18.3 – Perform Data Analysis and Reporting
Purpose & Context
Career Development Practitioners (CDPs) analyze data sets and present their findings to inform their work, further the field of career development and inform policy makers.
Effective Performance
Competent career development professionals must be able to:
- P1. Analyze qualitative data:
- Use software to retrieve and code data
- Select data analysis methods, e.g. narrative, discourse, content, framework, grounded theory
- Identify themes, patterns, and relationships
- Summarize findings
- P2. Analyze quantitative data:
- Conduct basic descriptive analyses, e.g. frequencies, mean and mode
- Select statistical methods
- Apply statistical methods:
- Reassess the appropriateness of selected analytical methods, if necessary
- Identify relationships in data relevant to research objectives
- P3. Present findings:
- Highlight findings relating to the research objectives
- Use appropriate visualisations, e.g. bar charts for frequencies, line charts for time-series
- P4. Manage data, e.g. back up files and data
Knowledge & Understanding
Competent career development professionals must know and understand:
- K1. Types of qualitative data analysis, e.g. content analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, framework
analysis - K2. Key data collection/analysis software, e.g. SPSS, Microsoft Excel, Nvivo
- K3. Common data analysis methods:
- Quantitative methods, e.g. analysis of variance, linear regression, statistical significance
- Qualitative methods, e.g. content analysis
Contextual Variables
Competent career development professionals must be able to perform this competency in the following range of contexts:
Purpose of research will determine the research methodologies to be used.
Glossary & Key References
Terms
Industry-specific terms contained in the standard defined here, where applicable.
Content analysis: research method to identify patterns and relationship between words, themes or concepts.
Narrative analysis: research method which engages people in ‘storytelling’ that is used to build a coherent understanding of past, present and future events.
Discourse analysis: research method that uses language in the form of texts and conversations to inform social and historical contexts and political meanings.
Framework analysis: research method to identify commonalities and differences in qualitative data to draw conclusions most suited to inform social, health and medical research.
Grounded theory: research method that uses data to analyze or develop theories.
Information Sources and Resources for Consideration
Context Rating Scales
Criticality
Q: What is the consequence of a professional being unable to perform this skill according to the standard?
Frequency
Q: How frequent and under what conditions is this skill performed?
Level of Difficulty
Q: Under routine circumstances, how would you rate the level of difficulty in performing this skill?
Time Required to Gain Proficiency
Q: What is the average length of time or number of repeated events that are minimally necessary for an individual to become proficient in performing the skill to the standard?
A competent career development professional requires the experience of conducting a minimum of 10 research studies using varied research methodologies and data types (i.e. qualitative and quantitative) to be proficient.
Autonomy
Practitioners typically perform this competency without supervision, and as part of a team.
Automation
It is unlikely that this competency will automate.