Name: Hamza safi

ID:21pri03264
Roll no: CE605353
B. ED 3 SEMESTER
CODE: 8614
ASSINGMENT 1
Q.1 Describe 'levels of measurement' by giving real life examples.
The four measurement levels, in order, from the lowest level of information to the
highest level of information are as follows:
1. Nominal scales:
Nominal scales contain the least amount of information. In nominal scales, the
numbers assigned to each variable or observation are only used to classify the
variable or observation. For example, a fund manager may choose to assign the
number 1 to small-cap stocks, the number 2 to corporate bonds, the number 3
to derivatives, and so on.
2. Ordinal scales:
Ordinal scales present more information than nominal scales and are, therefore, a
higher level of measurement. In ordinal scales, there is an ordered relationship
between the variables observations. For example, a list of 500 managers of mutual
funds may be ranked by assigning the number 1 to the best-performing manager,
the number 2 to the second best-performing manager, and so on.
With this type of measurement, one can conclude that the number 1-ranked mutual
fund manager performed better than the number 2-ranked mutual fund manager.
3. Interval scales:
Interval scales present more information than ordinal scales in that they provide
assurance that the differences between values are equal. In other words, interval
scales are ordinal scales but with equivalent scale values from low to high
intervals.
For example, temperature measurement is an example of an interval scale: 60°C is
colder than 65°C, and the temperature difference is the same as the difference
between 50°C and 55°C. In other words, the difference of 5°C in both intervals
shares the same interpretation and meaning.
Consider why the ordinal scale example is not an interval scale: A fund
manager ranked 1 probably did not outperform the fund manager ranked 2 by the
exact same amount that a fund manager ranked 6 outperformed a fund manager
ranked 7 Ordinal scales provide a relative ranking, but there is no assurance that
the differences between the scale values are the same.
A drawback in interval scales is that they do not have a true zero point. Zero does
not represent an absence of something in an interval scale. Consider that the
temperature -0°C does not represent the absence of temperature. For this reason,
interval-scale-based ratios fail to provide some insights for example, 50°C is not
twice as hot as 25°C.
4. Ratio scales:
Ratio scales are the most informative scales. Ratio scales provide rankings, assure
equal differences between scale values, and have a true zero point. In essence, a
ratio scale can be thought of as nominal, ordinal, and interval scales combined as
one.
For example, the measurement of money is an example of a ratio scale. An
individual with $0 has an absence of money. With a true zero point, it would be
correct to say that someone with $100 has twice as much money as someone with
$50.
Q.2 Explain commonly used variables in educational research. Support your
answer by giving examples.
The central purpose of research is to solve problems and improve the welfare of
the society. To research is to search or investigate exhaustively. It is a careful or
diligent search, studious inquiry or examination especially investigation or
experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of
accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts or practical application of such
new or revised theories or laws, it can also be the collection of information about a
particular subject, Webster (1985). Research cannot be possible without taking into
consideration measurable factors that are subject to change due to circumstances.
Anything that can vary in research due to circumstances is called a variable.
However, based on what has been learnt in the current research course, the
principle aim of this paper is to explain in parts, how the types of variables, the
relationship between dependent and independent variables and their importance
can be used in research.
A variable is an object, event, idea, feeling, time period, or any other type of
category you are trying to measure. There are two major types of variables-
independent and dependent and these will be explained more later. A variable is
something that can change, such as gender, which can be either male or female,
age which can be 15 years old, 16 years old, 20, 38 or 30 years old and variables
are typically the focus of a study. Associated to variables are attributes which are
sub-values of a variable, such as male and female in the example variable given
above. In other ways, under the variable gender, male and female are the attributes
of that variable. It is important to note that variables may have the following
characteristics: firstly, they have a period when they start and stops. Secondly, they
may have a pattern such as daily, weekly, ad-hoc and monthly. Thirdly, they are
quiet detailed with an overview of in depth. They may be latency which is the time
between measuring dependent and independent variable because some things take
time to take effect.
Variables are those simplified portions of the complex phenomena that you intend
to study. The word variable is derived from the root word vary, meaning, changing
in amount, volume, number, form, nature, or type. These variables should be
measurable, i.e., they can be counted or subjected to a scale.
The next section provides examples of variables related to climate change,
academic performance, crime, fish kill, crop growth, and how content goes viral.
Note that the variables in these phenomena can be measured, except the last one,
where a bit more work is required.
EXAMPLES OF VARIABLES IN RESEARCH:
The following are examples of phenomena from a global to a local perspective.
The corresponding list of variables is given to illustrate how complex phenomena
can be broken down into manageable pieces for better understanding and to subject
the phenomena to research.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES:
The independent variables are those variables that may influence or affect the other
variable, i.e., the dependent variable.
For example, in the second phenomenon, i.e., crime and violence in the streets, the
independent variables are the number of law enforcers. If there are more law
enforcers, it is expected that it will reduce the following:
1. number of robberies,
2. number of attempted murders,
3. number of prisoners, 
4. number of crime victims, and
5. the number of car napping incidents.
DEPENDENT VARIABLES:
The dependent variable, as previously mentioned, is the variable affected or
influenced by the independent variable.
For example, in the first phenomenon on climate change, temperature as the
independent variable influences sea level rise, the dependent variable. Increased
temperature will cause the expansion of water in the sea. Thus, sea-level rise on a
global scale will occur.
I will leave the classification of the other variables to you. Find out whether those
are independent or dependent variables. Note, however, that some variables can be
both independent or dependent variables, as the context of the study dictates.
Q.3 Discuss non-probability sampling techniques with special emphasis on
educational research.
Non-probability sampling is defined as a sampling technique in which the
researcher selects samples based on the subjective judgment of the researcher
rather than random selection. It is a less stringent method. This sampling method
depends heavily on the expertise of the researchers. It is carried out by observation,
and researchers use it widely for qualitative research.
Non-probability sampling is a sampling method in which not all members of the
population have an equal chance of participating in the study, unlike probability
sampling. Each member of the population has a known chance of being selected.
Non-probability sampling is most useful for exploratory studies like a pilot
survey (deploying a survey to a smaller sample compared to pre-determined
sample size). Researchers use this method in studies where it is impossible to draw
random probability sampling due to time or cost considerations.
● Convenience sampling:
Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique where samples are
selected from the population only because they are conveniently available to the
researcher. Researchers choose these samples just because they are easy to recruit,
and the researcher did not consider selecting a sample that represents the entire
population.
Ideally, in research, it is good to test a sample that represents the population. But,
in some research, the population is too large to examine and consider the entire
population. It is one of the reasons why researchers rely on convenience sampling,
which is the most common non-probability sampling method, because of its speed,
cost-effectiveness, and ease of availability of the sample.
● Consecutive sampling:
This non-probability sampling method is very similar to convenience sampling,
with a slight variation. Here, the researcher picks a single person or a group of a
sample, conducts research over a period, analyzes the results, and then moves on to
another subject or group if needed. Consecutive sampling technique gives the
researcher a chance to work with many topics and fine-tune his/her research by
collecting results that have vital insights.
● Quota sampling:
Hypothetically consider, a researcher wants to study the career goals of male and
female employees in an organization. There are 500 employees in the organization,
also known as the population. To understand better about a population, the
researcher will need only a sample, not the entire population. Further, the
researcher is interested in particular strata within the population. Here is
where quota sampling helps in dividing the population into strata or groups.
● Judgmental or Purposive sampling:
In the judgmental sampling method, researchers select the samples based purely on
the researchers’ knowledge and credibility. In other words, researchers choose only
those people who they deem fit to participate in the research study. Judgmental or
purposive sampling is not a scientific method of sampling, and the downside to this
sampling technique is that the preconceived notions of a researcher can influence
the results. Thus, this research technique involves a high amount of ambiguity.
● Snowball sampling:
Snowball sampling helps researchers find a sample when they are difficult to
locate. Researchers use this technique when the sample size is small and not easily
available. This sampling system works like the referral program. Once the
researchers find suitable subjects, he asks them for assistance to seek similar
subjects to form a considerably good size sample.
Non-probability sampling examples:
Here are three simple examples of non-probability sampling to understand the
subject better.
1. An example of convenience sampling would be using student volunteers
known to the researcher. Researchers can send the survey to students
belonging to a particular school, college, or university, and act as a sample.
2. In an organization, for studying the career goals of 500 employees,
technically, the sample selected should have proportionate numbers of males
and females. Which means there should be 250 males and 250 females.
Since this is unlikely, the researcher selects the groups or strata using quota
sampling.
3. Researchers also use this type of sampling to conduct research involving a
particular illness in patients or a rare disease. Researchers can seek help
from subjects to refer to other subjects suffering from the same ailment to
form a subjective sample to carry out the study.
When to use non-probability sampling?
● Use this type of sampling to indicate if a particular trait or characteristic
exists in a population.
● Researchers widely use the non-probability sampling method when they aim
at conducting qualitative research, pilot studies, or exploratory research.
● Researchers use it when they have limited time to conduct research or have
budget constraints.
 ● When the researcher needs to observe whether a particular issue needs in-
depth analysis, he applies this method.
● Use it when you do not intend to generate results that will generalize the
entire population.
Advantages of non-probability sampling:
Here are the advantages of using the non-probability technique
Non-probability sampling techniques are a more conducive and practical
method for researchers deploying surveys in the real world. Although
statisticians prefer probability sampling because it yields data in the form of
numbers, however, if done correctly, it can produce similar if not the same
quality of results.
● Getting responses using non-probability sampling is faster and more cost-
effective than probability sampling because the sample is known to the
researcher. The respondents respond quickly as compared to people
randomly selected as they have a high motivation level to participate.
Q.4 Draw a bar chart and explain it how it works for interpreting data
in educational research?
Bar graphs are the pictorial representation of data (generally grouped), in the
form of vertical or horizontal rectangular bars, where the length of bars are
proportional to the measure of data. They are also known as bar charts. Bar
graphs are one of the means of data handling in statistics.
The collection, presentation, analysis, organization, and interpretation of
observations of data are known as statistics. The statistical data can be
represented by various methods such as tables, bar graphs, pie charts,
histograms, frequency polygons, etc. In this article, let us discuss what is a
bar chart, different types of bar graphs, uses, and solved examples.
The pictorial representation of grouped data, in the form of vertical or
horizontal rectangular bars, where the lengths of the bars are equivalent to
the measure of data, are known as bar graphs or bar charts.
The bars drawn are of uniform width, and the variable quantity is
represented on one of the axes. Also, the measure of the variable is depicted
on the other axes. The heights or the lengths of the bars denote the value of
 the variable, and these graphs are also used to compare certain quantities.
The frequency distribution tables can be easily represented using bar charts
which simplify the calculations and understanding of data.
The three major attributes of bar graphs are:
● The bar graph helps to compare the different sets of data among different
groups easily.
● It shows the relationship using two axes, in which the categories on one axis
and the discrete values on the other axis.
● The graph shows the major changes in data over time.
Types of Bar Graphs:
The bar graphs can be vertical or horizontal. The primary feature of any bar
graph is its length or height. If the length of the bar graph is more, then the
values are greater than any given data.
Bar graphs normally show categorical and numeric variables arranged in
class intervals. They consist of an axis and a series of labelled horizontal or
vertical bars. The bars represent frequencies of distinctive values of a
variable or commonly the distinct values themselves. The number of values
on the x-axis of a bar graph or the y-axis of a column graph is called the
scale.
The types of bar charts are as follows:
1. Vertical bar chart
2. Horizontal bar chart
Even though the graph can be plotted using horizontally or vertically, the
most usual type of bar graph used is the vertical bar graph. The orientation
of the x-axis and y-axis are changed depending on the type of vertical and
horizontal bar chart. Apart from the vertical and horizontal bar graph, the
two different types of bar charts are:
● Grouped Bar Graph
● Stacked Bar Graph
Now, let us discuss the four different types of bar graphs.
 Vertical Bar Graphs:
When the grouped data are represented vertically in a graph or chart with the
help of bars, where the bars denote the measure of data, such graphs are
called vertical bar graphs. The data is represented along the y-axis of the
graph, and the height of the bars shows the values.

Horizontal Bar Graphs:

When the grouped data are represented horizontally in a chart with the help
of bars, then such graphs are called horizontal bar graphs, where the bars
show the measure of data. The data is depicted here along the x-axis of the
graph, and the length of the bars denote the values.

Grouped Bar Graph:

The grouped bar graph is also called the clustered bar graph, which is used
to represent the discrete value for more than one object that shares the same
category. In this type of bar chart, the total number of instances are
combined into a single bar. In other words, a grouped bar graph is a type of
bar graph in which different sets of data items are compared. Here, a single
colour is used to represent the specific series across the set. The grouped bar
graph can be represented using both vertical and horizontal bar charts.

Stacked Bar Graph:

The stacked bar graph is also called the composite bar chart, which divides
the aggregate into different parts. In this type of bar graph, each part can be
represented using different colour, which helps to easily identify the
different categories. The stacked bar chart requires specific labelling to show
the different parts of the bar. In a stacked bar graph, each bar represents the
whole and each segment represents the different parts of the whole.

Properties of Bar Graph:

Some of the important properties of a bar graph are as follows:
● All the bars should have a common base.
● Each column in the bar graph should have equal width.
● The height of the bar should correspond to the data value.
● The distance between each bar should be the same.
Applications of Bar Graphs:
Bar graphs are used to match things between different groups or to trace
changes over time. Yet, when trying to estimate change over time, bar
graphs are most suitable when the changes are bigger.
Bar charts possess a discrete domain of divisions and are normally scaled so
that all the data can fit on the graph. When there is no regular order of the
divisions being matched, bars on the chart may be organized in any order.
Bar charts organized from the highest to the lowest number are called Pareto
charts.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Bar Chart:

Advantages:
● Bar graph summarizes the large set of data in simple visual form.
● It displays each category of data in the frequency distribution.
● It clarifies the trend of data better than the table.
● It helps in estimating the key values at a glance.
Disadvantages:
● Sometimes, the bar graph fails to reveal the patterns, cause, effects, etc.
● It can be easily manipulated to yield fake information.
Difference Between Bar Graph and Histogram
The bar graph and the histogram look similar. But it has an important
difference. The major difference between them is that they plot different
types of data. In the bar chart, discrete data is plotted, whereas, in the
histogram, it plots the continuous data. For instance, if we have different
categories of data like types of dog breeds, types of TV programs, the bar
chart is best as it compares the things among different groups. For example,
if we have continuous data like the weight of the people, the best choice is
 the histogram.

Difference Between Bar Graph and Pie Chart:

A pie chart is one of the types of graphical representation. The pie chart is a
circular chart and is divided into parts. Each part represents the fraction of a
whole. Whereas, bar graph represents the discrete data and compares one
data with the other data.

Difference Between Bar Graph and Line Graph:

The major difference between bar graph and line graph are as follows:
● The bar graph represents the data using the rectangular bars and the height of
the bar represents the value shown in the data. Whereas a line graph helps to
show the information when the series of data are connected using a line.
● Understanding the line graph is a little bit confusing as the line graph plots
too many lines over the graph. Whereas bar graph helps to show the
relationship between the data quickly.
Let us consider an example, we have four different types of pets, such as cat,
dog, rabbit, and hamster and the corresponding numbers are 22, 39, 5 and 9
respectively.
In order to visually represent the data using the bar graph, we need to follow
the steps given below.
● Step 1: First, decide the title of the bar graph.
● Step 2: Draw the horizontal axis and vertical axis. (For example, Types of
Pets).
● Step 3: Now, label the horizontal axis.
● Step 4: Write the names on the horizontal axis, such as Cat, Dog, Rabbit,
Hamster.
● Step 5: Now, label the vertical axis. (For example, Number of Pets)
● Step 6: Finalize the scale range for the given data.
 ● Step 7: Finally, draw the bar graph that should represent each category of
the pet with their respective numbers.
Q.5 What do you understand by 'Normal Curve'? Explain its measures
by giving an example.
Known characteristics of the normal curve make it possible to estimate the
probability of occurrence of any value of a normally distributed variable.
Suppose that the total area under the curve is defined to be 1. You can
multiply that number by 100 and say there is a 100 percent chance that any
value you can name will be somewhere in the distribution. The distribution
extends to infinity in both directions.) Similarly, because half the area of the
curve is below the mean and half is above it, you can say that there is a 50
percent chance that a randomly chosen value will be above the mean and the
same chance that it will be below it.
It makes sense that the area under the normal curve is equivalent to the
probability of randomly drawing a value in that range. The area is greatest in
the middle, where the hump is, and thins out toward the tails. That is
consistent with the fact that there are more values close to the mean in a
normal distribution than far from it.
When the area of the standard normal curve is divided into sections by
standard deviations above and below the mean, the area in each section is a
known quantity (see Figure 1). As explained earlier, the area in each section
is the same as the probability of randomly drawing a value in that range.
Figure 1. The normal curve and the area under the curve between σ units.

For example, 0.3413 of the curve falls between the mean and one standard
deviation above the mean, which means that about 34 percent of all the values of a
normally distributed variable are between the mean and one standard deviation
above it. It also means that there is a 0.3413 chance that a value drawn at random
from the distribution will lie between these two points.
Sections of the curve above and below the mean may be added together to find the
probability of obtaining a value within (plus or minus) a given number of standard
deviations of the mean (see Figure 2). For example, the amount of curve area
between one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below
is 0.3413 + 0.3413 = 0.6826, which means that approximately 68.26 percent of the
values lie in that range. Similarly, about 95 percent of the values lie within two
standard deviations of the mean, and 99.7 percent of the values lie within three
standard deviations.
Figure 2. The normal curve and the area under the curve between σ units.

In order to use the area of the normal curve to determine the probability of
occurrence of a given value, the value must first be standardized, or converted to a
z‐score. To convert a value to a z‐score is to express it in terms of how many
standard deviations it is above or below the mean. After the z‐score is obtained,
you can look up its corresponding probability in a table. The formula to compute a
z‐score is

where x is the value to be converted, μ is the population mean, and σ is the

population standard deviation.
Example 1
A normal distribution of retail‐store purchases has a mean of $14.31 and a
standard deviation of 6.40. What percentage of purchases were under $10?
First, compute the z‐score:

The next step is to look up the z‐score in the table of standard normal
probabilities (see Table 2 in "Statistics Tables"). The standard normal table
lists the probabilities (curve areas) associated with given z‐scores.
Table 2 in "Statistics Tables" gives the area of the curve below z in other
words, the probability of obtaining a value of z or lower. Not all standard
normal tables use the same format, however. Some list only positive z‐
scores and give the area of the curve between the mean and z. Such a table is
slightly more difficult to use, but the fact that the normal curve is symmetric
makes it possible to use it to determine the probability associated with any z‐
score, and vice versa.
To use Table 2 (the table of standard normal probabilities) in "Statistics
Tables," first look up the z‐score in the left column, which lists z to the first
decimal place. Then look along the top row for the second decimal place.
The intersection of the row and column is the probability. In the example,
you first find 0.6 in the left column and then 0.07 in the top row. Their
intersection is 0.2514. The answer, then, is that about 25 percent of the
purchases were under $10 (see Figure 3).
What if you had wanted to know the percentage of purchases above a certain
amount? Because Table
gives the area of the curve below a given z, to obtain the area of the curve
above z, simply subtract the tabled probability from 1. The area of the curve
above a z of 0.67 is 1 0.2514 = 0.7486. Approximately 75 percent of the
purchases were above $10.
Just as Table
can be used to obtain probabilities from z‐scores, it can be used to do the
reverse.