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UNIT 1
BASIC CONCEPTS OF
RESEARCH
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
Understanding and Definitions of Research
Research Objectives
Business Research : Definitions, Importance
Unit Of Analysis
WHAT IS POPULATION AND SAMPLE
What is Variable and Constant
What are Attributes
Dependent & Independent Variable
Hypothesis
Types of Research Design
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BASIC
STATISTICAL
CONCEPTS
STATISTICS
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The word statistics has many different meanings in
our culture.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary gives a
comprehensive definition of statistics as a science
dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation,
and presentation of numerical data.
Role of Statistics in Research – Designing Research,
Analyzing Data, Draw Conclusion about research
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BRANCHES
OF
STATISTICS
Descriptive
Statistics
Inferential
Statistics
To understand the
difference between
descriptive and
inferential statistics,
definitions of
population
and sample are
helpful
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POPULATION
in
Research
POPULATION
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Population is a collection of persons, objects, or items of interest.
The population can be a widely defined category, such as “all
automobiles,” or it can be narrowly defined, such as “all Ford Mustang
cars produced from 2002 to 2005.”
A population can be a group of people, such as “all workers presently
employed by Microsoft,” or it can be a set of objects, such as “all
dishwashers produced on February 3, 2007, by the General Electric
Company at the Louisville plant.”
The researcher defines the population to be whatever he or she is
studying.
POPULATION
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When researchers gather data from the whole population for a
given measurement of interest, they call it a CENSUS.
Most people are familiar with the Indian Census. Every 10 years, the
government attempts to measure all persons living in this country.
TYPES OF POPULATION
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Finite Population
•The population in which number of units is finite and can be counted
precisely, is called finite population.
•Eg - Population of the students who appeared in S. S. C. Exam in
Gujarat in March 2017.
•Students enrolled in Post Graduate courses in Gujarat.
Infinite Population
•The population, in which the number of units is infinite and cannot be
counted is called infinite population.
•Eg - Decimal numbers lying between integers 1 and 2.
•Number of stars in the sky.
TYPES OF POPULATION
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Homogeneous Population
• If all the units of population are identical or similar in terms of certain
characteristic/s.
• Eg - Blood in a living being, crop produced in a particular farm, DNA of
persons having blood relation, water in a particular vessel and atoms in a
particular element
• Matching the DNA of two persons one can decide whether they have blood
• relation or not
Heterogeneous Population
• If all the units of population differ completely or in some aspects with one
another
• Eg - All students of the same school and class differ from one another in
different mental and physical abilities
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SAMPLE
in
Research
SAMPLE
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A sample is a portion of the whole and, if properly taken, is
representative of the whole.
For various reasons, researchers often prefer to work with a sample of
the population instead of the entire population.
For example, in conducting quality control experiments to
determine the average life of lightbulbs, a lightbulb manufacturer
might randomly sample only 75 lightbulbs during a production run.
Because of time and money limitations, a human resources
manager might take a random sample of 40 employees instead of
using a census to measure company morale.
CHARACTERISTICS OF IDEAL SAMPLE 13
Number of units in sample must be proportionate. It means a size of sample must be in proper
proportion of number of units in population.
Units selected in sample must represent all the characteristics of different units of population.
Sample should be helpful in realising all the objectives of research.
Units of sample must be selected fairly without any bias. It means all the units of population
must have equal chance to be selected in sample.
Sample should be such, that can save time, energy and money of researcher.
Contact of units of sample should be convenient for researcher. It means, units of sample
should be within the reach of researcher.
Collection of data from units of sample should be convenient for researcher.
Relationship between
Population and Sample
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DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 15
If a business analyst is using data gathered on a
group to describe or reach conclusions about that
same group, the statistics are called descriptive
statistics.
For example, if an instructor produces statistics to
summarize a class’s examination effort and uses
those statistics to reach conclusions about that
class only, the statistics are descriptive.
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 16
Many of the statistical data generated by businesses
are descriptive.
•They might include number of employees on vacation during
June,
•average salary at the ABC office,
•corporate sales for 2009
•average managerial satisfaction score on a company-wide
census of employee attitudes, and
•average return on investment for the Lofton Company for the
years 1990 through 2008.
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS 17
If a researcher gathers data from a sample and
uses the statistics generated to reach conclusions
about the population from which the sample was
taken, the statistics are inferential statistics.
The data gathered from the sample are used to
infer something about a larger group. Inferential
statistics are sometimes referred to as inductive
statistics.
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS 18
One application of inferential statistics is in
pharmaceutical research. Some new drugs are
expensive to produce, and therefore tests must be
limited to small samples of patients.
Utilizing inferential statistics, researchers can design
experiments with small randomly selected samples
of patients and attempt to reach conclusions and
make inferences about the population
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS 19
The advantage of using inferential statistics
is that they enable the researcher to study
effectively a wide range of phenomena
without having to conduct a census.
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