IMPLEMENTATION OF STATISTICAL METHODS IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Differential characteristics of survey are: the number of respondents, fairness and objectivity of received information; the purpose of the survey. The probabilistic mechanism of selection and special mathematical procedures, that provide the best objectivity, are rightful. Application of Likert scaling methods, factor analysis at determining the peculiarities of prospective students’ choice of higher educational establishments are studied in this article. The questionnaire was made according to received information. Respondent had to express the importance of each item on the six-point scale from “absolutely not important” to “very important”. Research objective was the description of the methodology, which allowsto consider the peculiarities of prospective students’ choice of higher educational establishments and analyzing actions of prospective students on the basis of beforehand included criteria. Research included preparatory, operational and resulting stages. Components that influence prospective student’s choice of higher educational establishment were found out at the first stage by means of factor analysis. In addition to these components as a result of factor analysis procedure it is now possible to develop a variety of research hypotheses. Their proof or refutation is an interesting application task that can be solved on closer detailed analysis of already gained statistic data or the pursuance of additional research. The feasibility of batch processing in SPSS was used to speed up the analysis process.