Name : Banibrata Das

Course : MBA-SEM III

Subject code : MB0034
Subject Name : Research Methodology
Registration No : 510929409
Learning centre : Malad Center (LC Code: 02844)
Set no : 01
Q.1. what do you mean by research? Explain its significance in social and
Business sciences.

Ans.: Research simply means a search for facts – answers to questions and
solutions to problems. It is a purposive investigation. It is an organized inquiry. It
seeks to find explanations to unexplained phenomenon to clarify the doubtful facts and
to correct the misconceived facts.

Significance of Research in Social and Business Sciences

According to a famous Hudson Maxim, “All progress is born of inquiry.
Doubt is often better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to
invention”. It brings out the significance of research, increased amounts of which
makes progress possible. Research encourages scientific and inductive thinking,
besides promoting the development of logical habits of thinking and organization.
The role of research in applied economics in the context of an economy or business is
greatly increasing in modern times. The increasingly complex nature of government
and business has raised the use of research in solving operational problems.
Research assumes significant role in formulation of economic policy, for both the
government and business. It provides the basis for almost all government
policies of an economic system. Government budget formulation, for example,
depends particularly on the analysis of needs and desires of the people, and the
availability of revenues, which requires research. Research helps to formulate
alternative policies, in addition to examining the consequences of these
alternatives. Thus, research also facilitates the decision making of policy-makers,
although in itself it is not a part of research. In the process, research also helps in the
proper allocation of a country’s scare resources. Research is also necessary for
collecting information on the social and economic structure of an economy to
understand the process of change occurring in the country. Research also assumes a
significant role in solving various operational and planning problems associated with
business and industry. In several ways, operations research, market research, and
motivational research are vital and their results assist in taking business
decisions. Market research is refers to the investigation of the structure and
development of a market for the formulation of efficient policies relating to
purchases, production and sales.
Research is equally important to social scientist for analyzing social relationships
and seeking explanations to various social problems. It gives intellectual satisfaction of
knowing things for the sake of knowledge. It also possesses practical utility for the
social scientist to gain knowledge so as to be able to do something better or in a more
efficient manner. This, research in social sciences is concerned with both knowledge for
its own sake, and knowledge for what it can contribute to solve practical problems.

Q.2. what is meant by research problem? And what are the characteristics of a
good Research problem?

Ans.:
Meaning of Research Problem: Research really begins when the researcher
experiences some difficulty, i.e., a problem demanding a solution within the subject-are
of his discipline. This general area of interest, however, defines only the range of
subject-matter within which the researcher would see and pose a specific problem for
research. Personal values play an important role in the selection of a topic for
research. Social conditions do often shape the preference of investigators in a subtle
and imperceptible way.

Criteria of Good research Problem

Horton and Hunt have given following characteristics of scientific research:
1. Verifiable evidence: That is factual observations which other observers can see and
check.
2. Accuracy: That is describing what really exists. It means truth or correctness of a
statement or describing things exactly as they are and avoiding jumping to
unwarranted conclusions either by exaggeration or fantasizing.
3. Precision: That is making it as exact as necessary, or giving exact number
or measurement. This avoids colorful literature and vague meanings.
4. Systematization: That is attempting to find all the relevant data, or collecting
data in a systematic and organized way so that the conclusions drawn are
reliable. Data based on casual recollections are generally incomplete and give unreliable
judgments and conclusions.
5. Objectivity: That is free being from all biases and vested interests. It means
observation is unaffected by the observer’s values, beliefs and preferences to the extent
possible and he is able to see and accept facts as they are, not as he might wish them to
be.
6. Recording: That is jotting down complete details as quickly as possible.
Since human memory is fallible, all data collected are recorded.
7. Controlling conditions: That is controlling all variables except one and then
attempting to examine what happens when that variable is varied. This is the basic
technique in all scientific experimentation – allowing one variable to vary while holding
all other variables constant.
8. Training investigators: That is imparting necessary knowledge to investigators to
make them understand what to look for, how to interpret in and avoid inaccurate data
collection.

Q.3. What is hypothesis? Examine the procedures for testing hypothesis.

Ans.: A hypothesis is an assumption about relations between variables. It is a tentative

explanation of the research problem or a guess about the research outcome. Before
starting the research, the researcher has a rather general, diffused, even confused
notion of the problem. It may take long time for the researcher to say what questions he
had been seeking answers to. Hence, an adequate statement about the research
problem is very important. What is a good problem statement? It is an interrogative
statement that asks: what relationship exists between two or more variables? It then
further asks questions like: Is A related to B or not? How are A and B related to C? Is A
related to B under conditions X and Y? Proposing a statement pertaining to relationship
between A and B is called a hypothesis.

Procedure for Testing Hypothesis

The various steps involved in hypothesis testing are stated below:
1. Making a Formal Statement
The step consists in making a formal statement of the null hypothesis (Ho) and also of
the alternative hypothesis (Ha). This means that hypothesis should clearly state,
considering the nature of the research problem. For instance, Mr. Mohan of the Civil
Engineering Department wants to test the load bearing capacity of an old bridge which
must be more than 10 tons, in that case he can state his hypothesis as under: Null
hypothesis HO: μ =10 tons
Alternative hypothesis Ha: μ >10 tons
The formulation of hypothesis is an important step which must be accomplished
with due care in accordance with the object and nature of the problem under
consideration. It also indicates whether we should use a tailed test or a two tailed test.
If Ha is of the type greater than, we use alone tailed test, but when Ha is of the type
‚whether greater or smaller‛ then we use a two-tailed test.
2. Selecting a Significant Level
The hypothesis is tested on a pre-determined level of significance and such the same
should have specified. Generally, in practice, either 5% level or 1% level is adopted for
the purpose. The factors that affect the level of significance are:
 The magnitude of the difference between sample ;
 The size of the sample;
 The variability of measurements within samples;
 Whether the hypothesis is directional or non – directional (A directional
hypothesis is one which predicts the direction of the difference between, say, means). In
brief, the level of significance must be adequate in the context of the purpose and
nature of enquiry.
3. Deciding the Distribution to Use
After deciding the level of significance, the next step in hypothesis testing is to
determine the appropriate sampling distribution. The choice generally remains between
distribution and the t distribution. The rules for selecting the correct distribution are
similar to those which we have stated earlier in the context of estimation.
4. Selecting A Random Sample & Computing An Appropriate
Value
Another step is to select a random sample(S) and compute an appropriate value from
the sample data concerning the test statistic utilizing the relevant distribution. In other
words, draw a sample to furnish empirical data.
5. Calculation of the Probability
One has then to calculate the probability that the sample result would diverge as widely
as it has from expectations, if the null hypothesis were in fact true.
6. Comparing the Probability
Yet another step consists in comparing the probability thus calculated with the
specified value for á, the significance level. If the calculated probability is equal to
smaller than á value in case of one tailed test (and á/2 in case of two-tailed test), then
reject the null hypothesis (i.e. accept the alternative hypothesis), but if the probability is
greater then accept the null hypothesis.

Q.4. Write an essay on the need for research design and explain the principles of
experimental designs.

Ans.: Needs of Research Design

The need for the methodologically designed research:
a. In many a research inquiry, the researcher has no idea as to how accurate the
results of his study ought to be in order to be useful. Where such is the case, the
researcher has to determine how much inaccuracy may be tolerated. In a quite few
cases he may be in a position to know how much inaccuracy his method of research
will produce. In either case he should design his research if he wants to assure himself
of useful results.
b. In many research projects, the time consumed in trying to ascertain what the data
mean after they have been collected is much greater than the time taken to design a
research which yields data whose meaning is known as they are collected.
c. The idealized design is concerned with specifying the optimum research procedure
that could be followed were there no practical restrictions.

Principles of Experimental Designs

Professor Fisher has enumerated three principles of experimental designs:
1. The principle of replication: The experiment should be reaped more than once.
Thus, each treatment is applied in many experimental units instead of one. By doing so,
the statistical accuracy of the experiments is increased.
2. The principle of randomization: It provides protection, when we conduct an
experiment, against the effect of extraneous factors by randomization. In other words,
this principle indicates that we should design or plan the ‘experiment in such a way
that the variations caused by extraneous factors can all be combined under the general
heading of ‚chance‛. For instance if we grow one variety of rice say in the first half of the
parts of a field and the other variety is grown in the other half, then it is just possible
that the soil fertility may be different in the first half in comparison to the other half.
3. Principle of local control: It is another important principle of experimental designs.
Under it the extraneous factors, the known source of variability, is made to vary
deliberately over as wide a range as necessary and this needs to be done in such a way
that the variability it causes can be measured and hence eliminated from the
experimental error. This means that we should plan the experiment in a manner that
we can perform a two-way analysis of variance, in which the total variability of the data
is divided into three components attributed to treatments, the extraneous factor and
experimental error.

Q.5. Distinguish between primary and secondary of data collection. Explain

the features, uses, advantages and limitations of secondary data. Which is the
best way of collecting the data for research” Primary or secondary”. Support your
answer.

Ans.: Distinguish between Primary and Secondary of data collection:

 Primary sources are original sources from which the researcher directly collects
data that have not been previously collected e.g.., collection of data directly by
the researcher on brand awareness, brand preference, brand loyalty and other
aspects of consumer behaviour from a sample of consumers by interviewing
them,. Primary data are first hand information collected through various
methods such as observation, interviewing, mailing etc. while secondary data
are sources containing data which have been collected and compiled for another
purpose. The secondary sources consists of readily compendia and already
compiled statistical statements and reports whose data may be used by
researchers for their studies e.g., census reports , annual reports and financial
statements of companies, Statistical statement, Reports of Government
Departments, Annual reports of currency and finance published by the Reserve
Bank of India, Statistical statements relating to Co-operatives and Regional
Banks, published by the NABARD, Reports of the National sample survey
Organization, Reports of trade associations, publications of international
organizations such as UNO, IMF, World Bank, ILO, WHO, etc.

Features of Secondary Sources

Though secondary sources are diverse and consist of all sorts of materials, they have
certain common characteristics.
First, they are readymade and readily available, and do not require the trouble of
constructing tools and administering them.
Second, they consist of data which a researcher has no original control over collection
and classification. Both the form and the content of secondary sources are shaped by
others. Clearly, this is a feature which can limit the research value of secondary
sources.
Finally, secondary sources are not limited in time and space. That is, the researcher
using them need not have been present when and where they were gathered.
Use of Secondary Data
The second data may be used in three ways by a researcher. First, some specific
information from secondary sources may be used for reference purpose. For example,
the general statistical information in the number of co-operative credit societies in the
country, their coverage of villages, their capital structure, volume of business etc., may
be taken from published reports and quoted as background information in a study on
the evaluation of performance of cooperative credit societies in a selected district/state.
Second, secondary data may be used as bench marks against which the findings of
research may be tested, e.g., the findings of a local or regional survey may be compared
with the national averages; the performance indicators of a particular bank may be
tested against the corresponding indicators of the banking industry as a whole; and so
on.
Finally, secondary data may be used as the sole source of information for a research
project. Such studies as securities Market Behaviour, Financial Analysis of companies,
Trade in credit allocation in commercial banks, sociological studies on crimes, historical
studies, and the like, depend primarily on secondary data. Year books, statistical
reports of government departments, report of public organizations of Bureau of Public
Enterprises, Censes Reports etc, serve as major data sources for such research studies.
Advantages of Secondary Data
Secondary sources have some advantages:
1. Secondary data, if available can be secured quickly and cheaply. Once their source of
documents and reports are located, collection of data is just matter of desk work. Even
the tediousness of copying the data from the source can now be avoided, thanks to
Xeroxing facilities.
2. Wider geographical area and longer reference period may be covered without much
cost. Thus, the use of secondary data extends the researcher’s space and time reach.
3. The use of secondary data broadens the data base from which scientific
generalizations can be made.
4. Environmental and cultural settings are required for the study.
5. The use of secondary data enables a researcher to verify the findings bases on
primary data. It readily meets the need for additional empirical support. The researcher
need not wait the time when additional primary data can be collected.
Disadvantages of Secondary Data
The use of a secondary data has its own limitations.
1. The most important limitation is the available data may not meet our specific needs.
The definitions adopted by those who collected those data may be different; units of
measure may not match; and time periods may also be different.
2. The available data may not be as accurate as desired. To assess their accuracy we
need to know how the data were collected.
3. The secondary data are not up-to-date and become obsolete when they appear in
print, because of time lag in producing them. For example, population census data are
published tow or three years later after compilation, and no new figures will be available
for another ten years.
4. Finally, information about the whereabouts of sources may not be available to all
social scientists. Even if the location of the source is known, the accessibility depends
primarily on proximity. For example, most of the unpublished official records and
compilations are located in the capital city, and they are not within the easy reach of
researchers based in far off places.

Q.6. Describe interview method of collecting data. State the conditions

under which it is considered most suitable. You have been assigned to
conduct a survey on the reading habits of the house wives in the middle class
family. Design a suitable questionnaire consisting of 20 questions you propose to
use in the survey.

Ans.: Interviewing is one of the prominent methods of data collection. It may be defined
as a two way systematic conversation between an investigator and an informant,
initiated for obtaining information relevant to a specific study. It involves not only
conversation, but also learning from the respondent’s gesture, facial expressions and
pauses, and his environment. Interviewing requires face to face contact or contact over
telephone and calls for interviewing skills. It is done by using a structured schedule or
an unstructured guide.
Interviewing may be used either as a main method or as a supplementary one in studies
of persons. Interviewing is the only suitable method for gathering information from
illiterate or less educated respondents. It is useful for collecting a wide range of data
from factual demographic data to highly personal and intimate information relating to a
person’s opinions, attitudes, values, beliefs past experience and future intentions. When
qualitative information is required or probing is necessary to draw out fully, and then
interviewing is required. Where the area covered for the survey is a compact, or when a
sufficient number of qualified interviewers are available, personal interview is feasible.

Suitable questionnaire of reading habits of the house wives in the middle class
family:

1. How many times do you read a week?

2. Do you read for fun?
3. Would you rather read a magazine article or a short story?
4. What is your favorite type of literature?
5. What are barriers you have to reading more? ex- time, no books, etc
6. Do you read in order to learn new things?
7. What topics do you like?
8. What would make reading more enjoyable?
9. How many books have you read in the last six months?
10. Do your parents encourage you to read?
11. Do you ever check out books from the library?
12. What was the best book you ever read?
13. Would you rather read in a quiet library or in your room with music?
14. Do you prefer reading on-line content or hard copies?
15. Why do you choose to read?
16. Do you think that reading for fun is important?
17. Should schools assign more or less reading?
18. Do you think your vocabulary improves as you read?
19. Do you ever read on the weekends?
20. Do you discuss interesting books with your friends?
21. jHave you ever thought about starting a book club.
Name : Banibrata Das
Subject code : MB0034
Subject Name : Research Methodology
Registration No : 510929409
Learning centre : Malad Center (LC Code: 02844)
Set no : 02
Q.1. Write a short notes on the following:
(a) Null Hypothesis
(b) What is exploratory research?
(c) What is Random Sampling?
(d) Rank Order Correlation

Ans.:
a) Null Hypothesis:
If we are to compare method A with method B about its superiority and if we proceed on
the assumption that both methods are equally good, then this assumption is termed as
null hypothesis.
Symbolically presented as:
Null hypothesis = H0
In the choice of null hypothesis, the following considerations are usually kept in view:
 Alternative hypothesis is usually the one which wishes to prove and the null
hypothesis are ones that wish to disprove. Thus a null hypothesis represents the
hypothesis we are trying to reject, the alternative hypothesis represents all other
possibilities.
 If the rejection of a certain hypothesis when it is actually true involves great risk, it is
taken as null hypothesis because then the probability of rejecting it when it is true is á
(the level of significance) which is chosen very small.
 Null hypothesis should always be specific hypothesis i.e., it should not state about or
approximately a certain value.
 Generally, in hypothesis testing we proceed on the basis of null hypothesis, keeping
the alternative hypothesis in view.

b) Exploratory Research:
Exploratory research studies are also termed as formulative research studies.
The main purpose of such studies is that of formulating a problem for more precise
investigation or of developing the working hypothesis from an operational point of view.
The major emphasis in such studies is on the discovery of ideas and insights. As such
the research design appropriate for such studies must be flexible enough to provide
opportunity for considering different aspects of a problem under study. Inbuilt flexibility
in research design is needed because the research problem, broadly defined initially, is
transformed into one with more precise meaning in exploratory studies, which fact may
necessitate changes in the research procedure for gathering relevant data.

c) Random Sampling:
The procedure of selecting clusters with probability Proportional to size (PPS) is widely
used. If one primary cluster has twice as large a population as another, it is give twice
the chance of being selected. If the same number of persons is then selected from each
of the selected clusters, the overall probability of any person will be the same. Thus PPS
is a better method for securing a representative sample of population elements in multi-
stage cluster sampling.
Advantages: The advantages are clusters of various sizes get proportionate
representation, PPS leads to greater precision than would a simple random sample of
clusters and a constant sampling fraction at the second stage, equal-sized samples from
each selected primary cluster are convenient for field work.
Disadvantages: PPS cannot be used if the sizes of the primary sampling clusters are
not known.

d) Rank Order Correlation:

Charles Edward Spearman, a British psychologist devised a method for measuring

correlation between two variables based on ranks given to the observations. This
method is adopted when the variables are not capable of quantitative measurements
like intelligence, beauty etc. in such cases, it is impossible to assign numerical values
for change taking place in such variables. It is in such cases rank correlation is useful.
Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is given by
rk= 1- 6 ∑D2 / n (n2-1)
Where D is the difference between ranks and n, number of pairs correlated.

Q.2. Elaborate the format of a research report touching briefly on the mechanics
of writing.

Ans.:
Communicate to a Specific Audience
The first step is to know the audience, its background, and its objectives. Most effective
presentations seem live conversations or memos to a particular person as opposed to an
amorphous group. Audience identification affects presentation decisions such as
selecting the material to be included and the level of presentation. Excessive detail or
material presented at too low a level can be boring. The audience can become irritated
when material perceived as relevant is excluded or the material is presented at too high
level. In an oral presentation, the presenter can ask audience whether they already
know some of the material.
Structure the Presentation
Each piece of presentation should fit into the whole, just as individual pieces fit into a
jigsaw puzzle. The audience should not be muttering. The solution to this is to provide a
well-defined structure. The structure should include an introduction, a body, and a
summary. Further, each of the major sections should be structured similarly. The
precept is to tell the audience what you are going to say, say it and then tell them what
you said. Sometimes you want to withhold the conclusion to create interest.
The purpose of the presentation summary is to identify and underline the important
points of the presentations and to provide some repetition of their content. The
summary should support the presentation communication objectives by helping the
audience to retain the key parts of the content. The audience should feel that there is a
natural flow from one section to another.
Create Audience Interest
The audience should be motivated to read or listen to the presentation’s major parts
and to the individual elements of each section the audience should know why the
presentation is relevant to them and why each section was included. A section that
cannot hold interest should be excluded or relegated to appendix.
The research purpose and objectives are good vehicles to provide motivation. The
research purpose should specify decisions to be made and should relate to the research
questions. A presentation that focuses on those research questions and their associated
hypothesis will naturally be tied to relevant decisions and hold audience interest. In
contrast, a presentation that attempts to report on all the questions that were included
in the survey and in the cross-tabulations often will be long, uninteresting and of little
value.
Be Specific and Visual
Avoid taking or writing in the abstract. If different members of the audience have
different or vague understandings of important concepts, there is a potential problem.
Terms that are ambiguous or not well known should be defined and illustrated or else
omitted. The most interesting presentations usually use specific stories, anecdotes,
studies, or incidents to make points.
Address Validity and Reliability Issues
The presentation should help the audience avoid misinterpreting the results.
The wording of the questions, the order in which they are asked, and the sampling
design are among the design dimensions that can lead to biased results and
misinterpretations. The presentation should not include an exhaustive description of all
the design considerations. Nobody is interested in a textbook discussion of the
advantages of telephone over mail surveys, or how you locate homes in an area
sampling design.
Q.3. Discuss the importance of case study method.

Ans.: criteria for evaluating the adequacy of the case history or life history which is of
central importance for case study. John Dollard has proposed seven criteria for
evaluating such adequacy as follows:
i) The subject must be viewed as a specimen in a cultural series. That is, the case
drawn out from its total context for the purposes of study must be considered a
member of the particular cultural group or community. The scrutiny of the life histories
of persons must be done with a view to identify the community values, standards and
their shared way of life.
ii) The organic motto of action must be socially relevant. That is, the action of the
individual cases must be viewed as a series of reactions to social stimuli or situation. In
other words, the social meaning of behaviour must be taken into consideration.
iii) The strategic role of the family group in transmitting the culture must be recognized.
That is, in case of an individual being the member of a family, the role of family in
shaping his behaviour must never be overlooked.
iv) The specific method of elaboration of organic material onto social behaviour must be
clearly shown. That is case histories that portray in detail how basically a biological
organism, the man, gradually blossoms forth into a social person, are especially fruitful.
v) The continuous related character of experience for childhood through adulthood
must be stressed. In other words, the life history must be a configuration depicting the
inter-relationships between thee person’s various experiences.
vi) Social situation must be carefully and continuously specified as a factor. One of the
important criteria for the life history is that a person’s life must be shown as unfolding
itself in the context of and partly owing to specific social situations.
vii) The life history material itself must be organized according to some conceptual
framework, this in turn would facilitate generalizations at a higher level.

Q.4. Give the importance of frequency tables and discuss the principles of
table construction, frequency distribution and class intervals determination.

Ans.: Frequency tables provide a “shorthand” summary of data. The importance of

presenting statistical data in tabular form needs no emphasis. Tables facilitate
comprehending masses of data at a glance; they conserve space and reduce
explanations and descriptions to a minimum. They give a visual picture of relationships
between variables and categories. They facilitate summation of item and the detection of
errors and omissions and provide a basis for computations.
It is important to make a distinction between the general purpose tables and specific
tables. The general purpose tables are primary or reference tables designed to include
large amount of source data in convenient and accessible form. The special purpose
tables are analytical or derivate ones that demonstrate significant relationships in the
data or the results of statistical analysis.

Principles of Table Construction

There are certain generally accepted principles of rules relating to construction of
tables. They are:
1. Every table should have a title. The tile should represent a succinct description of the
contents of the table. It should be clear and concise. It should be placed above the body
of the table.
2. A number facilitating easy reference should identify every table. The number can be
centred above the title. The table numbers should run in consecutive serial order.
Alternatively tables in chapter 1 be numbered as 1.1, 1.2, 1….., in chapter 2 as 2.1, 2.2,
2.3…. and so on.
3. The captions (or column headings) should be clear and brief.
4. The units of measurement under each heading must always be indicated.
5. Any explanatory footnotes concerning the table itself are placed directly beneath the
table and in order to obviate any possible confusion with the textual footnotes such
reference symbols as the asterisk (*) DAGGER (+) and the like may be used.
6. If the data in a series of tables have been obtained from different sources, it is
ordinarily advisable to indicate the specific sources in a place just below the table.
7. Usually lines separate columns from one another. Lines are always drawn at the top
and bottom of the table and below the captions.
8. The columns may be numbered to facilitate reference.
9. All column figures should be properly aligned. Decimal points and “plus” or “minus”
signs should be in perfect alignment.
10. Columns and rows that are to be compared with one another should be brought
closed together.
11. Totals of rows should be placed at the extreme right column and totals of columns
at the bottom.
12. In order to emphasize the relative significance of certain categories, different kinds
of type, spacing and identifications can be used.
13. The arrangement of the categories in a table may be chronological, geographical,
alphabetical or according to magnitude. Numerical categories are usually arranged in
descending order of magnitude.
14. Miscellaneous and exceptions items are generally placed in the last row of the table.
15. Usually the larger number of items is listed vertically. This means that a table‟s
length is more than its width.
16. Abbreviations should be avoided whenever possible and ditto marks should not be
used in a table.
17. The table should be made as logical, clear, accurate and simple as possible.

Frequency Distribution and Class Intervals

Variables that are classified according to magnitude or size are often arranged in the
form of a frequency table. In constructing this table, it is necessary to determine the
number of class intervals to be used and the size of the class intervals.
A distinction is usually made between continuous and discrete variables. A continuous
variable has an unlimited number of possible values between the lowest and highest
with no gaps or breaks. Examples of continuous variable are age, weight, temperature
etc. A discrete variable can have a series of specified values with no possibility of values
between these points. Each value of a discrete variable is distinct and separate.

Class Intervals: Ordinarily, the number of class intervals may not be less than 5 not
more than 15, depending on the nature of the data and the number of cases being
studied. After noting the highest and lower values and the feature of the data, the
number of intervals can be easily determined.
For many types of data, it is desirable to have class intervals of uniform size. The
intervals should neither be too small nor too large. Whenever possible, the intervals
should represent common and convenient numerical divisions such as 5 or 10, rather
than odd division such as 3 to 7. Class intervals must be clearly designated in a
frequency table in such a way as to obviate any possibility of misinterpretation of
confusion. For example, to present the age group of a population, the use of intervals of
1-20, 20-50, and 50 and above would be confusing. This may be presented as 1-20, 21-
50, and above 50.
Every class interval has a mid point. For example, the midpoint of an interval 1-20 is
10.5 and the midpoint of class interval 1-25 would be 13. Once class intervals are
determined, it is routine work to count the number of cases that fall in each interval.

Q.5. Write a short notes on the following:

(a) Type I error and type II error.
(b) One tailed and two tailed test
(c) Selecting the significance level

Ans.:

a) Type I Error and Type II Error:

In the context of testing of hypothesis there are basically two types of errors that
researchers make. We may reject H0 when H0 is true & we may accept H0 when it is
not true. The former is known as Type I & the later is known as Type II. In other words,
Type I error mean rejection of hypothesis which should have been accepted & Type II
error means accepting of hypothesis which should have been rejected. Type I error is
donated by á (alpha), also called as level of significance of test; and Type II error is
donated by β(beta).
The probability of Type I error is usually determined in advance and is understood as
the level of significance of testing the hypothesis. If type I error is fixed at 5%, it means
there are about chances in 100 that we will reject H0 when H0 is true. We can control
type I error just by fixing it at a lower level. For instance, if we fix it at 1%, we will say
that the maximum probability of committing type I error would only be 0.01.
But with a fixed sample size, n when we try to reduce type I error, the probability of
committing type II error increases. Both types of errors can not be reduced
simultaneously. There is a trade-off in business situations, decision-makers decide the
appropriate level of type I error by examining the costs of penalties attached to both
types of errors. If type I error involves time & trouble of reworking a batch of chemicals
that should have been accepted, where as type II error means taking a chance that an
entire group of users of this chemicals compound will be poisoned, then in such a
situation one should prefer a type I error to a type II error means taking a chance that
an entire group of users of this chemicals compound will be poisoned, then in such a
situation one should prefer a type II error. As a result one must set very high level for
type I error in one’s testing techniques of a given hypothesis. Hence, in testing of
hypothesis, one must make all possible effort to strike an adequate balance between
Type I & Type II error.

b) One tailed and two tailed test

In the context of hypothesis testing these two terms are quite important and
must be clearly understood. A two-tailed test rejects the null hypothesis if, say, the
sample mean is significantly higher or lower than the hypnotized value of the mean of
the population. Such a test inappropriate when we haveH0: μ= μ H0 and Ha: μ≠μ H0
which may μ>μ H0 or μ<μ H0. If significance level is % and the two-tailed test to be
applied, the probability of the rejection area will be 0.05 (equally split on both tails of
curve as 0.025) and that of the acceptance region will be 0.95. If we take μ = 100 and if
our sample mean deviates significantly from μ, in that case we shall accept the null
hypothesis. But there are situations when only one-tailed test is considered
appropriate. A one-tailed test would be used when we are to test, say, whether the
population mean in either lower than or higher than some hypothesized value.

c) Selecting of the significance Level:

This is a very important concept in the context of hypothesis testing. It is always
some percentage (usually 5%) which should be chosen with great care, thought and
reason. In case we take the significance level at 5%, then this implies that H0 will be
rejected when the sampling result (i.e., observed evidence) has a less than 0.05
probability of occurring if H0 is true. In other words, the 5% level of significance means
that researcher is willing to take as much as 5% risk rejecting the null hypothesis when
it (H0) happens to be true. Thus the significance level is the maximum value of the
probability of rejecting H0 when it is true and is usually determined in advance before
testing the.

Q.6. Explain Karl Pearson Co-efficient of correlation. Calculate Karl Pearson

coefficient for the following data:
X(heightcm)
174 175 176 177 178 182 183 186 189 193
Y(weightkg)
61 65 67 68 72 74 80 87 92 95

Ans.:

X Y dx dy dx2 dy2 dxdy

174 61 -2 -26 4 676 52
 175 65 -1 -22 1 484 22
A (176) 67 0 -20 0 400 -20
177 68 1 -19 1 361 -19
178 72 2 -15 4 225 -30
182 74 6 -13 36 169 -78
183 80 7 -7 49 49 -49
186 A (87) 10 0 100 0 0
189 92 13 5 169 25 65
193 95 17 8 289 64 136
57 -109 653 2453 79
.
r = Covariance between x and y
∑Dx X ∑Dy

Covariance between x and y = ∑dxdy / N - (∑dx/N X ∑dy/N)

∑Dx= √(∑dx2 / N) - (∑dx /N) 2
∑Dy = √ (∑dy2 / N) - (∑dy /N) 2

∑dxdy / N - (∑dx / N x ∑dy /N)

r = ---------------------------------------------------------
________________ __________________
√ (∑dx2 / N) - (∑dx/N)2 x √ (∑dy2 / N) - (∑dy/N)2

79/10 - (57/10 x -109/10)

r = ---------------------------------------------------------
________________ __________________
√ (653/10) - (57/10)2 x √ (2453/10) - (-109/10)2

79/10 - (57/10 x -109/10)

r = ---------------------------------------------------------
________________ __________________
√ (653/10) - (57/10)2 x √ (2453/10) - (-109/10)2

70.03
r = --------------
64.42

r = 1.087

Hence it is interpreted as good positive correlation.