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ABOUT PROBLEMS.
* IN THE PLURAL SENSE, STATISTICS REFERS TO THE SET OF FIGURES OR DATA . IN
THE SINGULAR SENSE, STATISTICS REFERS TO THE WHOLE BODY OF TOOLS THAT
ARE USED TO COLLECT DATA , ORGANIZE AND INTERPRET THEM , AND DRAW
CONCLUSION FROM THEM .
* A. L. BOWLES :
i) STATISTICS IS THE SCIENCE OF COUNTING
ii) STATISTICS IS THE SCIENCE OF AVERAGES
iii) STATISTICS IS THE SCIENCE OF MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL ORGANISM
REGARDED AS A WHOLE IN ALL ITS MANIFESTATIONS
* BODDINGTON :
i) STATISTICS IS THE SCIENCE OF ESTIMATES AND PROBABILITIES
* W. I. KING
i) STATISTICS IS THE METHOD OF JUDGING COLLECTIVE, NATURAL, OR SOCIAL
PHENOMENA FROM THE RESULTS OBTAINED BY THE ANALYSIS OR ENUMERATION OR
COLLECTION OF ESTIMATES.
* SELIGMAN
i) STATISTICS IS THE SCIENCE THAT DEALS WITH THE METHODS OF COLLECTING ,
CLASSIFYING , PRESENTING , COMPARING , AND INTERPRETING NUMERICAL DATA
COLLECTED TO THROW SOME CLARIFICATIONS ON ANY SPHERE OF INQUIRY.
* SPIEGAL
i) STATISTICS IS CONCERNED WITH SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF COLLECTING ,
ORGANIZING , SUMMARIZING , PRESENTING, AND ANALYZING DATA AS WELL AS
DRAWING VALID CONCLUSIONS AND MAKING REASONABLE DECISIONS ON THE BASIS
OF THE CONDUCTED ANALYSIS.
3. BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS : IT IS USED TO ANALYZE A WIDE RANGE OF DATA
LIKE SALES , OUTPUTS, PRICE INDICES, REVENUES , COSTS , INVENTORIES ,
ACCOUNTS , AND OTHERS , IN ORDER TO MONITOR STATUS OF CUSTOMERS ,
EMPLOYEES , ORDERS , AND PRODUCTION.
3. STATISTICS ARE COLLECTED FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE , SUCH DATA MAY
NOT BE RELEVANT OR USEFUL IN OTHER SITUATIONS OR CASES
1. IT OFTEN BECOMES NECESSARY TO EXAMINE HOW TO PAIRED DATA SETA ARE
RELATED.
B) RANK DATA ARE THE RESULT OF ASSIGNING RANKS TO SPECIFY ORDER
IN TERMS OF INTEGERS 1, 2, 3, ... N . IT IS ALSO REFERRED TO AS ORDINAL DATA.
EXAMPLES : LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE, RANKING OF CANDIDATES ,
SEQUENCE OF APPEARANCE IN A PARTICULAR SHOW , ETC.
A) CONTINUOUS VARIABLE IS THE ONE THAT CAN ASSUME ANY VALUE
BETWEEN TWO POINTS ON A LINE SEGMENT , THUS REPRESENTING ON INTERVAL
VALUES .
* CONTINUOUS DATA REPRESENTS THE NUMERICAL VALUE OF A CONTINUOUS
VARIABLE.
EXAMPLES : WEIGHT , LENGTH, HEIGHT , THICKNESS , VELOCITY ,
TEMPERATURE , STRENGTH , ETC.
2. SECONDARY DATA REFERS TO DATA TAKEN FROM ANOTHER SOURCE WHICH
MAY BE PUBLISHED OR UNPUBLISHED.
***** SCALES OF MEASURING DATA ****
1. NOMINAL SCALE
2. ORDINAL SCALE
3. INTERVAL SCALE
4. RATIO SCALE
**** METHODS OF COLLECTING DATA ****
1. SURVEY METHOD
* DIRECT OR INTERVIEW METHOD
* INDIRECT OR QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD
2. REGISTRATION METHOD
3. OBSERVATION METHOD
4. EXPERIMENTATION
5. CENSUS
6. MEASUREMENTS
7. MEDIA
* BROADCAST
* WRITTEN
8. DIARY METHOD
9. CONTENT ANALYSIS
10. BUSINESS RESEARCH
11. GROUNDED THEORY
12. CASE STUDY METHOD
**** POPULATION , SAMPLE AND CENSUS ****
2. INDEPENDENCE MEANS THAT THE CHANCE OF ONE MEMBER BEING DRAWN
DOES NOT AFFECT THE CHANCE OF THE OTHER MEMBER .
*********** TWO KINDS OF RANDOM SAMPLING TECHNIQUE ******
1. STRUCTURED THE WORDINGS AND ORDER OF QUESTIONS ARE UNIFORM FOR
ALL RESPONDENTS .
2. UNSTRUCTURED THE WORDINGS AND ORDER OF QUESTIONS CAN VARY FOR
DIFFERENT
SUBJECTS; USUALLY USED FOR QUALITATIVE STUDIES LIKE CASE STUDIES , ETC.
*********** TYPES OF QUESTIONS ******
2. OPEN - ENDED QUESTION RESPONSE CATEGORIES ARE NOT SPECIFIED ; THE
RESPONDENTS ARE FREE TO ANSWERS AS THEY PLEASE .
********** ADVANTAGE OF CLOSED - ENDED QUESTIONS ******
1. THE ANSWERS ARE STANDARD , AND CAN BE COMPARED FROM PERSON TO
PERSON
2. THE ANSWERS ARE MUCH EASIER TO CODE AND ANALYZE , AND OFTEN CAN BE
CODED DIRECTLY FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE.
3. A RESPONDENT WHO IS UNSURE ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE QUESTION CAN
OFTEN TELL FROM THE ANSWER CATEGORIES WHAT IS EXPECTED ( SELF -
ADMINISTERED )
1. RESULTS ARE BIASED AGAINST ANY CATEGORY THAT WAS NOT INCLUDED IN
THE LIST OF POSSIBLE RESPONSES.
2. IT IS VERY EASY FOR A RESPONDENT WHO DOES NOT KNOW THE ANSWER OR
HAS NO OPINION TO TRY TO GUESS THE APPROPRIATE ANSWER OR EVEN TO
ANSWER RANDOMLY
1. THEY CAN BE USED WHEN ALL OF THE POSSIBLE ANSWER CATEGORIES ARE
NOT KNOWN , OR WHEN THE INVESTIGATOR WISHES TO SEE WHAT THE
RESPONDENT VIEWS AS APPROPRIATE ANSWER CATEGORIES
3. THEY CAN BE USED WHEN THERE ARE TOO MANY POTENTIAL ANSWER
CATEGORIES TO LIST ON THE QUESTIONNAIRE
4. THEY ALLOW MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR CREATIVITY AND SELF - EXPRESSION
BY THE RESPONDENT.
************* DISADVANTAGES OF OPEN - ENDED QUESTIONS *****
4. OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS REQUIRE MUCH MORE OF THE RESPONDENT'S TIME
AND EFFORT , AND MAY INVITE A HIGH REFUSAL RATE .
***************** PITFALLS IN QUESTION CONSTRUCTION **************
1. INCORRECT ORDERING OF QUESTIONS
2. DOUBLE - BARRELED QUESTIONS
3. SENSITIVE OR THREATENING QUESTIONS
4. UNREALISTIC QUESTIONS
5. INCOMPLETE/ NON - EXHAUSTIVE LISTING
6. BIASED WORDING
7. LEADING QUESTIONS
8. VAGUE QUESTIONS
9. HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS