Data Analysis

3.6.1. Quantitative Data Analysis

Data drawn from the demographic questionnaire was used to generate descriptive

statistics for the sample, in the form of frequencies and percentages. Descriptive statistics for the Modified Paranormal Beliefs Scale – including overall and subscale scores and a total which excluded the Traditional Religious Beliefs subscale - and Neuroticism subscale of the NEO PI-R were generated from the data. Raw data from the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test was calculated from each administration of the test. Raw scores were then converted to standardised scores, using the norms presented in the WCST manual, in order to allow for comparisons to be made across the sample, despite potential

differences in age and level of education. Similarly, raw scores from the Raven’s Progressive Matrices were converted to the appropriate standardised scores and Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome test scores were converted to age-corrected standardised scores (Strauss et al., 2006). Data from the WCST, RPM and BADS were used to generate descriptive statistics for the sample.

All data obtained from the sample were also subjected to a distribution analysis, in order to establish whether the data was normally distributed. Measures of skewness and kurtosis were of particular interest in this regard (Huck, 2009).

Spearman’s correlations were conducted instead of Pearson’s correlations because of concerns regarding the normality of the data. These correlations were performed to establish whether a relationship existed between demographic variables of an interval nature, in the form of age, number of years of post-matric education and household socioeconomic status and MPBS scores. Similarly, relationships between age, number of years of post-matric education and household socioeconomic status and scores obtained from the Neuroticism scale of the NEO PI-R were also investigated using Spearman’s correlations. The nature of the relationships between age and performance on each of the tests of executive function, in the form of the WCST, RPM and BADS – all of which presented interval scale data – were also tested using Spearman’s correlations. Similarly, the nature of the relationship between education and performance on the WCST, RPM and BADS were tested using further Spearman’s correlations. Household socioeconomic status was also correlated with scores obtained from the WCST, RPM and BADS.

Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric one-way ANOVA’s were performed to establish whether

the demographic variables – in the form of education category, gender, population group, religious affiliation and the socioeconomic variables of parental employment status, parental occupational group, parental education level and participant employment status -influenced performance on the measures used within the study. This statistical test was chosen based on the nature of these demographic variables, which were categorical in scale and subsequently did not meet parametric data requirements (Howell, 2004; Huck, 2009).

Further Spearman’s correlations were conducted to establish whether relationships existed between scores from the MPBS and scores from the Neuroticism scale of the NEO PI-R. Similarly, associations between MPBS scores and performance on the WCST, RPM and BADS were investigated using Spearman’s correlations, to establish whether superstitious and paranormal beliefs are in any way associated with either improved or poorer performance on these measures of executive function. Finally, Spearman’s

correlations were performed to establish whether any type of relationship existed between performance on any of the tests of executive function, in the form of the WCST, RPM and BADS. Scores from each measure were thus correlated with those of the other measures, in order to test the nature of the relationships between these three variables.

3.6.2 Qualitative Data Analysis

Following transcription, the qualitative data obtained from the interviews with

participants was examined from a phenomenological perspective, due to the researcher’s interest in understanding the unique experiences of individuals who subscribe to

superstitious and paranormal beliefs (Fossey, Harvey, McDermott & Davidson, 2002).

This perspective represents a noticeable contrast to the positivist paradigm from which the quantitative data within the study was analysed. Positivism – and the scientific method in general – “relies on deductive logic, combined with observation and

experiment in the empirical world, to refute propositions and confirm probabilistic causal laws, which are used to make generalizations about the nature of phenomena” (Fossey et al., 2002, p.718). While the positivist paradigm is certainly useful for interpreting the

quantitative data within the current study, the data obtained from the interviews conducted with participants was of a qualitative nature. A phenomenological approach was thus adopted with regard to data analysis, as this data was primarily intended to address questions regarding the meaning and understandings which underlie beliefs in superstitious and paranormal phenomena. As noted by Fossey et al. (2002), qualitative research focuses on gaining an appreciation of the significance and implications of the actions of individuals and broader events, and seeks to explore these significances from the perspectives of the individuals concerned.

Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the interviews, by “identifying, analysing and reporting patterns (themes) within the data” (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p.79). Themes are understood to signify a particular trend within the data, and were analysed both within individual interviews and across the qualitative data. Following broad readings of each of the interviews, codes were created for the themes which were identified and central, recurring patterns were thus identified in order to present a detailed description of the data (Braun & Clark, 2006). In this way, the common superstitious and paranormal beliefs held by participants and their feelings toward such phenomena, both in general and in their own lives, could be identified. The underlying meaning which their beliefs hold for them and the rationalization processes which relate to such beliefs was also examined. The analysis process thus focused on “understanding the subjective meaning of experiences and situations for the participants themselves” (Fossey et al., 2002, p.728).

Due to this phenomenological approach, it was important that the researcher’s self-reflexivity was taken into account, as the possibility of issues regarding subjectivity and value judgments arising in the analysis process must be acknowledged. A report

regarding the researcher’s self-reflexivity is included in Appendix G.