Statistical Mistake

[Tammivu90]

I was conducting a survey  on hallucination and committing crimes. My goal was to find out which gender scored the highest. But during the survey, I forgot to add in gender selection, so now I am left with the number of participants and 12 statements from 48 participants. But the most important piece of information, the gender, is missing. What statistical testing should I use and what should I do?

[Oshawott]

Are the responses open-ended? The data may not be a waste if there is anything in their response that explicitly indicates gender. 

[rising_star]

I would redo the survey if I were you. There's no statistical test that can help you figure out the effect of gender if you didn't specifically ask about gender. Also, without knowing the form of the data (type of various [ratio, interval, etc.]) and what you're hoping to know, it's really not possible to tell you what statistical tests to do. You should consult with your professors about how to proceed.

[lewin]

Everybody makes mistakes and owning up to them is a big part of being part of a collaborative research group. A recent biggie for me was a coding mistake so that only two of four conditions ran, I worked overtime to collect the missing data myself.