Data!!!

If you are afraid of statistics, or mathematics talk, do not read any further.  You have been warned.

I got my data yesterday for the project I have been working on.  I love the initial stages of data analysis.  I love getting to do all the preliminary basic stuff, like just doing counts and basic bar charts and crosstabs.  I love getting to just muck around with the data before getting into the nitty-gritty stats. 

It's like when you open a box of flat-pack furniture.  When you are pulling everything out of the box and having a look at all the pieces, and are excited about the prospect of the finished product, but before the frustration of the actual complexities of putting it together kick in.

That's where I am at the moment.  The data has been surpisingly well cleaned, which is a nice change from the last time I did analysis on data collected by someone else.  AND their coding system makes sense (even if it is not the way I would have done it).

I always find it interesting when I look at data that has been coded by someone else.  It makes me realise all the idiosyncrasies I have picked up over the years, from working with different people.  For example, a lot of people code male/female using a 1/2 framework, but I code female/male as 0/1.  It's a bit crude, but I was taught it as 0 for vagina, and 1 for penis.  In electronics they use a similar model, and even refer to different connectors as being "male" or "female" depending if they are an inny or an outty. 

Similarly, I always code No/Yes as 0/1, which makes COMPLETE sense from a mathematical/binary perspective.  Whereas the current data set has been coded as 1/2  for no/yes.  It just seems silly to me.  Small things that amuse my nerdy little brain.

The other thing that has been great so far is that all the findings are exactly what was expected.  Which is a clear nod that the questionnaire design worked well.  It will be interesting to see what I find once I start looking at the verbatim stuff, but for the moment, everything is easy-peasy. 

Best be back to it.