You’ve probably been asked to calculate the average or MEAN of a set of numbers before. If any of your survey data required the respondents to answer with a number, calculating the mean can be a good way of determining the typical answer of the respondents as a whole.
EXAMPLE:
How many times a week do you go to the grocery store?
12 Answers: 1,1,3,2,1,1,2,3,1,2,2,1
mean = (sum of responses)/(total number of responses)
(1+1+3+2+1+2+2+3+1+2+2)/12 = 20/12 = 1.67
The average respondent goes to the grocery store 1.67 times a week. In real world terms this means most people make 1-2 trips to the grocery store per week.
Similarly, you can determine the most common answer or MODE of a set of data. In the previous example the answers included two 3s, four 2s, and six 1s. Therefore most people surveyed visit the grocery store 1 time per week. So, while the average respondent might visit the grocery store somewhere between 1-2 times per week most real people in that group only make 1 visit.
You can also determine the mode of non-numerical answers.
EXAMPLE:
Do you consider yourself to be a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or Other?
12 Answers: R, D, D, R, I, R, I, O, D, R, R, R
In this set of respondents there were Six Republicans, three Democrats, two Independents, one Other. Therefore, Republican is the mode so any individual in this group is most likely to be a Republican.
When analyzing your data you should consider what information is most relevant to your topic and gives you the most insight into how your survey respondents relate to that topic. These pieces of data will be the focus of the presentation that you give on your results. You should try to identify at least three key pieces of information you were able to determine by analyzing your results.
EXAMPLE:
High school junior Allison conducted a survey of her fellow students to learn about the impact of the school’s new backpack ban policy. One of the questions she asked was ‘Has the backpack ban made it easier, harder, or made no difference to get to class on time?’. Allison expected that the majority of students would say the ban has made it harder to get to class on time. However, she was surprised to see that 10 students said it was easier, 43 students said it was harder, but 102 students said it made no difference.
In her report, Allison can now discuss how her data demonstrates that on the question of lateness the backpack ban has made little negative impact on most students though it is still a challenge for about ¼ of the students.
