GAUIS LAURENCE B.

CARAOA
Educ 200 Advance Method of Research

Chapter 3

Assignment exercises:

Part I: Answer the following:

1. The difference between Quantitative and Qualitative Research.

“Research is the most widely used tool to increase and brush-up the stock of knowledge
about something and someone. In the field of marketing, business, sociology, psychology,
science & technology, economics, etc. there are two standard ways of conducting research,
i.e. qualitative research or quantitative research. While the qualitative research relies on
verbal narrative like spoken or written data, the quantitative research uses logical or
statistical observations to draw conclusions.” (Surbhi S, 2016)

2. What is the difference between Nominal and Ordinal?

“Nominal Scale and Ordinal Scale are two of the four variable measurement scales. Both
these measurement scales have their significance in surveys/questionnaires, polls, and their
subsequent statistical analysis. The difference between Nominal and Ordinal scale has a
great impact on market research analysis methods due to the details and information each
of them has to offer.

Nominal Scale is derived from the Latin word “nomalis” which denotes “related to names”, is
usually used to indicate categories. These categories have corresponding numbers allotted
for analysis of collected data. For example, a person’s gender, ethnicity, hair color etc. are
considered to be data for a nominal scale.

Ordinal Scale, on the other hand, involves arranging information in a specific order, i.e. in
comparison to one another and “rank” each parameter (variable). For example, after a
customer shops from a retail outlet, he/she is asked to fill out a kiosk survey: “On a scale of
1-5, how was your shopping experience?” (Adi Bhat, 2017)

3. Interval versus Ratio

“Interval scale and ratio scale are the two variable measurement scales where they define
the attributes of the variables quantitatively. The difference between interval and ratio
scales is that, while interval scales are void of absolute or true zero for example temperature
can be below 0 degree Celsius (-10 or -20), ratio scales have a true zero value, for example,
height or weight it will always be measured between 0 to maximum but never below 0.

In an interval scale, all the quantitative attributes can be measured. Any measurement
belonging to this category of interval scale can be ranked, counted, subtracted, added but by
no means it will give any sense of ratio between the two measurements.

A ratio scale is a measurement scale which has more or less all the properties of an interval
scale. Ratio data on this scale has measurable intervals. Where the ratio scale differs is, it has
a zero point or character of origin.” (Adi Bhat, 2017)
4. Significant Relation versus significant difference
“Statistically significant difference — It is a simple phrase that is essential to science and that
has become common parlance among educated adults. These three words convey a basic
understanding of the scientific process, random events, and the laws of probability. The
term appears almost everywhere that research is discussed….It is a short hand abstraction
for a sequence of events that includes an experiment (or other research design), the
specification of a null and alternative hypothesis, (numerical) data collection, statistical
analysis, and the probability of an unlikely outcome”- (Diane F. Halpern, 2016)

“A Significant Difference between two groups or two points in time means that there is a
measurable difference between the groups and that, statistically, the probability of
obtaining that difference by chance is very small (usually less than 5%). Thus, it is safe to
assume that the difference is due to the experimental manipulation or treatment.

Statistical difference should not be confused with the size of the difference between the
groups. One group may have a mean score of 95 while another has a mean score of 98, and
this result may be statistically significant but not a very large or meaningful effect.
Statistical significance is the likelihood that a relationship between two or more variables is
caused by something other than chance. Statistical hypothesis testing is used to determine
whether the result of a data set is statistically significant. This test provides a p-value,
representing the probability that random chance could explain the result. In general, a p-
value of 5% or lower is considered to be statistically significant.” (Will Kenton, 2019)

5. Weighted Mean versus standard deviation

A weighted average is a type of average where each observation in the data set is multiplied
by a predetermined weight before calculation. In calculating a simple average (arithmetic
mean) all observations are treated equally and assigned equal weight. A weighted average
assigns weights that determine the relative importance of each data point. Weightings are
the equivalent of having that many like items with the same value involved in the average.
(Akhilesh Ganti, 2019)

The standard deviation is a statistic that measures the dispersion of a dataset relative to its
mean and is calculated as the square root of the variance. It is calculated as the square root
of variance by determining the variation between each data point relative to the mean. If
the data points are further from the mean, there is a higher deviation within the data set;
thus, the more spread out the data, the higher the standard deviation. (Marshall Hargrave,
2019)

6. Define Mean, Medium, Mode, Frequency and Range.

Mean
The mean is the average of all numbers and is sometimes called the arithmetic mean. To
calculate mean, add together all of the numbers in a set and then divide the sum by the total
count of numbers. For example, in a data center rack, five servers consume 100 watts, 98
watts, 105 watts, 90 watts and 102 watts of power, respectively. The mean power use of that
rack is calculated as (100 + 98 + 105 + 90 + 102 W)/5 servers = a calculated mean of 99 W per
server. Intelligent power distribution units report the mean power utilization of the rack to
systems management software.
 Median
In the data center, means and medians are often tracked over time to spot trends, which
inform capacity planning or power cost predictions.The statistical median is the middle
number in a sequence of numbers. To find the median, organize each number in order by
size; the number in the middle is the median. For the five servers in the rack, arrange the
power consumption figures from lowest to highest: 90 W, 98 W, 100 W, 102 W and 105 W.
The median power consumption of the rack is 100 W. If there is an even set of numbers,
average the two middle numbers. For example, if the rack had a sixth server that used 110
W, the new number set would be 90 W, 98 W, 100 W, 102 W, 105 W and 110 W. Find the
median by averaging the two middle numbers: (100 + 102)/2 = 101 W.

Mode
The mode is the number that occurs most often within a set of numbers. For the server
power consumption examples above, there is no mode because each element is different.
But suppose the administrator measured the power consumption of an entire netowork
operations center (NOC) and the set of numbers is 90 W, 104 W, 98 W, 98 W, 105 W, 92 W,
102 W, 100 W, 110 W, 98 W, 210 W and 115 W. The mode is 98 W since that power
consumption measurement occurs most often amongst the 12 servers. Mode helps identify
the most common or frequent occurrence of a characteristic. It is possible to have two
modes (bimodal), three modes (trimodal) or more modes within larger sets of numbers.

Range
The range is the difference between the highest and lowest values within a set of numbers.
To calculate range, subtract the smallest number from the largest number in the set. If a six-
server rack includes 90 W, 98 W, 100 W, 102 W, 105 W and 110 W, the power consumption
range is 110 W - 90 W = 20 W.
(Margaret Rouse, 2019)

7. Inferential Statistics versus Descriptive Statistics

“Descriptive Statistics is that branch of statistics which is concerned with describing the
population under study. While on the other hand, Inferential Statistics is a type of statistics
that focuses on drawing conclusions about the population, on the basis of sample analysis
and observation.” (Surbhi S, 2016)

8. Experimental Research versus Action Research

Experimental approaches are quantitative studies characterized by a single methodology
that involves varying degrees of randomization, control and manipulation of variables as
cause and effect experiments. Action research is often classified as mixed methods,
emancipatory and involves a number of approaches/methods over periods of time to enact
organizational/community change. (Dean Whitehead, 2018)

9. Chi-square and ANOVA

“The chi square and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are both inferential statistical tests.
Inferential statistics are used to determine if observed data we obtain from a sample (i.e.,
data we collect) are different from what one would expect by chance alone. A more simple
answer is that we want to determine if the relationships among variables or differences
between groups that we see in our sample data are occurring in the entire population.
 That said, chi square is used when we have two categorical variables (e.g., gender and
alive/dead) and want to determine if one variable is related to another. In ANOVA, we have
two or more group means (averages) that we want to compare. In an ANOVA, one variable
must be categorical and the other must be continuous.” (Robert LaChausse, 2017)

10. What is your reflection in the video clip, “The Secret of the Universe”?

From watching the video clip, I have gain a lot of ideas and concepts that are new and
somewhat amazes me to great extent. It makes me say to myself that I am really just a tiny
speck in this vast universe. I was also surprise to now that there are many things around me
that I didn’t think can be related to mathematics. I was introduce with ideas that are very
unique and new to me that I felt that I really don’t have any ideas how the world works. And
as I finish watching, I can helped but wonder about the things that surround me. It makes
me want to know more of the things that I’m leaving in. But also ask myself; thinking that
humans only lived for a short amount of time, how can one identify and unlock all the
mysteries of this world. At the end, being able to know is good but I don’t want to devote all
my life to know all the mysteries of life. There are some things that are left the way they are.