What To Do With Data

Now That I Have Data, What Do I Do With It?

Make sure your data are well-organized, either into a notebook or a spreadsheet program.
Conduct Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA):
- EDA is the process of exploring patterns in your data through graphics, before doing any formal statistics. It’s a "first pass" through your data.
- EDA is a useful method to help you decide what statistical tests are appropriate
- When you do EDA, try graphing your data several different ways. You may find patterns that you didn’t expect. EDA can be done with a computer or by hand. You can try bar graphs, scatterplots, line graphs, and any other graphs that might help you visualize patterns in your data.
Use the flow chart to help you decide which statistical test to use to test your hypotheses. Remember that you need to make sure your data fit the assumptions of any test you decide to use. For example, if you are going to use a t test, your data should be normally distributed.
Utilize all possible resources: math teachers, scientists, statistics books, Internet sites, etc. Most biologists get some help when it comes to statistical analyses. A good web page to use as a starting point for stats help on the Internet is www.stat.ufl.edu/vlib/statistics.html. This page has listings for many other sites that deal with statistics. Some of these sites are geared to undergraduates and other statistics beginners. Others are more advanced.

Key to statistical tests