Chapter Fourteen

Data Preparation

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 Chapter Outline

1) Overview
2) The Data Preparation Process
3) Questionnaire Checking
4) Editing
i. Treatment of Unsatisfactory
Responses
5) Coding
i. Coding Questions
ii. Code-book

iii.Coding Questionnaires
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 Chapter Outline

6) Transcribing
7) Data Cleaning
i. Consistency Checks
ii. Treatment of Missing Adjusting
the
Responses Data

8) Statistically Adjusting the Data

i. Weighting
ii. Variable Respecification
iii. Scale Transformation
9) Selecting a Data Analysis
Strategy
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 Data Preparation Process

Fig. 14.1 Prepare Preliminary Plan of Data Analysis

Check Questionnaire

Edit

Code

Transcribe

Clean Data

Statistically Adjust the Data

Select Data Analysis Strategy

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 Questionnaire Checking

A questionnaire returned from the field may be

unacceptable for several reasons.
• Parts of the questionnaire may be incomplete.
• The pattern of responses may indicate that
the respondent did not understand or follow
the instructions.
• The responses show little variance.
• One or more pages are missing.
• The questionnaire is received after the
preestablished cutoff date.
• The questionnaire is answered by someone
who does not qualify for participation.

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 Editing

Treatment of Unsatisfactory Results

• Returning to the Field – The questionnaires
with unsatisfactory responses may be returned
to the field, where the interviewers recontact
the respondents.
• Assigning Missing Values – If returning the
questionnaires to the field is not feasible, the
editor may assign missing values to
unsatisfactory responses.
• Discarding Unsatisfactory Respondents –
In this approach, the respondents with
unsatisfactory responses are simply discarded.

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 Coding

Coding means assigning a code, usually a number, to each

possible response to each question. The code includes an
indication of the column position (field) and data record it will
occupy.

Coding Questions

• Fixed field codes, which mean that the number of records

for each respondent is the same and the same data appear in
the same column(s) for all respondents, are highly desirable.
• If possible, standard codes should be used for missing data.
Coding of structured questions is relatively simple, since the
response options are predetermined.
• In questions that permit a large number of responses, each
possible response option should be assigned a separate
column.
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 Coding

Guidelines for Coding Unstructured Questions:

• Category codes should be mutually exclusive and

collectively exhaustive.

• Only a few (10% or less) of the responses should

fall into the “other” category.

• Category codes should be assigned for critical

issues even if no one has mentioned them.

• Data should be coded to retain as much detail as

possible.

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Fig. 14.2 Codebook Excerpt
Column Variable Variable Question Coding
Number Number Name Number Instructions
1 1 ID 1 to 20 as coded

2 2 Preference 1 Input the number circled.

1=Weak Preference
7=Strong Preference
3 3 Quality 2 Input the number circled.
1=Poor
7=Excellent
4 4 Quantity 3 Input the number circled.
1=Poor
7=Excellent
5 5 Value 4 Input the number circled.
1=Poor
7=Excellent
6 6 Service 5 Input the number circled.
1=Poor
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7=Excellent
Fig. 14.2 Codebook Excerpt (Cont.)
Column Variable Variable Question Coding
Number Number Name Number Instructions
7 7 Income 6 Input the number circled.
1 = Less than $20,000
2 = $20,000 to 34,999
3 = $35,000 to 49,999
4 = $50,000 to 74,999
5 = $75,000 to 99,999
6 = $100,00 or more

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 Data Transcription

Fig. 14.4
Raw Data

CATI/ Keypunching via Optical Digital Bar Code &

CAPI CRT Terminal Recognition Tech. Other
Technologies
Verification: Correct
Keypunching Errors

Computer Other
Disks
Memory Storage

Transcribed Data
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Data Cleaning Consistency Checks

Consistency checks identify data that are out of

range, logically inconsistent, or have extreme
values.

• Computer packages like SPSS, SAS, EXCEL

and MINITAB can be programmed to identify
out-of-range values for each variable and print
out the respondent code, variable code,
variable name, record number, column
number, and out-of-range value.

• Extreme values should be closely examined.

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Data Cleaning Treatment of Missing Responses

• Substitute a Neutral Value – A neutral value,

typically the mean response to the variable, is
substituted for the missing responses.
• Substitute an Imputed Response – The
respondents' pattern of responses to other questions
are used to impute or calculate a suitable response to
the missing questions.
• In casewise deletion, cases, or respondents, with any
missing responses are discarded from the analysis.
• In pairwise deletion, instead of discarding all cases
with any missing values, the researcher uses only the
cases or respondents with complete responses for each
calculation.

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 Statistically Adjusting the Data Weighting

• In weighting, each case or respondent in the

database is assigned a weight to reflect its
importance relative to other cases or
respondents.

• Weighting is most widely used to make the

sample data more representative of a target
population on specific characteristics.

• Yet another use of weighting is to adjust the

sample so that greater importance is attached
to respondents with certain characteristics.

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 Statistically Adjusting the Data

Use of Weighting for Representativeness

Years of Sample Population

Education Percentage Percentage Weight

Elementary School
0 to 7 years 2.49 4.23 1.70
8 years 1.26 2.19 1.74

High School
1 to 3 years 6.39 8.65 1.35
4 years 25.39 29.24 1.15

College
1 to 3 years 22.33 29.42 1.32
4 years 15.02 12.01 0.80
5 to 6 years 14.94 7.36 0.49
7 years or more 12.18 6.90 0.57

Totals 100.00 100.00

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Statistically Adjusting the Data – Variable
Respecification

• Variable respecification involves the

transformation of data to create new variables or
modify existing variables.

• e.g., the researcher may create new variables

that are composites of several other variables.

• Dummy variables are used for respecifying

categorical variables. The general rule is that to
respecify a categorical variable with K categories,
K-1 dummy variables are needed.

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Statistically Adjusting the Data – Variable
Respecification

Product Usage Original Dummy Variable Code

Category Variable
Code X1 X2 X3
Nonusers 1 1 0 0

Light users 2 0 1 0
Medium users 3 0 0 1
Heavy users 4 0 0 0

Note that X1 = 1 for nonusers and 0 for all others. Likewise, X2

= 1 for light users and 0 for all others, and X3 = 1 for medium
users and 0 for all others. In analyzing the data, X1, X2, and
X3 are used to represent all user/nonuser groups.

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Statistically Adjusting the Data –
Scale Transformation and Standardization

Scale transformation involves a manipulation of

scale values to ensure comparability with other
scales or otherwise make the data suitable for
analysis.

A more common transformation procedure is

standardization. Standardized scores, Zi, may be
obtained as: Zi = (Xi - X )/sx

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 Selecting a Data Analysis Strategy

Fig. 14.5

Earlier Steps (1, 2, & 3) of the Marketing Research Process

Known Characteristics of the Data

Properties of Statistical Techniques

Background and Philosophy of the Researcher

Data Analysis Strategy

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 A Classification of Univariate Techniques

Fig. 14.6
Univariate Techniques

Metric Data Non-numeric Data

One Sample Two or More One Sample Two or More

Samples Samples
* t test * Frequency
* Z test * Chi-Square
* K-S
* Runs
* Binomial
Independent Related
Independent Related
* Two- Group test * Paired
* Z test t test * Chi-Square * Sign
* One-Way * Mann-Whitney * Wilcoxon
ANOVA * Median * McNemar
* K-S * Chi-Square
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A Classification of Multivariate Techniques
Fig. 14.7
Multivariate Techniques

Dependence Interdependence
Technique Technique

One Dependent More Than One Variable Interobject

Variable Dependent Interdependence Similarity
Variable
* Cross-Tabulation * Multivariate Analysis * Factor Analysis * Cluster Analysis
* Analysis of of Variance * Confirmatory * Multidimensional
Variance and * Canonical Correlation Factor Analysis Scaling
Covariance * Multiple Discriminant
* Multiple Analysis
Regression * Structural Equation
* 2-Group Modeling
Discriminant/Logit and Path Analysis
* Conjoint Analysis
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