Educational Research and Statistics

Name: Samina Manzoor

Student ID: 18PLE10358
Course Code: 6461

Assignment No 2
Q.1 Discuss the concept of variables and explain the types of variables with the help
of relevant examples.
Answer:
A variable is any kind of attribute or characteristic that you are trying to measure,
manipulate and control in statistics and research. All studies analyze a variable,
which can describe a person, place, thing or idea. A variable's value can change
between groups or over time.
For example, if the variable in an experiment is a person's eye color, its value can
change from brown to blue to green from person to person.
11 types of variables
You can usually identify the type of variable you’re working with, by asking two
questions: “What type of data does the variable contain?” and “What part of the
experiment does the variable represent?”
Researchers organize variables into a variety of categories, the most common of
which include:
• Qualitative Variables
• Quantitative Variables
• Discrete Variable
• Continuous Variable
• Independent Variable
• Dependent Variable
• Background Variable
• Moderating Variable
• Extraneous Variable
• Intervening Variable
An important distinction between variables is the qualitative and quantitative variables.
Qualitative variables are those that express a qualitative attribute, such as hair color, religion,
race, gender, social status, method of payment, and so on. The values of a qualitative variable do
not imply a meaningful numerical ordering.
The value of the variable ‘religion’ (Muslim, Hindu..,etc.) differs qualitatively; no ordering of
religion is implied. Qualitative variables are sometimes referred to as categorical variables.
For example, the variable sex has two distinct categories: ‘male’ and ‘female.’ Since the values of
this variable are expressed in categories, we refer to this as a categorical variable.
Similarly, the place of residence may be categorized as urban and rural and thus is a categorical
variable.
Categorical variables may again be described as nominal and ordinal.
Ordinal variables can be logically ordered or ranked higher or lower than another but do not
necessarily establish a numeric difference between each category, such as examination grades (A+,
A, B+, etc., and clothing size (Extra large, large, medium, small).

Nominal variables are those that can neither be ranked nor logically ordered, such as religion, sex,
etc.

A qualitative variable is a characteristic that is not capable of being measured but can be
categorized as possessing or not possessing some characteristics.
Quantitative Variables
Quantitative variables, also called numeric variables, are those variables that are measured in terms
of numbers. A simple example of a quantitative variable is a person’s age.
Age can take on different values because a person can be 20 years old, 35 years old, and so on.
Likewise, family size is a quantitative variable because a family might be comprised of one, two,
or three members, and so on.
Each of these properties or characteristics referred to above varies or differs from one individual to
another. Note that these variables are expressed in numbers, for which we call quantitative or
sometimes numeric variables. A quantitative variable is one for which the resulting observations
are numeric and thus possess a natural ordering or ranking.
Discrete and Continuous Variables
Quantitative variables are again of two types: discrete and continuous.
Variables such as some children in a household or the number of defective items in a box are
discrete variables since the possible scores are discrete on the scale. Discrete Variable
A discrete variable, restricted to certain values, usually (but not necessarily) consists of whole
numbers, such as the family size and a number of defective items in a box. They are often the
results of enumeration or counting.
For example, a household could have three or five children, but not 4.52 children.
Other variables, such as ‘time required to complete an MCQ test’ and ‘waiting time in a queue in
front of a bank counter,’ are continuous variables.
The time required in the above examples is a continuous variable, which could be, for example, 1.65
minutes or 1.6584795214 minutes. Of course, the practicalities of measurement preclude most
measured variables from being continuous.
A few more examples are;

• The number of accidents in the twelve months.

• The number of mobile cards sold in a store within seven days.
• The number of patients admitted to a hospital over a specified period.
• The number of new branches of a bank opened annually during 2001- 2007.
• The number of weekly visits made by health personnel in the last 12 months.
Continuous Variable
A continuous variable may take on an infinite number of intermediate values along a specified
interval. Examples are:

• The sugar level in the human body;

• Blood pressure reading;
• Temperature;
• Height or weight of the human body;
• Rate of bank interest;
• Internal rate of return (IRR),
• Earning ratio (ER);
• Current ratio (CR)
No matter how close two observations might be, if the instrument of measurement is precise enough,
a third observation can be found, falling between the first two.
A continuous variable generally results from measurement and can assume countless values in the
specified range
Dependent Variables and Independent Variable
In many research settings, two specific classes of variables need to be distinguished from one
another: independent variable and dependent variable.
Many research studies aim to reveal and understand the causes of underlying phenomena or
problems with the ultimate goal of establishing a causal relationship between them.

• Look at the following statements:

• Low intake of food causes underweight.
• Smoking enhances the risk of lung cancer.
• Level of education influences job satisfaction.
• Advertisement helps in sales promotion.
• The drug causes improvement of health problems.
• Nursing intervention causes more rapid recovery.
• Previous job experiences determine the initial salary.
• Blueberries slow down aging.
• The dividend per share determines share prices.
In each of the above queries, we have two independent and dependent variables. In the first example,
‘low intake of food’ is believed to have caused the ‘problem of being underweight.’
It is thus the so-called independent variable. Underweight is the dependent variable because we
believe this ‘problem’ (the problem of being underweight) has been caused by ‘the low intake of
food’ (the factor).
Similarly, smoking, dividend, and advertisement are all independent variables, and lung cancer, job
satisfaction, and sales are dependent variables. In general, an independent variable is manipulated
by the experimenter or researcher, and its effects on the dependent variable are measured.
Independent Variable
The variable that is used to describe or measure the factor that is assumed to cause or at least to
influence the problem or outcome is called an independent variable.
The definition implies that the experimenter uses the independent variable to describe or explain its
influence or effect of it on the dependent variable. Variability in the dependent variable is presumed
to depend on variability in the independent variable.
Depending on the context, an independent variable is sometimes called a predictor variable,
regressor, controlled variable, manipulated variable, explanatory variable, exposure variable (as
used in reliability theory), risk factor (as used in medical statistics), feature (as used in machine
learning and pattern recognition) or input variable.
The explanatory variable is preferred by some authors over the independent variable when the
quantities treated as independent variables may not be statistically independent or independently
manipulable by the researcher.
If the independent variable is referred to as an explanatory variable, then the term response variable
is preferred by some authors for the dependent variable.
Dependent Variable
The variable used to describe or measure the problem or outcome under study is called a dependent
variable.
In a causal relationship, the cause is the independent variable, and the effect is the dependent
variable. If we hypothesize that smoking causes lung cancer, ‘smoking’ is the independent variable
and cancer the dependent variable.
A business researcher may find it useful to include the dividend in determining the share prices.
Here dividend is the independent variable, while the share price is the dependent variable.
The dependent variable usually is the variable the researcher is interested in understanding,
explaining, or predicting.
In lung cancer research, the carcinoma is of real interest to the researcher, not smoking behavior per
se. The independent variable is the presumed cause of, antecedent to, or influence on the dependent
variable.
Depending on the context, a dependent variable is sometimes called a response variable, regressand,
predicted variable, measured variable, explained variable, experimental variable, responding
variable, outcome variable, output variable, or label. An explained variable is preferred by some
authors over the dependent variable when the quantities treated as dependent variables may not be
statistically dependent.
If the dependent variable is referred to as an explained variable, then the term predictor variable is
preferred by some authors for the independent variable.
Levels of an Independent Variable
If an experimenter compares an experimental treatment with a control treatment, then the
independent variable (a type of treatment) has two levels: experimental and control.
If an experiment were to compare five types of diets, then the independent variables (types of diet)
would have five levels.
In general, the number of levels of an independent variable is the number of experimental conditions.
Background Variable
In almost every study, we collect information such as age, sex, educational attainment,
socioeconomic status, marital status, religion, place of birth, and the like. These variables are
referred to as background variables.
These variables are often related to many independent variables, so they indirectly influence the
problem. Hence they are called background variables.
The background variables should be measured if they are important to the study. However, we
should try to keep the number of background variables as few as possible in the interest of the
economy.
Moderating Variable
In any statement of relationships of variables, it is normally hypothesized that in some way, the
independent variable ’causes’ the dependent variable to occur. In simple relationships, all other
variables are extraneous and are ignored. In actual study situations, such a simple one-to-one
relationship needs to be revised to take other variables into account to explain the relationship better.
This emphasizes the need to consider a second independent variable that is expected to have a
significant contributory or contingent effect on the originally stated dependent-independent
relationship. Such a variable is termed a moderating variable.
Suppose you are studying the impact of field-based and classroom-based training on the work
performance of health and family planning workers. You consider the type of training as the
independent variable.
If you are focusing on the relationship between the age of the trainees and work performance, you
might use ‘type of training’ as a moderating variable.
Extraneous Variable
Most studies concern the identification of a single independent variable and measuring its effect on
the dependent variable.
But still, several variables might conceivably affect our hypothesized independent-dependent
variable relationship, thereby distorting the study. These variables are referred to as extraneous
variables.
Extraneous variables are not necessarily part of the study. They exert a confounding effect on the
dependent-independent relationship and thus need to be eliminated or controlled for.
An example may illustrate the concept of extraneous variables. Suppose we are interested in
examining the relationship between the work status of mothers and breastfeeding duration.
It is not unreasonable in this instance to presume that the level of education of mothers as it
influences work status might have an impact on breastfeeding duration too.
Education is treated here as an extraneous variable. In any attempt to eliminate or control the effect
of this variable, we may consider this variable a confounding variable.
An appropriate way of dealing with confounding variables is to follow the stratification procedure,
which involves a separate analysis of the different levels of lies in confounding variables.
For this purpose, one can construct two cross-tables for illiterate mothers and the other for literate
mothers. Suppose we find a similar association between work status and duration of breast-feeding
in both the groups of mothers. In that case, we conclude that mothers’ educational level is not a
confounding variable.
Intervening Variable
Often an apparent relationship between two variables is caused by a third variable. For example,
variables X and Y may be highly correlated, but only because X causes the third variable, Z, which
in turn causes Y. In this case, Z is the intervening variable.
An intervening variable theoretically affects the observed phenomena but cannot be seen, measured,
or manipulated directly; its effects can only be inferred from the effects of the independent and
moderating variables on the observed phenomena.
We might view motivation or counseling as the intervening variable in the work-status and
breastfeeding relationship.
Thus, motive, job satisfaction, responsibility, behavior, and justice are some of the examples of
intervening variables.
Suppressor Variable
In many cases, we have good reasons to believe that the variables of interest have a relationship, but
our data fail to establish any such relationship. Some hidden factors may suppress the true
relationship between the two original variables.
Such a factor is referred to as a suppressor variable because it suppresses the relationship between
the other two variables. The suppressor variable suppresses the relationship by being positively
correlated with one of the variables in the relationship and negatively correlated with the other. The
true relationship between the two variables will reappear when the suppressor variable is controlled
for.
Thus, for example, low age may pull education up but income down. In contrast, a high age may
pull income up but education down, effectively canceling the relationship between education and
income unless age is controlled for.
Q.2 Differentiate between population and sample. How a researcher can decide
about sample size

Answer:
What is Population?
In statistics, population is the entire set of items from which you draw data for a statistical study. It
can be a group of individuals, a set of items, etc. It makes up the data pool for a study.
Generally, population refers to the people who live in a particular area at a specific time. But in
statistics, population refers to data on your study of interest. It can be a group of individuals, objects,
events, organizations, etc. You use populations to draw conclusions.
An example of a population would be the entire student body at a school. It would contain all the
students who study in that school at the time of data collection. Depending on the problem
statement, data from each of these students is collected. An example is the students who speak
Hindi among the students of a school.
For the above situation, it is easy to collect data. The population is small and willing to provide
data and can be contacted. The data collected will be complete and reliable.
If you had to collect the same data from a larger population, say the entire country of India, it would
be impossible to draw reliable conclusions because of geographical and accessibility constraints, not
to mention time and resource constraints. A lot of data would be missing or might be unreliable.
Furthermore, due to accessibility issues, marginalized tribes or villages might not provide data at
all, making the data biased towards certain regions or groups.
What is a Sample?
A sample is defined as a smaller and more manageable representation of a larger group. A subset
of a larger population that contains characteristics of that population. A sample is used in statistical
testing when the population size is too large for all members or observations to be included in the
test.
The sample is an unbiased subset of the population that best represents the whole data.
To overcome the restraints of a population, you can sometimes collect data from a subset of your
population and then consider it as the general norm. You collect the subset information from the
groups who have taken part in the study, making the data reliable. The results obtained for different
groups who took part in the study can be extrapolated to generalize for the population.
The process of collecting data from a small subsection of the population and then using it to
generalize over the entire set is called Sampling.
Samples are used when :
The population is too large to collect data.
The data collected is not reliable.
The population is hypothetical and is unlimited in size. Take the example of a study that
documents the results of a new medical procedure. It is unknown how the procedure will affect
people across the globe, so a test group is used to find out how people react to it.
A sample should generally :
Satisfy all different variations present in the population as well as a well-defined selection
criterion. Be utterly unbiased on the properties of the objects being selected. Be random to choose
the objects of study fairly.
Say you are looking for a job in the IT sector, so you search online for IT jobs. The first search result
would be for jobs all around the world. But you want to work in India, so you search for IT jobs in
India. This would be your population. It would be impossible to go through and apply for all
positions in the listing. So you consider the top 30 jobs you are qualified for and satisfied with and
apply for those. This is your sample.
Q.3 ‘Questionnaire is one of the most widely used tool in research.’ Comment on
the statement and discuss merits and limitations of questionnaire.

Answer:

A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of questions or other types of

prompts that aims to collect information from a respondent. A research questionnaire is typically a
mix of close-ended questions and open-ended questions. Open-ended, long-form questions offer
the respondent the ability to elaborate on their thoughts. Research questionnaires were developed
in 1838 by the Statistical Society of London.
The data collected from a data collection questionnaire can be both qualitative as well as
quantitative in nature. A questionnaire may or may not be delivered in the form of a survey, but a
survey always consists of a questionnaire.
Advantages of a good questionnaire design:
With a survey questionnaire, you can gather a lot of data in less time.
There is less chance of any bias creeping if you have a standard set of questions to be used for
your target audience. You can apply logic to questions based on the respondents’ answers, but the
questionnaire will remain standard for a group of respondents that fall in the same segment.
Surveying online survey software is quick and cost-effective. It offers you a rich set of features to
design, distribute, and analyze the response data. It can be customized to reflect your brand voice.
Thus, it can be used to reinforce your brand image.
The responses can be compared with the historical data and understand the shift in respondents’
choices and experiences. Respondents can answer the questionnaire without revealing their
identity. Also, many survey software complies with significant data security and privacy
regulations.
Characteristics of a good questionnaire
Your survey design depends on the type of information you need to collect from respondents.
Qualitative questionnaires are used when there is a need to collect exploratory information to help
prove or disprove a hypothesis. Quantitative questionnaires are used to validate or test a previously
generated hypothesis. However, most questionnaires follow some essential characteristics:
Uniformity: Questionnaires are very useful to collect demographic information, personal
opinions, facts, or attitudes from respondents. One of the most significant attributes of a research
form is uniform design and standardization. Every respondent sees the same questions. This helps
in data collection and statistical analysis of this data. For example, the retail store evaluation
questionnaire template contains questions for evaluating retail store experiences. Questions relate
to purchase value, range of options for product selections, and quality of merchandise. These
questions are uniform for all customers.
Exploratory: It should be exploratory to collect qualitative data. There is no restriction on
questions that can be in your questionnaire. For example, you use a data collection questionnaire
and send it to the female of the household to understand her spending and saving habits relative to
the household income. Open-ended questions give you more insight and allow the respondents to
explain their practices. A very structured question list could limit the data collection.
Question Sequence: It typically follows a structured flow of questions to increase the number of
responses. This sequence of questions is screening questions, warm-up questions, transition
questions, skip questions, challenging questions, and classification questions. For example, our
motivation and buying experience questionnaire template covers initial demographic questions and
then asks for time spent in sections of the store and the rationale behind purchases.
Types of questions in a questionnaire
You can use multiple question types in a questionnaire. Using various question types can help
increase responses to your research questionnaire as they tend to keep participants more engaged.
The best customer satisfaction survey templates are the most commonly used for better insights
and decision-making.
Some of the widely used types of questions are:
Open-Ended Questions: Open-ended questions help collect qualitative data in a questionnaire
where the respondent can answer in a free form with little to no restrictions.
Dichotomous Questions: The dichotomous question is generally a “yes/no” close-ended question.
This question is usually used in case of the need for necessary validation. It is the most natural
form of a questionnaire.
Multiple-Choice Questions: Multiple-choice questions are a close-ended question type in which a
respondent has to select one (single-select multiple-choice question) or many (multi-select
multiple choice question) responses from a given list of options. The multiple-choice question
consists of an incomplete stem (question), right answer or answers, incorrect answers, close
alternatives, and distractors. Of course, not all multiple-choice questions have all of the answer
types. For example, you probably won’t have the wrong or right answers if you’re looking for
customer opinion.
Scaling Questions: These questions are based on the principles of the four measurement scales –
nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. A few of the question types that utilize these scales’
fundamental properties are rank order questions, Likert scale questions, semantic differential scale
questions, and Stapel scale questions.
Pictorial Questions: This question type is easy to use and encourages respondents to answer. It
works similarly to a multiple-choice question. Respondents are asked a question, and the answer
choices are images. This helps respondents choose an answer quickly without over-thinking their
answers, giving you more accurate data.
Q.4 Comparatively discuss different types of data presentation with examples.

Answer:

Analysing, presenting and using data to make decisions is an essential function for
professionals in a variety of industries. The ability to organise and share data increases the
impact of your research, spreads awareness and can motivate others to take desired actions.
Learning what data presentation is and how you can use it may help you improve your
communication skills and make your research more effective. In this article, we define data
presentation with an overview of the different types of methods you can use to present data
and a step-by-step guide on how to share data with an audience.
What Is Data Presentation?
Data presentation is a process of comparing two or more data sets with visual aids,
such as graphs. Using a graph, you can represent how the information relates to other
data. This process follows data analysis and helps organise information by
visualising and putting it into a more readable format. This process is useful in nearly
every industry, as it helps professionals share their findings after performing data
analysis.
Types Of Data Presentation
You can present data in one of three ways including:
Textual
When presenting data in this way, you use words to describe the relationship
between information. Textual presentation enables researchers to share information
that cannot display on a graph. An example of data you may present textually is
findings in a study. When a researcher wants to provide additional context or
explanation in their presentation, they may choose this format because, in text,
information may appear more clear.
Textual presentation is common for sharing research and presenting new ideas. It
only includes paragraphs and words, rather than tables or graphs to show data. ;
Tabular
Tabular presentation is using a table to share large amounts of information. When
using this method, you organise data in rows and columns according to the
characteristics of the data. Tabular presentation is useful in comparing data, and it
helps visualise information. Researches use this type of presentation in analysis,
such as:
Qualitative classification: Qualities including, nationality, age, social status,
appearance, and personality traits may appear in a table to review and compare
sociological and psychological information.
Quantitative classification: This category includes items you can count or number.
Spatial classification: This applies to situations where information uses a basis of
location, such as data on a city, state or region.
Temporal classification: Time is the variable in this category, so any measure of
time, including, seconds, hours, days or weeks, may help classify the data.
The benefits of using a table to share your data are that it simplifies the data making
it easily consumable to viewers, helps provide a side-by-side comparison of the
variables you choose and it can save space in your presentation because a table
condenses the information.
Diagrammatic
This method of displaying data uses diagrams and images. It is the most visual type
for presenting data and provides a quick glance at statistical data. There are four
basic types of diagrams, including:

Pictograms: This diagram uses images to represent data. For example, to show the
number of books sold in the first release week, you may draw five books, where
each image accounts for 1,000 books and consumers bought 5,000 books.
Cartograms: This includes any type of map that shares the location of a person,
place or object. For example, cartograms help navigate theme parks so you can find
attractions, food and gift shops.
Bar graphs: This type uses rectangles of different sizes on an x and y-axis to
represent different amounts in a data set. It depicts numerical values and uses
rectangles to display data for variables in your research.
Pie charts: In this type of diagram, data appears as a fraction in a circle. This displays
any type of numerical data but works well with fewer variables.
Since they are more visual than the other methods of presenting data, diagrams can
share more information about the relationships between variables in the data set. For
example, a bar graph can show data by colour, and size of the rectangle and use a
more advanced bar graph to share data from multiple variables over time. The
diagrammatic presentation also helps read data quickly and provides an easy
comparison.
Q.5 What is meant by a research report? Explain significance of writing a research
report.
Answer:
Reports are usually spread across a vast horizon of topics but are focused on communicating
information about a particular topic and a niche target market. The primary motive of
research reports is to convey integral details about a study for marketers to consider while
designing new strategies.
Certain events, facts, and other information based on incidents need to be relayed to the
people in charge, and creating research reports is the most effective communication tool.
Ideal research reports are extremely accurate in the offered information with a clear
objective and conclusion. These reports should have a clean and structured format to relay
information effectively.
What are Research Reports?
Research reports are recorded data prepared by researchers or statisticians after analyzing
the information gathered by conducting organized research, typically in the form of
surveys or qualitative methods.
A research report is a reliable source to recount details about a conducted research. It is
most often considered to be a true testimony of all the work done to garner specificities of
research.
The various sections of a research report are:

• Summary
• Background/Introduction
• Implemented Methods
• Results based on Analysis
• Deliberation
• Conclusion
Writing research reports in the manner can lead to all the efforts going down the drain.
Here are 15 tips for writing impactful research reports:

Prepare the context before starting to write and start from the basics: This was always
taught to us in school – be well-prepared before taking a plunge into new topics. The order
of survey questions might not be the ideal or most effective order for writing research
reports. The idea is to start with a broader topic and work towards a more specific one and
focus on a conclusion or support, which a research should support with the facts. The most
difficult thing to do in reporting, without a doubt is to start. Start with the title, the
introduction, then document the first discoveries and continue from that. Once the
marketers have the information well documented, they can write a general conclusion.
Keep the target audience in mind while selecting a format that is clear, logical and obvious
to them: Will the research reports be presented to decision makers or other researchers?
What are the general perceptions around that topic? This requires more care and diligence.
A researcher will need a significant amount of information to start writing the research
report. Be consistent with the wording, the numbering of the annexes and so on. Follow the
approved format of the company for the delivery of research reports and demonstrate the
integrity of the project with the objectives of the company.
Have a clear research objective: A researcher should read the entire proposal again, and
make sure that the data they provide contributes to the objectives that were raised from the
beginning. Remember that speculations are for conversations, not for research reports, if a
researcher speculates, they directly question their own research.
Establish a working model: Each study must have an internal logic, which will have to be
established in the report and in the evidence. The researchers’ worst nightmare is to be
required to write research reports and realize that key questions were not included.
Gather all the information about the research topic. Who are the competitors of our
customers? Talk to other researchers who have studied the subject of research, know the
language of the industry. Misuse of the terms can discourage the readers of research
reports from reading further.
Read aloud while writing. While reading the report, if the researcher hears something
inappropriate, for example, if they stumble over the words when reading them, surely the
reader will too. If the researcher can’t put an idea in a single sentence, then it is very long
and they must change it so that the idea is clear to everyone.
Check grammar and spelling. Without a doubt, good practices help to understand the
report. Use verbs in the present tense. Consider using the present tense, which makes the
results sound more immediate. Find new words and other ways of saying things. Have fun
with the language whenever possible.
Discuss only the discoveries that are significant. If some data are not really significant, do
not mention them. Remember that not everything is truly important or essential within
research reports.
Try and stick to the survey questions. For example, do not say that the people surveyed
“were worried” about an research issue, when there are different degrees of concern.
The graphs must be clear enough so that they understand themselves. Do not let graphs
lead the reader to make mistakes: give them a title, include the indications, the size of the
sample, and the correct wording of the question.
Be clear with messages. A researcher should always write every section of the report with
an accuracy of details and language.
Be creative with titles– Particularly in segmentation studies choose names “that give life
to research”. Such names can survive for a long time after the initial investigation.
Create an effective conclusion: The conclusion in the research reports is the most difficult
to write, but it is an incredible opportunity to excel. Make a precise summary. Sometimes
it helps to start the conclusion with something specific, then it describes the most
important part of the study, and finally, it provides the implications of the conclusions.
Get a couple more pair of eyes to read the report. Writers have trouble detecting their own
mistakes. But they are responsible for what is presented. Ensure it has been approved by
colleagues or friends before sending the find draft out.