The data analysis chapter is full of critical information, analytical models, tables and charts. It is often a challenge for editors, because of the complexity of structure and presentation, as well as number of elements involved. Hence, most leading editing services assign a team of PhD statistician and English editor for assessing the quality of this chapter. If you are revising the chapter yourself, then you have to be extremely careful and revise at least twice. Going through each and every element is important because even a slight mistake in any stage of analysis can lead to an erroneous result.
Here are some tips for editing your data analysis chapter:
• Data: once the data has been cleaned and arranged, check to ensure that there is no missing or incorrect data. You may need to refer to your original data bank for this. Recheck the figures while making entries in tables.
• Graphical elements: there are several graphs, charts and tables in the data analysis chapter. Check the placement of such elements, as they must be positioned along with the relevant text. Also ensure that they are numbered and labeled properly as per guidelines. Roman numerals have to be used for numbering such illustrations. While tables are labeled as table number 1, 2… graph and charts must be named as figures.
• Analysis: the entire analysis must be scrutinized meticulously to ensure accuracy. You will need to use some specialized software and tools. Proper application of such tools, as well as tests, is necessary for getting correct results of analysis.
• Structure: if you fail to follow a clear and logical structure for this chapter, it can get difficult to follow. The spacing must be adequate; headers and sub headers must be given as needed to demarcate various steps and inference of each sub section must be highlighted. Bridging sentences and phrases must be used to maintain cohesiveness between various sections. The reader must not feel lost at any stage of analysis.
• Language: though vocabulary is not crucial in this chapter, make sure that the technical terms and jargons used during analysis are well defined.
Double checking the data analysis will take some time, but it will save you from wrong research results. It will also give you a thorough idea about the steps of analysis and help you prepare for dissertation defense.