...Statistical Research: Descriptive and Inferential Week 5 RES/351 The articles that describe each method, one is for descriptive statistical and the other is for inferential. With the descriptive statistical method in Statistical Primer for Cardiovascular Research by Martin G Larson 2007, uses the descriptive method to determine the cases of acute myocardial infarction cases during 2006. The inferential method in the article, Determination of Predictors of Cause of Mortality in HIV Cohorts from years 2002 to 2011, by Kennedy N Otwombe (Feb 2014), using the statistical method of determining exactly mortality rates in HIV cases. The specific situation with Mortality rates in HIV cases would be to find the variation methods over time to determine either binary dependant variable and the independent predictor for the HIV causing death to patients with no opinion of what caused the death. But with Cardiovascular research the differences of BMI, overweight and underweight all determining factors on the causes of the primers. As well as diet to play a major role in helping with the research. With the differences in descriptive statistics and inferential, the descriptive in the Cardiovascular research compares in a more mathematical way of determining if the diet, BMI, overweight and underweight determine their health condition. This method can also be not as accurate as other methods by using measure of central tendency and is about small portion observations by rounding or...
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...Descriptive research plays an important role in educational research because it has greatly increased our knowledge about what happens in the classroom. What is descriptive research? Descriptive research can involve collecting quantitative information, or it can describe categories of information such as patterns of interaction when using technology in the classroom. Although it may employ fundamentals of both quantitative and qualitative research, descriptive research does not fit neatly into the definition of either quantitative or qualitative research methodology. Descriptive research takes a “what is” approach. Types of questions that may be addressed using descriptive research include: What is the best way to provide access to computer equipment in schools? Do teachers hold favorable attitudes toward using computers in schools? What have been the reactions of school administrators to technological innovations in teaching? Using descriptive research methodologies with the educational setting may be advantageous for several reasons. Educational research and experiences may contain many variables that cannot be realistically controlled, educational research may require observations of life experiences, and data collection may be spread over a large number of people over a large geographic area. Descriptive research may be used most effectively within the educational setting because educational research experiences cannot be as realistically controlled as laboratory...
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...Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Statistics are all-around and used in everyday life. Statistics are used to describe how effective a medication is for a certain disorder to what the most popular color is in the United States. According to Aron, Aron, and Coups, 2009, “statistics is a method of pursuing truth. As a minimum, statistics can tell you the likelihood that your hunch is true in this time and place and with these sorts of people” (p. 2). Psychologist use two branches of statistics to summarize his or her results and those are descriptive and inferential statistics. This paper will discuss the function of statistics, what descriptive and inferential statistics are, and the relationship between descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistics are used in almost every branch of study and is found behind the scenes in many of our normal daily activities. From economic to scientific studies, statistics are utilized in one way or another. Statistics are an essential part of understanding information and expanding knowledge base and is encompasses almost all aspects of enquiry ("7 Most Essential Functions Of Statistics", 2012). Statistics have many functions that we utilize;statisticsprovides for a better understanding of phenomenon of nature and helps in proper and statistical planning in all forms of study. Using statistics helps in collecting useful quantitative data and also aids in presenting difficult or confusing data in an understandable way. Statistics facilitate...
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...The Relationship Between Theory And Research An excerpt from .awcett, J., and Downs, .. (1986). The Relationship of Theory and Reseach. Norwalk, CT: Appleton Century Crofts. [.awcett & Downs teach in a School of Nursing and their examples involve topics of interest to nurses. Your humble instructor has modified this excerpt slightly to maintain terminology consistent with the social sciences]. 1 The close connection between theory and research was implied in the discussion of their functions. Stated explicitly, the initial impetus for research is the search for theory. Theory development relies on research, and research relies on theory. Brown (1977) characterized the relationship between theory and research as a dialectic, a transaction whereby theory determines what data are to be collected and research findings provide challenges to accepted theories. 2 Research, then, is neither more nor less than the vehicle for theory development. It is the method used to gather the data needed for the theory. This is true whether the purpose of the research is to generate a theory or to test one. When the purpose is theory generation, the phenomenon of interest suggests things to look for. .or example, if a theory of clients perceptions of factors influencing their adherence to a nursing care plan were to be generated, one source of data would be clients perceptions of why they were willing and able to follow the care plan. Conversely, if the purpose is theory testing...
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...RESEARCH METHOD This study utilized the descriptive method of research. As widely accepted, the descriptive method of research is a fact-finding study that involves adequate and accurate interpretation of findings. Descriptive research describes a certain present condition. Relatively, the method is appropriate to this study since it aims to describe the present condition of technical analysis as it is used in the stock market. The technique that was used under descriptive method is the normative survey approach and evaluation, which is commonly used to explore opinions according to respondents that can represent a whole population. The survey is appropriate in this study because it enables the researcher in formulation of generalizations. The purpose of employing the descriptive method is to describe the nature of a condition, as it takes place during the time of the study and to explore the cause or causes of a particular condition. The researcher opted to use this kind of research considering the desire to acquire first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study. According to Creswell (1994), the descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. Since this study is focused on the perception or evaluation of the consultancy firm's effective human resource management, the descriptive method is the most appropriate method to use. Two types of data were used: the...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Ngoc RES351 April 8, 2015 William Khoepfer Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Businesses will always need market research and it generally falls into two different groups. Qualitative and Quantitative. Qualitative research is “Qualitative research is designed to reveal a target audience’s range of behavior and the perceptions that drive it with reference to specific topics or issues. The results of qualitative research are descriptive rather than predictive.” ("What Is Qualitative Research?” 2015). Quantitative research “is about asking people for their opinions in a structured way so that you can produce hard facts and statistics to guide you. To get reliable statistical results, it’s important to survey people in fairly large numbers and to make sure they are a representative sample of your target market.” ("What Is Quantitative Research?” 2015). There also are descriptive and statistical approach’s in this paper that will help with understand what is best for you business research. When constructing a business research there are several sampling methods that can be used. Some sampling methods would be simple random sampling, systematic sampling, cluster sampling and quota sampling and etc. The article I chose to do is called Qualitative and quantitative methods for sampling zooplankton in shallow coastal estuaries. “Many different devices are used for sampling zooplankton. Every sampler...
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...Descriptive Research Many phycologist use different research designs to understand behavior. One major design is descriptive research. “Descriptive research is designed to create a snap shot of the current state of affairs (Stangor, 2010).” There are three types of descriptive research methods including naturalistic observation, case studies, and survey. Naturalistic observation is based on the observation of everyday events. For instance, a scientist who is developing a theory about gender differences may want to spend some time in restaurants, bars, and shopping malls in order to determine which type of gender is most relevant. That scientist is conducting a descriptive research. “The biggest advantage of the naturalistic method of research is that researchers view participants in their natural environments (Hale, 2011).” This is more beneficial because subjects may respond differently under laboratory conditions when they know that they are in an experiment. Case study on the other hand offers in depth research of an individual or their group. These studies are usually carried out in rare or unusual cases and form the foundation for the development of a hypotheses. However, they are not use to study cause and effect. Finally the survey method involves different participants answering questions through interviews or questionnaires. “After participants answer the questions, researchers describe the responses given (Hale, 2011).” The survey should have unambiguous questions...
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...As mentioned above, while quantitative methods are good at answering these four types of questions, there are other types of question that are not well suited to quantitative methods: 1. The first situation where quantitative research will fail is when the problem needs to be analysed in depth. Quantitative research is good at providing information in breadth from a large number of units. But when it comes to exploration of a problem or concept in depth, quantitative methods are too shallow. To get really under the skin of a phenomenon, the best suited methods are, ethnographic methods, interviews, in-depth case studies and other qualitative techniques. 2. As stated earlier, quantitative research is well-suited for the testing of theories and hypotheses. What quantitative methods cannot do very well is to develop hypotheses and theories. The hypotheses to be tested may come from a review of the literature or theory, but can also be developed using exploratory qualitative research. 3. If issues to be studied are particularly complex, an in-depth qualitative study, like a case studyis more likely to pick up on this than a quantitative study. This is partly...
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...Definition of research design A research design refers to a master plan, blue print and even a sequence of research task activities. Research design in simple terms is a plan of methods and procedures that is used by researchers to collect and analyze data needed by the manager. They also contain clear objectives, specify information sources on which the data will be collected, the type of data, design technique, sampling methodology and budgets as well. The three types of research design are namely exploratory, descriptive and causal research design. Exploratory research design Exploratory research design is a study which is designed to find out enough about the problem to usefully formulate a hypothesis. It stems from the general problem description such as finding out how consumers make decisions about things like life insurance. Exploratory research design is used when looking for insights into the problem and also to help define hypothesis (but does not test) and key variables. It is also used to identify course of action when information needs are vague and also to establish priorities for further research. Characteristics of exploratory research design Exploratory research design is flexible and unstructured It is used for finding tentative data Used as building block for more research. For example pilot surveys, secondary data and focus groups It is done on small non representative sample Methods used Exploratory research design uses soft methods such as...
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...Research, Statistics, and Psychology There are different forms involved in the study of psychology. Whether in the field of psychology or any academic field, research is necessary to further society from what it is now into what it will become in the future. Research means expanding current knowledge without progressing, stagnation occurs. Research and statistics are unique tools in psychology because the information is part of the methodology of psychology. In the field of psychology, research is what makes it possible to better understand human behavior and gives the knowledge needed to help others. Research and statistics are tracking methods that must stay accurate. Research must be conducted with precision and accountability it is of utter importance, both ethically and morally or it can lead to disastrous results. The methods of primary, secondary data and the branches of statistical methods are key factors used in research. Research is an attempt to find information in a scientific manner (Word Net,2011). By using the scientific methods the results from the research are valid, reliable, and accurate. The scientific method is a process where secondary data is compiled, analyzed, hypothesized, and tested. Using this method decreases human error and subjective thinking from having a influence on the results and interpretations (Pervez & Gronhaug, 2005). While nothing is without fault by using the scientific method of hypothesizing and testing the hypothesis decreases the...
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...behave in a social context. Social psychology often emphasizes the power of the situation in affecting people. Social psychology can be distinguished from other disciplines, including sociology, clinical psychology, personality psychology, and cognitive psychology; however, social psychology overlaps with each of these disciplines as well. Social psychology may at first appear to be common sense, but common sense often makes contradictory claims, and many of the findings in social psychology would not be predicted by common sense. A wide range of research methods are used in psychology. These methods vary by the sources of information that are drawn on, how that information is sampled, and the types of instruments that are used in data collection. Methods also vary by whether they collect qualitative data, quantitative data or both. Qualitative psychological research is where the research findings are not arrived at by statistical or other quantitative procedures. Quantitative psychological research is where the research findings result from mathematical modeling and statistical estimation or statistical inference. Since qualitative information can be handled as such statistically, the distinction relates to method, rather than the topic studied. There are three main types of psychological research: 1. Correlational research In statistics, dependence is any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Justin Wilson RES 351 Business Research 31 Mar 2015 Biman Ghosh Descriptive statistics is the term given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show or summarize data in a meaningful way such that, for example, patterns might emerge from the data. Descriptive statistics do not, however, allow us to make conclusions beyond the data we have analysed or reach conclusions regarding any hypotheses we might have made. They are simply a way to describe our data. Descriptive statistics are very important because if we simply presented our raw data it would be hard to visulize what the data was showing, especially if there was a lot of it. Descriptive statistics therefore enables us to present the data in a more meaningful way, which allows simpler interpretation of the data. For example, if we had the results of 100 pieces of students' coursework, we may be interested in the overall performance of those students. We would also be interested in the distribution or spread of the marks. Descriptive statistics allow us to do this. How to properly describe data through statistics and graphs is an important topic and discussed in other Laerd Statistics guides. Typically, there are two general types of statistic that are used to describe data: * Measures of central tendency: these are ways of describing the central position of a frequency distribution for a group of data. In this case, the frequency distribution...
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...Descriptive and Inferential Statistical Method RES/351 Researchers have many tools available to them in order test and analyze a specific hypothesis. Some of these tools help gather data, while others help ensure accurate and relevant analysis. Data collection can take the form of quantitative and qualitative methods. In a qualitative method, your data is more interpretive. This data is used when trying to discover more of a meaning of specific question rather than the frequency (Cooper, Schindler 2014). This data is generally obtained through interviews, participant observation, or focus groups. On the other hand quantitative data is the precise measurement of a specific behavior or phenomena (Cooper, Schindler 2014). Quantitative data is generally gathered by experiments, standardized testing, surveys, or non-participant observation (Cooper, Schindler 2014). While gathering both types of data, it is important to focus on the type of sampling method you utilize. For example, simple random sampling, or probability sampling, can be used to test a targeted representation of a test population (Cooper, Schindler 2014). There are other sampling methods as well. Stratified random sampling, for instance, is probability sampling that draws from each strata of population. One study I found to demonstrate descriptive statistics used stratified random statistics. In this study, they used stratified random sampling to test accuracy in medical billing (Buddahulsomsiri...
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...Business Research Applications Paper Individuals and companies use research on a daily basis and frequently throughout the day – with or without necessarily even realizing it. Research might be conducted simply to uncover the answer to a question or determine a possible outcome to a situation. I have a close friend who works for a bank that is focusing heavily on delivering a great customer experience. She frequently shares her professional experiences with me and I find it very interesting – the mechanisms the company puts into place to measure results. It may not seem to be research in the traditional sense however the bank is constantly conducting research. Before considering the types of research conducted at this financial institution, first it is important to understand what types of research exist. According to the text book, there are four types of research: reporting, descriptive, predictive, and explanatory (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). The reporting method entails information collection. This can be a difficult task – collecting the information necessary. An important source for information is found in the gatekeeper or an expert regarding the topic being researched. The reporting method does not require interpretation – the information is as it is presented. This method can be considered one of “fact finding” as it might be considered simply a collection of facts. The descriptive method provides answers to questions of who, what, where, and how. Generally, this...
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...Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Paper Terrance Douglas, Katie Faiman, Marika Schlindwein, Christyl Schoultz, & Samantha Sisk PSY/315 February 3, 2013 Dr. Deborah Suzzane Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Paper Have you ever noticed that we just keep moving forward? There are countless, unseen individuals who make this happen each day, but how do they operate? How do they accomplish all of this? We live in a complex world. Behind the scenes, researchers are steadily developing new theories and testing their outcome. For them, statistics serves a very different purpose. In the next few paragraphs, the role of statistics is explained as their role in the psychological community. Statistics itself is then further subdivided into two different methodologies; descriptive and the inferential (Aaron & Aaron & Coups, 2009). Each method utilizes data for a different purpose, and in each method, data may be gathered differently. Lastly, an example of each of the two types of statistics which helps the reader to distinguish clearly between the descriptive and inferential types of statistics which researchers use to conduct their work. It will further be shown how the two methods of statistics relate to each other in research. It is by understanding the two different roles of each of these types of statistics that researchers are able to gather meaningful data, which is testable and provable and keeps us on a forward moving trajectory...
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