Outliers in Survey Data

Author(s)
Caroline Whitbeck
Parent Collection
Scenarios for Ethics Modules in the Responsible Conduct of Research
Contributors
Caroline Whitbeck
Publisher
Online Ethics Center
Year
2000
DOI
https://doi.org/10.18130/5mkq-s876
Rights
Use of Materials on the OEC
Discipline(s)
Research Ethics
Topics
Data Management
Case Study / Scenario
Description

A scenario meant to stimulate discussion about how to interpret data.

Body

You are going to deal with large amounts of survey data for your dissertation research. (The survey itself did not deal with emotionally sensitive topics.) You anticipate that when you are scoring the results you will find an occasional a data point that suggests that the respondent did not correctly interpret the question (for instance, if the answer was several orders of magnitude off from the other survey responses).

What will be your mode of dealing with such outliers?

Notes

Caroline Whitbeck introduced methods and modules for discussing numerous issues in responsible conduct of research at a Sigma Xi Forum in 2000. Partial funding for the development of this material came from an NIH grant.

You can find the entire sequence on the OEC at Scenarios for Ethics Modules in the Responsible Conduct of Research. Some information in these historical modules may be out-of-date; for instance, there may be a new edition of the professional society's code that is referred to in an item. If you have suggestions for updates, please contact the OEC.

Citation
Caroline Whitbeck. . Outliers in Survey Data. Online Ethics Center. DOI:https://doi.org/10.18130/5mkq-s876. https://onlineethics.org/cases/scenarios-ethics-modules-responsible-conduct-research/outliers-survey-data.