Design for Learning- Principles, Processes, and Praxis, 2021a

6.
transformations or computing of variables. For example,
strongly agree to strongly disagree could be recoded as 1
through 5. Or a total score can be computed with several or all
of the variables. When recoding, be consistent. If 1 = strongly
disagree on one variable, it should be consistent throughout the
dataset. It’s always good to double check when transforming
data or recoding data.
Failure to account for missing data. Novice researchers often
forget to decide how to account or code missing data. Others
mistakenly treat missing data as a 0, and the results can be
inaccurate.
Reporting Research to Stakeholders
In academic research, you report to a committee, usually with
differing opinions, preferences, and specialties. In business, industry,
and government, reporting is not very different. Learning what your
stakeholders are interested in and how they prefer reports is
important. For example, if they prefer visuals in the forms of graphs,
charts, and process flowcharts, create those. If they prefer
quantitative data (such as means, standard deviations, correlations,
regression lines) over qualitative data (stories, experiences, and
personas), then it may be worth reporting such data. However, most
stakeholder groups are diverse enough it is often best to include
several differing types of reporting, visuals, tables, flowcharts,
diagrams, and rich experiences and stories.
Often, a persona of a typical person in a group or subgroup illustrates
poignant areas of findings. For example, one client wanted research
to identify who applies to teach for them. After analyzing data from
1500 applications, we created the following persona:
This is Sophia. Sophia is a Latin American Studies Major, with a
Spanish Minor. She currently does not have a job but is looking. One
of her friends suggested a job at [your organization]. She is bilingual
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