Dr.

Muhammad Mutahir Iqbal

Department of Commerce,
Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan

Computer: A Slave NOT a Master

It is no better than any facilitating device such as Pen,

Paper, White-Board, etc.

People still live their lives without it and may continue
doing so.
There are many slaves to mankind

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Computer: A Slave NOT a Master (2)

There were many slaves to Mehmood
Ayaz enjoyed extreme closeness to his master

Mehmood
So do the Computer to its master

18-02-2010

DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data
The term data means groups of information that
represent the qualitative or quantitative attributes of a
variable or set of variables. Data (plural of "datum",
which is seldom used) are typically the results of
measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or
observations of a set of variables.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data

(2)

Data are often viewed as the lowest level of

abstraction from which information and
knowledge are derived.
The terms information and knowledge are
frequently used for overlapping concepts. The
main difference is in the level of abstraction being
considered. Data is the lowest level of abstraction,
information is the next level, and finally,
knowledge is the highest level among all three
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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data, Computer, and Research

Computer helps converting data into information and

then to knowledge
Social Researches use, produce, and disseminate data

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Computer and Research Data

Research data needs:
Careful and accurate recording
Safe storage
Prompt retrieval
Efficient handling
Suitable analysis and then correct interpretation

Computer assists doing it all

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Recording Research Data

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data Cleaning

(1)

Quality of the results of a research is directly

proportional to the quality of the data its results are

based upon
Research data is prone to following errors
Data recording error
Data entry error
Consistency error

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data Cleaning

(2)

Data cleaning is an important procedure during

which the data are inspected, and erroneous data
are -if necessary, preferable, and possiblecorrected.
Data cleaning can usually be done during the stage
of data entry. If this is done, it is important that no
subjective decisions are made.
The guiding principle:
during subsequent manipulations of the data,

information should always be cumulatively retrievable.

In other words, it should always be possible to undo any
data set alterations.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Quality of Research Data:

Improvement its of
Quality of the research data can be improved in two

ways:
Validation
Verification

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Validation of Data
(Checking before entry)
Validation
Validation methods

Data type checks

Unlike range checks, data is checked for one limit only, upper OR lower, e.g., data should
not be greater than 2 (>2).

Presence check

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Checks that the data lie within a specified range of values, e.g., the month of a person's
date of birth should lie between 1 and 12.

Limit check

Checks the data type of the input and give an error message if the input data does not
match with the chosen data type, e.g., In an input box accepting numeric data, if the
letter 'O' was typed instead of the number zero, an error message would appear.

Range check

Format check
Checks that the data is in a specified format (template), e.g., dates have to be in the
format DD/MM/YYYY.

Checks that important data are actually present and have not been missed out, e.g.,
customers may be required to have their telephone numbers listed.

DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Verification of Data
(Checking after entry)

Data Verification is a process wherein the data is

checked for accuracy and inconsistencies after data
entry is done.
It helps to determine whether data was accurately
translated, is complete, and supports processes in
the new system. During verification, there may be
a need for a parallel run of both systems to identify

areas of disparity and erroneous data loss.

18-02-2010

DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Backing up Your Data (Why and How?)

A backup or the process of backing up refers to making

copies of data so that these additional copies may be used

to restore the original after a data loss event. These
additional copies are typically called "backups."
Backups are useful primarily for two purposes.
To restore a state following a disaster (called disaster recovery).
To restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally

deleted or corrupted.

Backups are taken in two ways

On-site or on the same machine
Off-site or on a different machine and/or media

18-02-2010

DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Making Data Available to the Computer

Once data has been gathered it has to be made
available to the computer for computer-based
analysis
While entering data into the computer the
procedure being recommended here be employed.
Every questionnaire must be assigned a FORMID
which must be recorded on the questionnaire as
well. This will make you able to refer back to the
particular questionnaire if needed.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Making Data Available to the Computer:

A Very Practical Approach
Three step procedure
Use MS Access Form to enter the data.
It may assign FORMID automatically for referral back to a
particular questionnaire if required
It accommodates Data Validation
It makes Data Entry Quick and requires fewer keypunches
It does not require any coding
Similarity between physical and online form keeps the level of
data entry mistakes at minimum
Maintains uniformity and avoids many complications which may
arise because of non-uniformity
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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Making Data Available to the Computer:

A Very Practical Approach(2)
Use Filter and/or Sorting features of MS Access and/or

MS Excel to

Check the data for internal consistency

Cross check any unusual and/or inconsistent entry
Start performing data cleaning

Import data to the desired computing package

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To complete data cleaning

To perform the suitable analysis

DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data Archives
Australian Social Science Data Archive
http://assda.anu.edu.au/

Social Science Data Archives

http://www.sociosite.net/databases.php

Social Science Data Archives http://data.lib.uci.edu/

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

E-Sources
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/)
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative,
multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a
portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for
creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word
wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's 14
million articles (3.2 million in English) have been
written collaboratively by volunteers around the world,
and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone
with access to the site. It was launched in 2001 by Jimmy
Wales and Larry Sanger and is currently the largest and
most popular general reference work on the Internet
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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

E-Sources

(2)

MSN Encarta

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx

Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia

encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation from

1993 to 2009. As of 2008, the complete English version,
Encarta Premium, consisted of more than 62,000
articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips,
videos, interactivities, timelines, maps and atlas, and
homework tools, and was available on the World Wide
Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVDROM or multiple CD-ROMs. Many articles could also be
viewed online free of charge, a service supported by
advertisements.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

E-Sources

(3)

Online Dictionary of The Social Sciences

http://bitbucket.icaap.org/

Encyclopedia.com http://www.encyclopedia.com
features more than 100 trusted sources, including
encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses with facts,
definitions, biographies, synonyms, pronunciation keys,
word origins, abbreviations, and more.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

E-Sources

(4)

SurveyConsole
http://www.surveyconsole.com/questionnaire-construction.html

Provides services for creating customized online

surveys, distributing them via the internet or email,
and tabulating results automatically in real time.
Your surveys and survey results are hosted on our
servers. SurveyConsole does not require the
download or installation of any software or
hardware.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

E-Sources

(5)

Formdesk http://www.formdesk.com/
Using Formdesk you can create online forms such as:
Application forms
Registration forms
Order forms
Questionnaires and Surveys

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

E-Sources

(6)

Reverse Dictionary

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

E-Sources

(6)

FreeOnlineSurveys
http://www.freeonlinesurveys.com/

Create your own Free Survey in Under 10 Minutes!

No software to install

Very easy to use

Create e-mail or website surveys
100% secure and confidential
Live results - collected automatically (you don't have

to do anything!)

18-02-2010

DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data Analysis:
May Require Computing Packages
Analysis of data is a process of inspecting,

cleaning, transforming, and modeling data

with the goal of highlighting useful
information, suggesting conclusions, and
supporting decision making. Data analysis
has multiple facets and approaches,
encompassing diverse techniques under a
variety of names, in different business,
science, and social science domains.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Data Analysis:
May Require Computing Packages

(2)

Data mining is a particular data analysis technique that focuses

on modeling and knowledge discovery for predictive rather than

purely descriptive purposes. Business intelligence covers data
analysis that relies heavily on aggregation, focusing on business
information. In statistical applications, some people divide data
analysis into descriptive statistics, exploratory data analysis, and
confirmatory data analysis. EDA focuses on discovering new
features in the data and CDA on confirming or falsifying existing
hypotheses. Predictive analytics focuses on application of
statistical or structural models for predictive forecasting or
classification, while text analytics applies statistical, linguistic,
and structural techniques to extract and classify information
from textual sources, a species of unstructured data. All are
varieties of data analysis.

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU

Misuse of Computer in Research

Plagiarism
Self-Medication of Analytical techniques
Overwhelming output from computing packages
Unauthorized Applications of Analytical Techniques

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DrMMI, Department of Commerce, BZU