ACCOUNTING RESEARCH

METHODS – 301

Sections: III-BSA / III-BSAIS

Professor: ILYNN P. MAULEON
CHAPTER 4
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND
INTEPRETATION OF DATA

Lesson 3

Interpreting Statistical Results

 ● Interpret the results of statistical
Learning data.
Objectives
At the end of the
● Construct a statistical report
lesson, you should based on the results of statistical
be able to do the
following: analysis.

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 Make Sense of the Statements

● The blood pressure is 120/80 mm Hg

● The internet speed is 17.20 Mbps
● The nearest local bank from our house is
27 km.
● My body temperature is 37°C.
● The annual interest rate of my new bank
account is at 3.5%.
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 The Results section of a research
The Results study is where the statistical
Section analyses of the gathered data
are found.

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OUTLINE
 ● What is the motivation level of
Interpreting freshmen college students?
Descriptive
Statistics ● How varied are the students’
level of stress?

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Commonly Used Descriptive Statistics
Statistic Name Symbol Use Example Application
Mean M or X Describes the average value of The average age of
a variable participants
was M = 12.6 years.
Median Mdn Describes the middle response The median age was 13
years.
Mode (none) Describes the most commonly Of five possible activities
occuring in gym class, the mode
response was “line dancing.”

Range (none) Describes the distance The class test scores

between had a range of 65 points
the highest and lowest score (from 35 to 100)

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Commonly Used Descriptive Statistics
Statistic Name Symbol Use Example Application
Standard Deviation SD Describes how dispersed the The scores on the spelling
data points are about the mean test (SD = 12.3) were
more spread out than
those on the math
test (SD = 5.5).
Percentile Rank % Describes the percentage of The student scored 81 on
participants with scores at or the test, which is at the
below a particular score 73rd percentile. He scored
higher than 73% of the
students.
z Score z Describes the relative standing of Jennifer’s height is very tall
a score in relation to all the other for this sample (z = +3).
scores Mark is short compared to
others in
the sample (z = -2.1).
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Example for Interpreting Descriptive Statistics

The results of the proposed intervention for a

reading comprehension program showed that
the reading comprehension scores of Section A
(M = 88.14, SD = 8.8) is greater than Section B
(M = 80.53, SD = 3.5).

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Example for Interpreting Descriptive Statistics

• What descriptive statistics did the authors use?

• What do these statistics tell you about the two

class sections in the study’s sample?

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Answers

● The descriptive statistics used in the given

example above are the mean (M) and
standard deviation (SD).
● Section A appear to have higher scores
than Section B.

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Answers

● The standard deviation of Section A is

greater than Section B, which implies that
the students have more dispersed scores.

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 ● Do boys differ from girls in
terms of their academic
Interpreting
motivation?
Inferential
Statistics
● Does client satisfaction relate
to the annual sales of a
company?

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Commonly Used Inferential Statistics

Statistic Name Use How to Interpret Example Application

t-test (t) To test for a difference There is a significant Compare males and
between two groups difference between females on time spent
the groups if p ≤ α on social media

Mann Whitney To test for a difference There is a significant Compare boys and girls
(U) among two groups that difference between in terms of amount of
are nonparametric the groups if p ≤ α food eaten

Pearson To test for a relationship There is a significant Determine whether

Correlation (r) between two variables relationship if p ≤ α time spent studying is
related to grade point
average

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Example for Inferential Statistics Interpretation

Consider the following result from a hypothetical

quantitative research article. Assume the alpha
level of .05 is set for the study: “Class A reported
higher levels of conscientiousness than Class B
where t(23) = 4.51, p < .05”.

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Example for Inferential Statistics Interpretation

● What can you infer about the information

provided for each study’s data analysis
procedure?
● What type of hypothesis was tested?

● What test statistic was selected?

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Example for Inferential Statistics Interpretation

● What p value was determined to calculate

the test statistic?

● Was there sufficient evidence to reject the

null hypothesis?

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Practice!

Identify the important details from the report

written below:
“There is a significant negative relationship
between the price of the product and
customer satisfaction
(r = -0.67, p < 0.05).”

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Answer

The example given is a hypothesis test

comparing Class A and Class B in terms of
their conscientiousness levels. The
researchers made use of the t statistic and
found p < .05 for their data.

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Answer

Because p is less than .05, there was

sufficient evidence to reject the null
hypothesis. Therefore, the researchers found
a statistically significant difference.

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Tip

Keep the study’s research questions and

hypotheses in mind as you write or interpret
the results of the data. The information in the
report of the results must be organized to
address each of these.
“Put the Label”

Adolescents who took the food supplement (M = 55.40, SD = 11.94) have significantly
increased their weight as compared to the adolescents who did not take the food
supplement (M = 48.31, SD = 12.40) , t(23) = 4.41, p < 0.05.

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 Interpret the Data

Kathlyn wants to know if there is a relationship

between the anxiety levels of her students and their
academic performance. She obtained the following
values:
Details Values
No. of Participants 30
r -0.83
Probability Value p < 0.05

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 Wrap Up
SUMMARY

The Results section of a research study

is where the statistical analyses of the
gathered data are found.

Descriptive statistics are commonly

found in research study reports to know
basic patterns about the data.

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 Wrap Up
SUMMARY

Comparison and relationship are some

of the main details reported using
inferential statistics.

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SUMMARY
Commonly Used Descriptive Statistics
Statistic Name Symbol Use Example Application
Mean M or X Describes the average value of The average age of
a variable participants
was M = 12.6 years.
Median Mdn Describes the middle response The median age was 13
years.
Mode (none) Describes the most commonly Of five possible activities
occuring in gym class, the mode
response was “line dancing.”

Range (none) Describes the distance The class test scores

between had a range of 65 points
the highest and lowest score (from 35 to 100)

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Commonly Used Descriptive Statistics
Statistic Name Symbol Use Example Application
Standard Deviation SD Describes how dispersed the The scores on the spelling
data points are about the mean test (SD = 12.3) were
more spread out than
those on the math
test (SD = 5.5).
Percentile Rank % Describes the percentage of The student scored 81 on
participants with scores at or the test, which is at the
below a particular score 73rd percentile. He scored
higher than 73% of the
students.
z Score z Describes the relative standing of Jennifer’s height is very tall
a score in relation to all the other for this sample (z = +3).
scores Mark is short compared to
others in
the sample (z = -2.1).
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Commonly Used Inferential Statistics

Statistic Name Use How to Interpret Example Application

t-test (t) To test for a difference There is a significant Compare males and
between two groups difference between females on time spent
the groups if p ≤ α on social media

Mann Whitney To test for a difference There is a significant Compare boys and girls
(U) among two groups that difference between in terms of amount of
are nonparametric the groups if p ≤ α food eaten

Pearson To test for a relationship There is a significant Determine whether

Correlation (r) between two variables relationship if p ≤ α time spent studying is
related to grade point
average

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References

Howitt, Dennis, and Duncan Cramer. Introduction to Statistics in Psychology. 5th

ed. England: Pearson, 2011.

Leary, Mark R. Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods. 6th ed. New Jersey:
Pearson, 2012.

Marczyk, Geoffrey, DeMatteo, David, and David Festinger. Essentials of Research

Design and Methodology. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.

Mayers, Andrew. Introduction to Statistics and SPSS in Psychology. UK: Pearson,

2013.

Plano Clark, Vicki L., and John W. Creswell. Understanding Research: A

Consumer’s Guide. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2015.