Supportive Guide ~ Organising and Preparing Data for Dissertation Analysis - Dan Connell
Supportive Guide ~ Organising and Preparing Data for Dissertation Analysis - Dan Connell
Dear all,
I hope you are doing well. As many of you are now nearing the end of your data collection
phase—whether through surveys, interviews, or questionnaires—this guide provides
structured support on how to organise and prepare your data before progressing to
analysis. Proper data preparation will help ensure your analysis is accurate, meaningful,
and aligned with your research objectives.
Themes:
- Customer service experiences (helpfulness, meal vouchers, attitude)
- Operational efficiency (queueing, delays, service design)
Example layout:
Respondent ID | Age | Gender | Satisfaction (1–5) | Recommend (1 = Yes, 0 = No)
001 | 24 | 1 | 4 |1
002 | 31 | 2 | 3 |0
Best practices:
- Use clear and consistent variable names (e.g., “Satisfaction” rather than “Q3a”).
- Avoid full text where numerical codes can be used (e.g., 1 = Male, 2 = Female).
2. Data Cleaning
Before beginning any statistical analysis:
- Check for missing data and decide how to handle it.
- Look for outliers or errors and correct as needed.
- Standardise formats for consistent entries.
- Convert text into numerical codes where appropriate (e.g., Yes/No → 1/0).
Example:
Variable | Description | Values
Age | Age of respondent | Numeric (e.g., 18–99)
Gender | Self-identified gender | 1 = Male, 2 = Female
Satisfaction | Customer satisfaction rating | 1–5 (Very Poor to Excellent)
Recommend | Would recommend the airline | 1 = Yes, 0 = No
Final Notes
Getting your data well-organised and correctly coded at this stage will make your analysis
much smoother and more robust. It also helps avoid common pitfalls that can affect your
results later on.
This guide is intended to provide supportive direction, but you are strongly encouraged to
conduct further independent reading to ensure your data preparation aligns with your
research methods and academic expectations.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss your approach in more detail, please
don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Best wishes,
Dan