Statistics

&
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 What is Research?
Research may be defined as a systematic
approach/method consisting of
➢ enunciating the problem,
➢ formulating a hypothesis,
➢ collecting the facts or data,
➢ analyzing the facts and reaching certain conclusions,
either in the form of solution towards the concerned
problem or in certain generalizations for some
theoretical formulation.
Research may also be defined as a scientific study, which by
means of logical and systematized techniques, aims to...

➢Discover new facts or verify and test old facts

➢ Analyze their sequences, inter-relationships and

explanations which are derived within an appropriate
theoretical frame of reference

➢Develop new scientific tools, concepts, and theories

which would facilitate reliable and valid study of human
behavior in decision making.
 Fields of
Research

Social
Pure Sciences
Sciences
 Pure Science
The group of discipline that deals with natural phenomena
and universe and try to understand how it works.
 Social Sciences
Group of discipline that deal with humans. It concerned
with society and the relationships among individual within a
society.
 Research Processes
Research process consist of following series of actions to
effectively carry out investigation

➢Formulating the research problem

➢Extensive literature survey
➢ Developing the hypothesis
➢Preparing the research design
➢Determining sample design
➢Collecting the data
➢Analysis of data
➢Hypothesis testing
➢Generalization and interpretation
➢Preparation of the report
 Problem Discovery

Exploratory
research

Literature Survey Case Study Expert Survey Pilot study

 Literature Review
A critical recap of what has already been researched in a topic .
it could be from books, journal articles, magazine articles
etc.

What does social media do to the younger generation’s mental

health

• To find out what is already known about the topic

• How other researchers have approached it
• To give your reader a critical overview of what you found
• To explore methodology e.g. are they comparing same kind of
social media or different
• To find out what’s missing i.e. to find out gap
 Case Study
A case study is a detailed study of a specific
subject, such as a person, group, place,
event, organization, or phenomenon.
Case studies are commonly used in social,
educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves

qualitative but quantitative methods are
sometimes also used. Case studies are good for
describing, comparing, evaluating and
understanding different aspects of a research
problem.
 A case study is an appropriate research design when you
want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge
about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore
the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the
case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation.

They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t
have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

For example: How can teachers implement active learning

strategies in mixed-level classrooms? Case study of a local
school that promotes active learning
Step 1: Select a case
Step 2: Build a theoretical framework
Step 3: Collect your data
Step 4: Describe and analyze the case
 Expert Survey
Expert surveys are an especially useful
method for measuring concepts that would be
difficult or impossible to measure through
alternative strategies

In Survey of Expert’s Opinions, the specialized

group of people in the concerned fields, from both
inside and outside the organization, are
approached and asked to give their opinions on
the topic.
 The Survey of Expert’s Opinions gives due weights to the
experience and expertise of people who know the market
and the firm. This method, when employed successfully
can give accurate forecasts

But however, this also suffers from the demerits.

Firstly, the experts from outside may be reluctant to give the

complete information about the conditions prevailing in the
industry.

Secondly, the discussions could be biased that may result in

false predictions.

Thirdly, the responsibility to take decisions is distributed on all

and hence no single person could be held responsible in case
the forecast proves to be wrong.
 Pilot Survey
pilot study can be defined as a ‘small study to test
research protocols, data collection instruments, sample
recruitment strategies, and other research techniques in
preparation for a larger study.

A pilot study is one of the important stages in a

research project and is conducted to identify
potential problem areas and deficiencies in the
research instruments and protocol prior to
implementation during the full study
 Literature Review
.

Step 1: Select
a topic

Step 5: Write Step 2:

the literature Identify the
review most relevant
sources on
your topic

Step 3:
Step 4: Read
Search and
and analyse
Refine
Step-1 : Select a topic
 Step-2 : Identify the most
relevant sources on your topic
Start listing out key words on the topic:

What does social media do to the younger generation’s

mental health

Key Words: Mental health, Body image, teen ager ,

facebook , Instagram

Search key words on scholarly data base like SCOPUS, Web

of Science, Google scholar etc.
 Scholarly Data Base
Scopus
Web of Science
PubMed
ERIC
IEEE Xplore
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
JSTOR
Google Scholar
Science Direct
University Resources
Research Gate
Step-3 Search and Refine Literature

3.1
Find synonyms of key words e.g. Gen Z, Younger generation, Teenager

Use Boolean operator to improve search results

e.g “social media and body image”, “social media or body image’

To exclude term apple -tech

Use “-” to search exact words.
3.2

Once you find article that you feel is useful read abstract before dive
in to it. You get the glimpse of what research is about and know
whether its relevant to your topic

Check bibliography or reference to find further references

To identify most important publication in your topic make a list of

recurring citation.

Authors, books and articles keep appearing in your reading make sure
to seek them out
 S-4Read and analyse :
Identify themes, debate and
gaps in literature

Make connections and relationships

between the sources you collected

Topic: ”Social Media’s impact on the

younger generation body image.
 Find

1. Trends and patterns: in theories, methods and results

2. Themes
3. Debates and conflicts and contradictions
4. Pivotal publications
5. Gaps
 Step 5 : Write Literature Review
common approaches to structure
literature review

1. Chronological: Organized around recent to older papers

2. Thematic : Organized around several key themes
3. Methodological : Compare the different methods being used
across study
4. Theoretical : use to discuss opposite theories and models
 Structure of literature review
writeup

Introduction
Main Body: summarize and synthesize literature
Conclusion
 Scales of Measurements

•Nominal
•Ordinal
•Interval
•Ratio
Nominal
• Categories are irrespective
of orders O
•Scale for qualitative data

•Weakest scale of
measurement A B
•4 – O - 2
•3 – A - 4
•2- B - 1
•1- AB – 3
AB
Mathematical operators: +,-
, *, / (Can not use)
Relational operator: >, <
(Can not use)
Ordinal Mild
•Categories indicates some
kind of order

•Scale for qualitative data

•Stronger measurement
level then Nominal Moderate
•1- Mild - 2
•2-Moderate – 1
•3-Severe - 3

Mathematical operators: +,-

, *, / (Can not use)
Relational operator: >, <
( use)
Severe
Interval Ratio
• Intervals are adjusted in • Ratio scale has
terms of some rule . absolute zero.
• Interval scale has arbitrary • It is capable to
zero. measure complete
absence of trait or
• It doesn’t have capacity to characteristics.
measure the complete • Strongest scale of
absence of trait Or measurement
characteristics • Mathematical
• Mathematical operators: operators:
+,- (Use) *, / (Can not use) +,- ,*, / (Can not use)
• Relational operator: >, < • Relational operator:
( use) • >, < ( use)
 Data analytical techniques

Univariate: The analysis of single variable

Bivariate : The analysis of two variables simultaneously

Multivariate: The analysis of multiple variables simultaneously

 Univariate data analysis
Descriptive statistics
Univariate analysis is the simplest form of quantitative data
analysis. The analysis is carried out with the description of a
single variables,

•Measures of central tendency : To have central value of data

•Measures of dispersion : To examine variation in observation

e.g. If “Salary of employees” is the subject of analysis,

how many employees falls into different salary groups?

What is the average salary of group of employees?
How is the variation among the salary of employees?
 Univariate data analysis
Measures of central tendency

Central or the typical value of the data set, which can be used to
represents series of observations

Measures of dispersion

Dispersions are also called variability, denotes how stretched is the

distribution of data set.
 Measures of
central
tendency

Mean Median Mode

 Selection of Proper measure of central tendency
depends upon

• Scale of measurement (Nominal, Ordinal or Numeric-

Interval/Ratio)

• For Numeric Data

• Distribution is symmetric
•Distribution is skewed
 Arithmetic Mean
Raw data
Duration of training to get accomplished in hrs
13,14,15,14,12,17,13,15,12,10

x i
x = i =1
n
 Calculate Mean

S-1: 1 3 3 2 4 5 3 3 4 3 5 3 1 2 2 1 4 5 2 4 2 4
S-2: 1 3 3 2 4 5 3 3 4 3 5 3 1 2 2 1 4 99 2 4 2 4
Outliers
S-1: 1 3 3 2 4 5 3 3 4 3 5 3 1 2 2 1 4 5 2 4 2 4

X F
1 3
2 5
3 6
4 5
5 3
 S-2: 1 3 3 2 4 5 3 3 4 3 5 3 1 2 2 1 4 99 2 4 2 4
X F
1 3
2 5
3 6
4 5
5 2
99 1
 Limitations of Mean

• It is highly affected by extreme values

•It can not be obtained for qualitative data
 Median

Middle value of data set, that differentiate lower half of data from the upper
half of data when they are arranged in ascending or descending order
Positional Average

Obtain median: 3,1,6,9,5,4,2

Arrange data in ascending order: 1,2,3,4,5,6,9

Identify middle location:

1,2,3,4,5,6,9
1,2,3,4,5,6,9,150
(4+5/2=4.5)
Mean < Median Mean > Median
S-2: 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 99
 Limitations of Median
•It is less accurate compare to mean
• It is highly affected by number of
observations in the data series
 Mode
Most repetitive observation of data set
Bimodal distribution Unimodal distribution
Mean<Median<Mode Mean>Median>Mode
 Limitations of Mode
• It is not uniquely defined
•For multi model data set it is difficult
to locate model class
 Measures of central tendency

Data Type Measure of central tendency

Nominal Mode

Ordinal Median/Mode

Interval/Ratio (Symmetric) Mean

Interval/Ratio (Skewed) Median

Measures of Dispersion/Variation
Represent amount of variation in the data set
 Measures of Dispersion
Represent amount of variation in the data set

•Range
•Standard deviation
•Variance
•Co-efficient of variation
 Range
Range= Largest observation – Smallest observation
12 15 11 18 13 14 16 17 10
12 15 11 18 70 13 14 16 17 10
 Limitations of Range
•It is based on two extremes of data set only
•It is not based on each and every observation
•It is highly affected by extreme values
 Standard deviation
Average deviation of observations from mean

N
(
 ix −  )2

( Population SD )  = i =1
N
n
(
 ix − x )2

( Sample SD ) s= i =1
n −1
Standard deviation
Performance of two employees is measured through
number of days they required to accomplish assigned
task . Select better performer using proper summary
numbers

E-1 : 5 8 9 3 5 3 2
E-2 : 5 4 6 5 5 5 5
 E-1
s=2.64
x
x−s x+s
 E-2
s=0.577
x
x −s x+s
 SD(E2) < SD(E1)
E2 is more consistent then E1
Change of SD
Variance = (SD)2
 Coefficient of variation
s
CV = * 100
x

• Used to compare variation of data series

having different means

•Used to compare variation of data series with

different measurement