an investigative analysis of the psychological characteristics and job ...

It was established that a process was needed to convert the masses of raw data into meaningful
information. The researcher may have had many completed questionnaires, but until they were
tabulated and analysed, they remained useless (Struwig &Stead, 2001:150).
The first step the researcher and the statistician took was to edit and encode the data. Neuman
(2003:332) advises that before a researcher examines quantitative data, he needs to put it into a
different form. Struwig and Stead (2001:150) advise that the primary purpose of editing is to
eliminate errors in the raw data and to place the data into categories to facilitate the tabulation and
interpretation of the data. They also add that editing refers to the elimination of errors in the raw
data and encoding refers to the assignment of data to appropriate categories. The different
categories were established. These categories are as follows (Table 3.2):
Table 3.2: Data Capturing Categories
Code Category
A Institution
B Job Title
C1 Role/Responsibility relative to students
C2 Role/Responsibility relative to employers
C3 RoleJResponsibility relative to the institution
C4 RoleJResponsibility relative to administration
D Personality Traits
E Abilities and Characteristics
F Qualifications
G Experience
After the different categories had been established, the questions and possible answers of the
questionnaire were coded. Neuman (2003:332) defines coding as the systematic reorganising of
raw data into a format that is machine readable. Examples of the coding can be seen in Table 3.3.
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