Research Methodology

Research
Research is the systematic and objective
analysis and recording of controlled
observations that may lead to the
development of generalisations, principles, or
theories resulting in prediction and possibly
ultimately control the events.
 Business Research
In Particular-Business Research is a means of
providing management with the information
to reduce uncertainty at the time when
business strategy is being planned ,and to
monitor performance after the strategy has
been implemented.

It has a crucial role in decision making

 Steps in Business Research
• Process
Following are the nine steps in a business research
process
1. Identify and define the problem or opportunity carefully
2. State research objectives
3. Develop research design
4. Select data collection methods
5. Finalise sampling techniques
6. Select the sample
7. Collect, tabulate and present the data
8. Analyse the data
9. Write and present the research report
 Quantitative Research
Quantitative research uses mathematical
measures and statistical techniques to
determine relationships and differences
among large sample of target populations
A highly structured ,quantitative research
involves designing questions with a choice of
specific responses so that the response can be
measured and analysed mathematically
Data Files and Coding Data
Data is nothing but numerical facts from
which conclusions can be drawn.

The subject of Statistics deals with detailed

understanding and study of, how to collect,
summaries and interpret data.
 Classification and Tabulation of
Data
A collected data is usually contained in schedules
and questionaires.But this is not an easily
assimilable form. As a rule,the first step in the
analysis is to classify and tabulate the information
collected .
When the collected information is not summarized
or rearranged in a meaningful manner, we refer to
them as raw data.
For e.g. The height (in ft.) of ten students in your
class can be 5.4,5.6,4.8,4.0,5.7,6.0,5.2,5.2,5.5 and
6.0
• Raw or unprocessed data alone do not provide any
definite conclusion. To use it for future planning,
data should be rearranged, condensed and
presented in a more meaningful form.
 Types of classification
Broadly the data can be classified on the basis of
following four criteria:
• Geographical,i.e.area wise,e.g.cities,districts
etc.
• Chronological,i.e,on the basis of time.
• Qualitative ,i.e. according to some attributes.
• Quantitative,i.e.,in terms of magnitude.
 Quantitative Classification
• Example:
Weight (in lb) No. of Students
90-100 50
100-110 200
110-120 260
120-130 360
Such a distribution is known as frequency distribution. It has two elements,
(i) Variable i.e the weight in the above example.
A Discrete Variable is one which takes only integral values such as number
of classes in a week.
A Continues Variable is one which takes all real values such as height of a
student, marks obtained.
(ii) Frequency i.e., the number of students in each class.
 Types of Frequency Distribution
• Ungrouped frequency distribution or Discrete
frequency distribution:
Let us consider the raw data of time taken
by 15 employees of an electronic factory
to assemble a new product
The time taken in minutes are as follows:
6, 10, 2, 10, 16, 17, 15, 15, 8, 6, 4 ,17, 11,
17, 12.
Discrete or Ungrouped Frequency Distribution
Time taken (in minutes) Tally Marks No of employees

2 / 1
4 / 1
6 // 2
8 / 1
10 // 2
11 / 1
12 / 1
15 // 2
16 / 1
17 /// 3
 Grouped Frequency Distribution
Time taken (in No of employees
minutes)
0-3 1

3-6 1
6-9 3
9-12 3

12-15 1

15-18 6
Measures of Central Tendency or
Averages
 Average Defined
• Average is an attempt to find one single figure
to describe whole of figures.-Clark
• The average is sometimes described as a
number which is typical of the whole group.-
Leabo
• An average is a typical value in the sense that
it is sometimes employed to represent all the
individual values in the series or of variables.-
Ya-Lun-Chou
 There are the five different Measures
of Central Tendency
• 1. Arithmetic Mean
• 2. Median
• 3. Mode
• 4.Geometric Mean
• 5. Harmonic Mean
Depending upon the need and nature of study,
proper measure is chosen
 1. ARITHMETIC MEAN( A.M.)
• It is most popular and widely used method for
representing the entire data.
 Formula of simple Arithmetic mean
If X1, X2,…………….,X n denotes n no. of observations, the
A.M. denoted by X is defined as:

X = X1+ X2 +…….+ X n
n
n
∑X
= i=
1
n
 Example
• Calculate the Arithmetic mean of the numbers
8,3,5,12 and 10.
Arithmetic Mean For Ungrouped data
with frequency
Suppose there be n values X1, X2,…………….,X n
out of which X1 has occurred f1 times, X2 has
occurred f2 times, …………., Xn has occurred fn
times

X= ∑ f .X
∑f
 Application
The following is the frequency distribution of age of 670
students of a school. Compute the arithmetic mean of the
data.
Age (in years) X No. of students
(frequency)
5 25
6 45
7 90
8 165
9 112
10 96
11 81

12 26
13 18
14 12
Age (in No. of students f.x
years) X (frequency)
5 25
6 45
7 90
8 165
9 112
10 96
11 81

12 26
13 18
14 12
∑f=670 ∑f.x =5918
A.M.=5918/670=8.83
 Short-cut Method
To simplify the manual calculations, we may
sometimes use
• Change of Origin: We add or subtract (usually
subtract) a constant to the individual
observation.
• Change of Scale: This is achieved by
multiplying or dividing each individual
observation by a constant.
• Combination of the above two
Effect of change of origin and scale on
A.M.
• Remember A.M. is not independent of the
change of origin. This means that if same
constant is subtracted from each observation
it must be added in the final answer.
• Remember A.M. is not independent of the
change of scale. This means that if each
observation is divided by the same constant
the final answer must be multiplied by the
same.
Calculate the Arithmetic Mean for the
following data
Class Intervals Frequency
0-10 3

10-20 8

20-30 12

30-40 15

40-50 18

50-60 16

60-70 11

70-80 5
 Direct
Class Frequency Mid fx
Intervals values x

0-10 3
10-20 8
20-30 12
30-40 15
40-50 18
50-60 16
60-70 11
70-80 5
 Change of Origin
Class Frequency Mid d=x-35 fd
Intervals values x

0-10 3 5
10-20 8 15
20-30 12 25
30-40 15 35
40-50 18 45
50-60 16 55
60-70 11 65
70-80 5 75 ∑f.d=660
X =A+ ∑f.d
∑f

= 35+ 660
88
= 42.5
 Change of Scale and Origin
Class Frequency Mid d=x-35 fd
Intervals values x 10

0-10 3 5 -3 -9
10-20 8 15 -2 -16
20-30 12 25 -1 -12
30-40 15 35 0 0
40-50 18 45 1 18
50-60 16 55 2 32
60-70 11 65 3 33
70-80 5 75 4 20
X =A+ ∑f.d *h
∑f

= 35+ 66 *10
88
= 42.5
 To find Missing Frequency
The following is the distribution of weights ( in lbs.) of 60
students of a class :
Weights No. of
students
93-97 2
98-102 5
103-107 12
108-112 ?
113-117 14
118-122 ?
123-127 3
128-132 1
Total 60
If the mean weight of the students is 110.917,
find the missing frequencies.

Ans: 17 and 6
 Median
The median by definition refers to the middle
value in a distribution when they are arranged in their
ascending or descending order of their magnitude.

In other words, median of distribution is that value

Which divides it into two equal parts. It is called
Positional average because its value depends upon the
Position of an item and not on its magnitude.
 Determination of Median
Raw data
Example1: If the income of five employees are
Rs. 900, 950, 1020, 1200 and 1280. Calculate
the median.
Example 2:If the income of five employees are
Rs. 900, 950, 1020, 1200,1280 and 1290
calculate the median.
b) Computation of Median – Discrete
series

i. Arrange the data in ascending or decending

order of magnitude.

ii Find out the cumulative frequencies

iii Apply the formula: Median = size of n+1
2

iv Now look at the cumulative frequency

column and find the total which is either equal
to n+1 or next higher to that and determine
2
the value of the variable corresponding to it.
That gives the value of median.
Example: From the Income No. of
following data find (Rs.) persons
the value of median 1000 24
1500 26
800 16
2000 20
2500 6
1800 30
Income (Rs.) No. of persons Cumulative
Frequency(c.f.)
800 16

1000 24

1500 26

1800 30

2000 20

2500 6
Determine the median class. In grouped data
use (n/2) as the median class and not n+1
2
 Formula:
Median= L + N/2 – c.f x i
f

L= lower boundary of the median class

c.f = cumulative frequency of the class preceding to the

median class.
f = frequency of the median class.

i = The class interval of the median class.

Illustration: calculate
median(Exclusive Class Intervals)
Marks No. of students
5-10 7
10-15 15
15-20 24
20-25 31
25-30 42
30-35 30
35-40 26
40-45 15
45-50 10
 Illustration :Calculate
median(Inclusive Class Intervals)
Weight No. of apples
(in
grams)
410-419 14
420-429 20
430-439 42
440-449 54
450-459 45
460-469 18
470-479 7
 Illustration :calculate
median(Unequal Class Intervals)
Weight No. of apples
(in
grams)
410-429 34
430-439 42
440-459 99
460-469 18
470-479 7
 Calculaton of Median when class
Intervals are Unequal
Calculate the median from the following data:

Marks No. of students

0-10 5
10-30 15
30-60 30
60-80 8
80-90 2
Note: when the class intervals are unequal,
there is no need to make any adjustment to
make it equal.

Ans:40
 Determination of Missing Frequencies
If the frequencies of some classes are missing,
however, the median of the distribution is
known, then these frequencies can be
determined
by the use of median formula.
 Example
The following table gives the distribution of daily wages of 900
workers. However, the frequencies of the classes 40-50 and 60-70 are
Missing. If the median of the distribution is Rs.59.25, find the missing
frequencies.
Wages (Rs.) Frequency
30-40 120

40-50 ?

50-60 200

60-70 ?

70-80 185
f1=145, f2=250
 Graphical location of Median
So far we have calculated median by the use of a formula.
Alternatively, it can be determined graphically, as illustrated
in the following example.
The following table shows the daily sales of 230
footpath sellers of an area

Sales (Rs.) No. of sellers

0-500 12
500-1000 18
1000-1500 35
1500-2000 42
2000-2500 50
2500-3000 45
3000-3500 20
3500-4000 8
Locate the median of the above data using
1) Only the less than type ogive, and
2) Both, the less than and greater than type
ogives.

Note: The curve obtained by representing a

cumulative frequency distribution on a
graph is known as cumulative frequency
curve or
ogive.
The cumulative frequency distribution can be of
two types:
a) Less than type cumulative frequency
distribution

b) More than type cumulative frequency

distribution

Accordingly, there are two types of ogive, ‘less

than ogive’ and ‘more than ogive’
Sales less than No. of sellers Less than
(Rs.) type c.f.
500 12 12
1000 18 30
1500 35 65
2000 42 107
2500 50 157
3000 45 202
3500 20 222
4000 8 230
Cumulative
Less than type ogive
frequency

256

192

128

64

1000 150 2000 2500 300 350 400

0 50
Values
The value n =115 is marked on the vertical axis

2
and a horizontal line is drawn from this point to
meet the ogive at point S. Drop a perpendicular
from S. The point at which it meets X axis is the
median.
Sales morethan (Rs.) more than type c.f.

0 230
500 218
1000 200
1500 165
2000 123
2500 73
3000 28
3500 8
 More than type ogive
256
Cumulativ
e
frequency
192

128

64

1000 150 2000 2500 300 3500 400

0 50
0 0 0
0 Values
Two ogives intersect at the median.

Drop a perpendicular from the point of intersection

of the two ogives. The point at which it intersects
the X axis gives median. The median=2080.
 Quantiles
• Quartiles
Raw Data:Q1=(N+1)/4, Q3=3(N+1)/4,
• Percentiles
Raw Data:P5=5(N+1)/100, P99=99(N+1)/100,
• Deciles
Raw Data:D3=3(N+1)/10, D9=9(N+1)/10
• Find the first and third quartile for the
following data
• -19.8,-13.8,12.0,13.6,14.3,25.5,36.3,43.6
 Quantiles for Continuous Series
• From the following data compute D2, P5 and P99
• Marks No. of students
0-10 8
10-20 10
20-40 22
40-60 25
60-80 10
80-100 5
 Mode
Mode or Modal Value is that value in a series of
observation which occurs with greatest
frequency. For example the mode of
3,5,8,5,4,5,9,3 would be 5
Mode for a Continuous Series

Where f0= frequency of Modal class

f1= frequency of Pre Modal class
f2= frequency of Post Modal class
L= Lower Limit of Modal class
i= Length of Modal class
 Calculate the mode from the
following data
• Wages(Rs.) No of Workers
20-25 40
25-30 60
30-35 90
35-40 170
40-45 140
45-50 110
50-55 60
55-60 50 Ans.38.64
 Locating Mode Graphically
• Draw a histogram of the given data
• Draw two line diagonally in the inside of the
modal class bar starting from each upper
corner of the bar to the upper corner of the
adjacent bar
• Draw a perpendicular line from the
intersection of the two diagonal lines to the X
Axis which gives the Modal Value
 Graphically determine the mode
from the following data
• Wages(Rs.) No of Workers
20-25 40
25-30 60
30-35 90
35-40 170
40-45 140
45-50 110
50-55 60
55-60 50 Ans.38.64
 Empirical Mode
• There may be two values which occur with
equal frequency. Such a series is said to be Bi-
Modal and the mode is said to be ill defined.
The modal value is then ascertained by the
following formula:
Mode=3 Median-2 Mean