DR NEENA SONDHI

CHAPTER-11
UNIVARIATE AND BIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF DATA
DR DEEPAK CHAWLA

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Meaning of Univariate, Bivariate &

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Multivariate Analysis of Data

 Univariate Analysis – In univariate analysis, one variable is
analysed at a time.

 Bivariate Analysis – In bivariate analysis two variables are

analysed together and examined for any possible association
between them.
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 Multivariate Analysis – In multivariate analysis, the concern is

to analyse more than two variables at a time.

The type of statistical techniques used for analysing univariate and

bivariate data depends upon the level of measurements of the
questions pertaining to those variables. Further, the data analysis
could be of two types, namely, descriptive and inferential.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive vs Inferential Analysis

Descriptive analysis - Descriptive analysis deals with summary
measures relating to the sample data. The common ways of
summarizing data are by calculating average, range, standard
deviation, frequency and percentage distribution. The first thing to
do when data analysis is taken up is to describe the sample.
Examples of Descriptive Analysis:
 What is the average income of the sample?
 What is the average age of the sample?
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 What is the standard deviation of ages in the sample?

 What is the standard deviation of incomes in the sample?
 What percentage of sample respondents are married?
 What is the median age of the sample respondents?
 Is there any association between the frequency of purchase of
product and income level of the consumers?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive vs Inferential Analysis

 Is the level of job satisfaction related with the age of the
employees?
 Which TV channel is viewed by the majority of viewers in the age
group 20–30 years?
 Types of Descriptive Analysis – The table below presents the
type of descriptive analysis that is applicable under each form of
measurement.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive vs Inferential Analysis

Inferential Analysis – Under inferential statistics, inferences are drawn on
population parameters based on sample results. The researcher tries to
generalize the results to the population based on sample results.
Examples of Inferential Analysis:
 Is the average age of the population significantly different from 35?

 Is the average income of population significantly greater than 25,000

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per month?
 Is the job satisfaction of unskilled workers significantly related with their
pay packet?
 Do the users and non-users of a brand vary significantly with respect to
age?
 Is the growth in the sales of the company statistically significant?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive vs Inferential Analysis

 Does the advertisement expenditure influence sale significantly?

 Are consumption expenditure and disposable income of
households significantly correlated?
 Is the proportion of satisfied workers significantly more for skilled
workers than for unskilled works?
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 Do urban and rural households differ significantly in terms of

average monthly expenditure on food?
 Is the variability in the starting salaries of fresh MBA different with
respect to marketing and finance specialization?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Univariate Data

One should look at the missing data, if any, before

starting the analysis. The analysis is to be carried
out as stated below:
 Frequency distribution & percentage distribution
(for Nominal scale)
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 Analysis of multiple responses (for Nominal

scale)
 Analysis of ordinal scaled questions

 Grouping of large data sets

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Univariate Data

Measures of Central Tendency

 Arithmetic mean (appropriate for Interval and

Ratio scale data)
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 Median (appropriate for Ordinal, Interval and

Ratio scale data)
 Mode (appropriate for Ordinal, Interval and Ratio
scale data)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Univariate Data

Measures of Dispersion

 Range (appropriate for Interval and Ratio scale

data)
 Variance and Standard Deviation (appropriate for
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interval and ratio scale data)

 Coefficient of variation (appropriate for Ratio
scale data)
 Relative and absolute frequencies (appropriate
for Nominal scale data)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

Preparation of cross-tables
Interpretation of cross-tables – For interpretation of
cross-tables, it is required to identify dependent and
independent variable.
Percentages should be computed in the direction of
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independent variable.
There is no hard and fast rule as to where the
dependent or independent variables are to be taken.
They can be taken either in rows or in columns.

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

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Elaboration of cross-tables:
 Once the relationship between the two variables has been established, the
researcher may introduce a third variable into the analysis to elaborate and
refine the initial observed relationship between two variables.
 The main question being asked is whether the interpretation of the
relationship is modified with the introduction of the third variable.
 There would be four possibilities on introducing the third variable.

(i) It may refine the association that was observed originally between
two variables.
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(ii) By introducing the third variable, it may be found that there was no
association between initial variables or the original association was
spurious.
(iii) Introducing a third variable may indicate association between original
two variables although no association was observed originally.
(iv) Introduction of the third variable may not show any change in the initial
association between two variables.

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

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Refining an initial relationship:

The data reported below represents the relationship between
consumption of ice cream and income level.
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The above table indicates that 55 per cent of high income

respondents fall into high consumption category as compared to 30
per cent of low income respondents. Before concluding that high
income respondents consume more ice cream as compared to low
income families, a third variable, namely, gender, is introduced into
the analysis. The results are reported in the following table:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

In case of females, 60 per cent with high income fall in the high
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consumption category as compared to 20 per cent of those with low

income. In case of males, 38 per cent with high income fall in the
high consumption category as compared to 30 per cent with low
income. Therefore, it is seen that percentages are closer in case of
males. Therefore, the relationship between ice cream consumption
and income has been refined by introduction of a third variable,
namely, gender.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

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Initial relationship was spurious:

The data below reports the relationship between ownership of flats
in high-rise buildings and education level.
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The above table indicates that 35 per cent of respondents with high
education own a flat in a high-rise building as opposed to 22 per
cent with low education.

Now when a third variable ‘income’ categorized as low and high

income is introduced, the resulting table is as follows:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

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In the above table it is found that irrespective of the education level,

the ownership of flat in high-rise buildings depends upon the
income level.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

Reveal suppressed association:
The relationship between desire to visit temple and age group is
presented in the table below:
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The above table shows that desire to visit temple is independent

of age. Now, when gender is added as the third variable, the
results obtained are summarized in the following table.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

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It is seen from the above table that 65 per cent of males above 35
have a high desire to go to temple whereas 70 per cent of females
below 35 have a high desire to go to temple. Therefore, the
introduction of the third variable has revealed the suppressed
relationship between desire to visit temple and age.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

No change in initial relationship:
The relationship between household size and the size of
toothpaste bought by households is given in the table below:
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The above table indicates that 60 per cent of the large households
buy large-sized toothpaste whereas 60 per cent of small
households buy small-size toothpaste. Now if income categorized
as low income and high income is introduced as third variable, the
resulting table is as follows:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

It is found that even with the introduction of the third variable, i.e.,
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income, the initial relationship remains unchanged.

Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient

In case of ordinal scale data, the measure of association between
two variables is obtained through Spearman’s rank order
correlation coefficient.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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Descriptive Analysis of Bivariate Data

Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is given by
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The rank correlation coefficient takes a value between –1 and +1.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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More on Analysis of Data

Calculating summarized rank order
The rankings of attributes while choosing a restaurant for dinner for
32 respondents can be presented in the form of frequency
distribution in the table below.
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More on Analysis of Data

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To calculate a summary rank ordering, the attribute with the first rank is
given the lowest number (1) and the least preferred attribute is given the
highest number (5). The summarized rank order is obtained with the
following computations as:
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The total lowest score indicates the first preference ranking. The results
show the following rank ordering:
(1) Food quality
(2) Service
(3) Ambience
(4) Menu variety
(5) Location

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More on Analysis of Data

Data transformation
The original data is changed to a new format for performing data
analysis so as to achieve the objectives of the study. This is
generally done by the researcher through creating new variables or
by modifying the values of the scaled data.
The following illustrations show how it is carried out.
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 Ask the question on date of birth instead of asking the exact age.

 At times it may become essential to collapse or combine

adjacent categories of a variable so as to reduce the number of
categories of original variables. In a 5-point Likert scale, having
categories like strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree,
disagree and strongly disagree can be clubbed into three
categories.

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More on Analysis of Data

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 The researcher could create new variables by re-specifying the

data with numeric or logical transformation. Suppose a multiple-
item Likert scale designed to measure the perception of a
customer towards the bank has 10 items. The total score of a
respondent can be computed as:

Total score of ith respondent = Score of ith respondent on item 1

+ Score of ith respondent on item 2 + ... + Score of ith respondent
on item 10.
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Once the total score for each of the respondent is computed, the
average score can be obtained by dividing it by the number of
items. It can be further categorized as favourable, neutral and
unfavourable perception that could be related to various
demographic variables depending upon the objectives of
research.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES

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END OF CHAPTER
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY CONCEPTS AND CASES