)
   Skills -- What is are required? How does that match with skills available in house? What are the
    implications for distributing and managing work in data entry, cleaning and analysis?
   Availability -- Which software is most easily available? Lowest cost? What support is there for
    troubleshooting?
   Compatibility – How compatibile is it with other software already used, including by partner
    organisations?




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