Debre Tabor University

College of Health sciences

Social and Public Health Unit

Plan for data processing and

analysis

By: Marelign Tilahun (Assistant Professor, MPH/Epidemiology & Biostatistics)

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What should the plan include?

 When making a plan for data processing and
analysis the following issues should be considered:

 Sorting data

 Performing quality-control checks

 Data processing and

 Data analysis.
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I. Sorting data
 If you have different study populations you
obviously would number the questionnaires
separately.

II. Performing quality control checks

Most important data checks,
1.Accuracy of data
2.Checking outliers
3. Handling missed values

Accuracy
Verify the accuracy of sample of completed data.
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III. Data processing - quantitative data

 Manually
 Computer

Data processing in both cases involves:

• categorizing the data,
• coding and
• summarizing the data
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Data Presentation
 Collected data can be presented as follows:

– Raw numbers, texts

– Measures of central tendency
– Percentage
– Tables
– Graphical Presentations
In order to visualize how the data can be organized and
summarized it is useful to construct DUMMY cross-
tabulations.
A DUMMY TABLE contains all elements of a real table,
except that the cells are still empty.
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Ethical considerations
 “The subject of ethics is best thought of as the
critical examination of moral thought and
morality as it affects our ideas of right conduct”
 Research ethics is a very controversial /hot area!

 Different ethical challenges depending on:

• Social norms

• Practices

• Cultural values
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Principles of research Ethics

• There are three basic ethics principles:

1. Respect for persons

 Autonomy: the obligation to respect each participant as a person

capable of making a decision regarding participation in the

research
Informed consent: Acknowledging respect for persons

Confidentiality: The privacy of participants should be respected

2. Justice: connotes fairness and equity, and concerns in the distribution of benefits
and burdens of research and equitable selection of participants

3. Beneficence: the obligation to attempt to maximize benefits

and minimize risks
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Work plan

Work plan summarizes the various components of a

research project and how they fit together in the form of:
Table,

 Chart or

Graph
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Work plan cont..

Ways of presenting a work plan

Work schedule
GANNT chart
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The work schedule

The Work Schedule
• Is a table
• Summarizes:
• tasks to be performed
• duration of each activity, and
• staff responsible.

• Example of Work Schedule: Child-Spacing Study

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Tasks be performed Dates Personnel assigned to task

1. Finalize research proposal and literature review Week 1-3 Research team (4)
4-24 Apr.
2. Clearance from national and funding authorities Week 1-5 Research unit –ministry of
4 Apr-8 May health
3. Clearance and orientation of local authorities Week 6 PI (Regional Health
9-15 May Officer)
Driver
4. Compilation of child spacing records and interviews of Week 6-9 Public health nurse
C/S staff 9 May-5 June Driver
5. Analysis of C/S records and sampling study units Week 10 Research team
6-12 June Secretary
6. Training of research assistants and field testing Week 11 Research team Research
questionnaire 13-19 June assistant(s)
Facilitator
7. Interviews in community Week 12-13 Research team
20 June-3 July Research assistants
8. Preliminary data analysis Week 19-22 Research team
8-28 Aug. Research assistants
Facilitator
9. Feedback to local authorities and Week 27 Research team
district health teams 3-9 Oct. Driver
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THE GANTT chart

• The GANIT chart is a planning tool which depicts graphically the

order in which various tasks must be completed and duration of

each activity.

A typical Gantt chart includes the following information:

• The tasks to be performed

• Who is responsible for each task; and

• The time each task is expected to take.

• The length of each task is shown by a bar that extends over the

number of days, weeks or months the task is expected to take.

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Cost of the project (Budget)

How should a budget be prepared?
• Specify, for each activity in the work plan, what resources
are required.

• Determine for each resource needed the unit cost and the
total cost.
• The budget for the fieldwork component of the work plan
will include funds for personnel, transport and supplies.
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Personnel costs
No. Activity Responsibility unit Cost/Birr Duration/Quantity Total cost

1 Training Investigator 3 70/day 3 days 630.00

and pre-
test

Data collectors 10 70/day 3 days 2100.00

Supervisors 3 70/day 3 days 630.00

Driver 1 100/day 3 days 300.00

2 Supervisi Supervisors 3 70/day 15 days 3150.00

on
Investigators 3 70/day 60 days 12,600.00

Sub total 87,910.00

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References
Methods of citations in preparing literature review:

A)Vancouver system

This system have been adopted as standard by over 300 biomedical

journals
• For an article the following information should be noted:

Author(s)’ Surname followed by initials. Title of article. Name of

Journal. Year, Volume(number): page numbers of article.
• Example: Louria DB. Emerging- and re-emerging infections: The

societal variables. International Journal of Infectious Disease. 1996,

1(2):59-62.
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References cont…
• For a book the following information should be noted:

• Author(s)’ Surname followed by initials. Title of book. Place:

Publisher, Year, Edition

• Example: Abramson JH. Survey methods in community

medicine. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1990, 4th ed.

B) the Harvard System

• In other journals and books it is common to put the year,

between brackets, straight after the name of the author(s).

• This is called the Harvard system.
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References cont..
• Name of the author(s) (year). Title. Place of Publication:

Publisher
• Example:

• Abramson JH (1990), 4th ed. Survey methods in community

medicine. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
• There are more systems in use for referencing to literature.

• Always carefully look what system is used in the journal you are

submitting an article to and follow it systematically.

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References cont…
• When you use the Vancouver system, you will use
consecutive numbers in the text to indicate your references
• At the end you will then list your references in that order,

using the format described above

• In Harvard System, put the surname of the author, year of

publication and number(s) of page(s) referred to between

brackets, (E.g. Shiva 1998:15-17)
• If this system of citation is used, the references at the end of

the proposal, should be listed in Alphabetical order.

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Annex

Include in the appendices of your proposal any additional

information you think might be helpful to a proposal

reviewer.
 For example, include:

 The study questionnaire.

 The consent form.

 A copy of the approval from the Institutional Review

Board.
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Research proposal submission form…

SUMMARY
(ONLY ONE PAGE)
(Summary must be structured under the following heading: Introduction, objectives,
methods, work plan and budget. Do not exceed 350 words).

INTROCUCTION
This section can be divided in to 3 subsections: Statement of the problem; literature
review; and justification of the proposed study.

Statement of the problem

(Only one page)
Literature Review
(Maximum four pages)

Justification of the proposed study

(Maximum half page)
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Research proposal submission

form…
OBJECTIVES
(only one page, Maximum)
General objective:
Specific objectives:

METHODS
(Maximum four pages)
• Study design
• Study area
• Study population
• Sample size & sampling procedures
• Variables of the study
• Operational definitions
• Data collection procedures (instrument, personnel, data quality control)
• Data processing and analysis
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Research proposal submission form…

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
(Half-One page)

DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS
(Maximum half page)

WORK PLAN
(Only one page)
(Describe briefly the expected accomplishments of the project
by phase, and the estimated time for each).
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Research proposal …
 COST OF THE PROJECT
(Maximum two pages)
Give an itemized list of the direct costs of the project.

 References
(Use Vancouver Style)

 Annexes
Dummy tables
Questionnaire
(Others as necessary)
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