ABSTRACT
This chapter expresses that data can be examined in, broadly, two different ways: counting up and noticing meanings in them. It focuses on how to analyse data by counting up. Responses to closed questions on a questionnaire are usually immediately countable – because researchers can count how frequently each answer choice was chosen by their research participants – whereas responses to open-ended questions are often not readily countable. However, sometimes answers to open-ended questions can also be counted up. When reporting findings from counting up data, the researcher needs to let their audience know the size of the target population, that of the sample and then the actual number of research participants who took part in their research by filling in questionnaires, agreeing to be interviewed or doing anything else. This is to help the audience to evaluate the findings in relation to the whole picture or context regarding the research topic or question.
