BACHELOR OF ACCOUNTING WITH HONOURS (BAC)

SEPTEMBER / 2019

BBSS 1103

STATISTICAL METHOD

NO. MATRIKULASI : 970803136348001

NO. KAD PENGENALAN : 970803-13-6348
NO. TELEFON : 011-55056348
E-MEL : umminurhani@oum.edu.my
PUSAT PEMBELAJARAN : SARAWAK LEARNING CENTRE

1
 CONTENTS

NO. DESCRIPTIONS PAGE

1.0 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE AND 3–4

QUANTITATIVE METHODS

2.0 ANALYSIS OF DATA 5–6

3.0 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS 7 – 13

4.0 INFERENCES FROM THE ANALYSIS 14

2
1.0 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE
METHODS

Descriptive statistics focuses on collecting, organizing, summarizing, presenting

and analyzing a set of data. Statistics is based on statistical theory which is one of the
branches of mathematics. In statistical theory, uncertainty are modeled on the basis of
probability theory. The purpose of statistics is to produce the best information from
existing data and some people classifying statistics as a branch of decision theory. Statistics
play an important role in determining whether a hypothesis is accepted or rejected. To
prove a hypothesis, a false hypothesis will be created that is often contrary to the original
hypothesis. According to Anderson & Bancroft, statistical significance is the development
of science and art and the most effective method for collecting, storing and interpreting
quantitative data in such a way that errors in conclusions and estimation can be estimated
using inductive reasoning based on mathematical probability (opportunity).

Another types of statistics which is inferential statistics, uses data that have been
collected from a small group (sample) to draw conclusions about a larger group
(population). It is use to generalize information about a population from a sample for
making decisions, estimations or making reliable forecasts. A variable is an interested
criterion to be measured or observed on each individual such as height or weight or ethnic
or qualification. It can be divided into quantitative (numerical variable) and qualitative
(non – numerical variable).

Quantitative variables can be divided into two, discrete ( integer value ) which is
it obtained through counting process and continuous ( a real number value ) which is it
obtained through measuring process. Discrete data is the one that consist of integers and
whole numbers ( the value of a discrete quantitative variable is an integer ). For examples,
high school grade point average ( e.g.: 4.0, 3.2, 2.1 ) and number of pets owned ( e.g.: 2, 3,
4 ). Researches can obtain the mean, mode, median and variance of discrete data.
However, the values of these statistics may no longer be integers. Continuous data is the
value of continuous variables that consist of numbers with decimals. Some of the examples
of continuous variables are height, weight, age, volume, mass, density, temperature,
pressure, time, length and breadth.

3
 Qualitative variable is a variable whose value is non – numerical in nature such as
ethnic background of a pupil in a school. The nature of the value is just categorical and
does not involve counting or measuring process to get the value. The categorical value can
be in either of nominal form such as class in college ( e.g.: freshman, sophomore, junior,
senior ) or ordinal form such as SPM English Grade. Nominal data means classified data
in distinct categories in which no ranking is implied. In other words, the data will be
assigned based on identification or classification. A nominal scale is the simplest type of
scale arranged. On the other hand, an ordinal scale classifies data into distinct categories
in which ranking is implied. It is a scale that arranges objects or data according to their
magnitudes, levels or rankings. However, the distance between any two values is no known
and cannot be measured. No one knows the distance between poor and good as well as
between poor and excellent.

Based on the assignment given, qualitative method ( non – numerical ) can be

measured by green knowledge and occupation while the quantitative method ( numerical )
can be measured by age, weight and CGPA. For example, the qualitative method for
individual 1 is she / he has green knowledge and working as a teacher. By using the
quantitative method, individual 1 is 32 years old, weighs 101 kg and CGPA 3.27. For
another example, we can look at individual 3. He / she has no green knowledge and
working as a lawyer ( qualitative method ). He / she is 79 years old, weighs 86 kg and
CGPA 3.55 ( quantitative method ).

4
2.0 ANALYSIS OF DATA

Data analysis is a process of inspecting, transforming, cleansing and modeling data

with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusion and supporting
decision – making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing
diverse techniques under a variety of names and is used in different business, science and
social science domains. In today’s business world, data analysis plays a role in making
decisions more scientific and helping businesses operate more effectively. To classify and
analyse the data given, we can use the quantitative methods ( continuous data ) like below:

Individual Age ( Years ) Weight ( Kg ) CGPA

1 32 101 3.27
2 41 83 3.97
3 79 86 3.55
4 32 96 3.95
5 41 54 3.12
6 68 97 3.33
7 29 96 3.78
8 33 54 3.06
9 54 63 3.32
10 27 94 3.06
11 36 118 2.88
12 42 120 3.92
13 29 123 3.66
14 57 92 2.89
15 39 66 3.32
16 32 118 3.32
17 38 130 3.10
18 45 118 3.09
19 59 88 3.10
20 30 87 3.87
21 40 101 2.99

5
 22 46 66 3.98
23 36 111 2.54
24 58 73 3.54
25 25 79 3.44
26 39 97 3.88
27 44 85 3.55
28 37 108 3.23
29 46 117 2.12
30 59 64 3.88

Appendix 1 : Raw Data of Quantitative Data

A quantitative variable represents a number. Age of a person, height, weight, marks

scored or CGPAs, income, unemployment rate all are the examples of quantitative variables
as they are numbers. This quantitative variables can be of discrete nature whose values are
integers obtained through a counting process. The variable can also be continuous whose
values are numbers with decimals obtained through a measuring process. There is one
general rule for a quantitative variable that is a variable is said to be quantitative only if one
can add it. For example, mark in English is 80, marks in mathematics is 85 and marks in
science is 70 can be added together to make ( 80 + 85 + 70 = 235 ), it means that the
variables are quantitative.

Based on the data above, we can see their range of ages are between 25 – 79 years
old and their weighs are between 54 – 130 kg. Individual 25 aged 25 years old and he / she
is the youngest among the rest, while individual 3 is the oldest one aged 79 years old. The
heaviest is individual 17, working as a farmer. Different from individual 17, individual 5
and individual 8 both have the lightest weight. Individual 29 ( 2.12 ) has a lowest CGPA
than the highest CGPA owned by individual 22 ( 3.98 ). Using this raw data of quantitative
data, we can now easily detected which individual is the youngest and oldest, the heaviest
and lightest, the highest CGPA and the lowest CGPA.

6
3.0 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

The tabular presentation is also very useful when it is needed to have a graphical
presentation later on. It is namely Frequency Distribution Table, Relative Frequency
Distribution and Cumulative Frequency Distribution and much easier to understand. For
qualitative variables, we can make a quick comparison between categorical values.

i. Qualitative Data
Qualitative data is defined as the data that approximates and characterizes.
It can be observed and recorded. This data type is non – numerical in nature.
This type of data is collected through methods of observations, one – to –
one interview, conducting focus groups and similar methods. Qualitative
data in statistics is also known as categorical data. Data can be arranged
into categories based on physical traits, gender, colors or anything that does
not have a number associated with it. Oftentimes, quantitative data is used
to analyze qualitative data set.
Occupation Number of Individual

Teacher 8
Lawyer 4
IT Analyst 5
Farmer 4
Entrepreneur 3
Accountant 4
Lecturer 2

Table 3.1: Frequency Distribution of Individuals by Occupation

Table 3.1 shows us how this 30 individuals are distributed by their occupation.
The first column shows the categorical values of the variable which is the occupation
and the second column is the number of individuals ( called frequency ).

7
 Figure 3.1: Pie chart for number of individuals distributed by their occupation

The pie chart above shows us the percentage of individuals distributed by their
occupation. The most highest percentage are the individuals who work as teachers and
the lowest one are the individuals who work as lecturers. Let us look on how to develop
a frequency table of qualitative data. First of all, all we need to do is divide the
categorical of values. Then, develop frequencies by counting the data falling in each
category. Look at the data given below:

Table 3.2: Green Knowledge of 30 Individuals

Based on Table 3.2, we can prepare a frequency distribution for the green
knowledge of 30 individuals as below:

8
 Green Knowledge Number of Individual

Yes 19
No 11

Table 3.3: Frequency Distribution of Individuals by Green Knowledge

Based on Table 3.2 and Table 3.3, it tells us how a total of 30 individuals are
distributed by their green knowledge. As we can see there are 19 individuals with green
knowledge while the rest 11 individuals have no green knowledge. Green knowledge
refers to understanding and practicing recycling and garbage separation for the
protection of environment.

Figure 3.2: Multiple bar chart for number of individuals distributed by their
Green Knowledge

We can now compare which occupation has the highest and the lowest
frequency in this Green Knowledge. As we can see in the bar chart, all the farmers
have the Green Knowledge as it is very important. Thus, every people must know how
to recycle and separate the garbage so that they know how to keep the environment
clean and tidy.

ii. Quantitative Data

9
 Quantitative data is data expressing a certain quantity, amount or range.
Usually, there are measurement units associated with the data such as
meters, in the case of the height of a person or kilogram in the case of weight.
It do makes sense to set boundary limits to such data and it is also
meaningful to apply arithmetic operations to the data. In statistics,
quantitative data is numerical and acquired through counting or measuring
and contrasted with qualitative data set which describe attributes of objects
but do not contain numbers. There are variety of ways that quantitative data
arises in statistics. As contrasted with qualitative data, should relate to data
in the form of numerical quantities. It is sometimes, less exactly used to
described material in which the variables concerned are quantities as distinct
from data deriving from qualitative attributes. For examples, sex,
nationality or commodity.

Age ( Years ) Number of Individuals

0 – 30 5
31 – 40 11
41 – 50 7
51 – 60 5
61 – 70 1
71 – 80 1
Total 30

Table 3.4: Frequency Distribution of Ages of Individuals

Table 3.4 shows us how the 30 individuals are distributed by their age. As we
can see, there are 11 individuals aged between 31 – 40 and it is the highest frequency.
The lowest frequency are individuals whose aged between 61 – 70 and 71 – 80. Below
are the histogram of frequency for the 30 individuals distributed by their ages:

10
 Figure 3.3: Histogram of frequency distribution table for the 30 individuals by
their ages

Now, look how these 30 individuals are divided by their weights;

Weight ( Kg ) Number of Individuals

54 – 70 6
71 – 80 2
81 – 90 5
91 – 100 6
101 – 110 3
111 – 120 6
121 – 130 2
Total 30

Table 3.5: Frequency Distribution of Weight of Individuals

Based on Table 3.5, we now can compare which is the highest frequency and
the lowest frequency. Individuals weighs between 71 – 80 and 121 – 130 both have the
lowest frequencies than individuals weighs between 54 – 70, 91 – 100 and 111 – 120
which are the three highest frequencies in this distribution.

11
 CGPA Number of Individuals

0 – 2.50 1
2.51 – 3.00 4
3.01 – 3.50 13
3.51 – 4.00 12
Total 30

Table 3.5: Frequency Distribution of CGPA of Individuals

The table above shows us how the 30 individuals are distributed by their
CGPAs. There is an individual whose get the lowest CGPA, owned by individual 29.
The highest frequency is the CGPA between 3.01 – 3.50 ( 13 individuals ). Let us look
at the frequency polygon below:

Figure 3.4: Polygon of frequency distribution of the 30 individuals’ CGPAs

Figure 3.4 shows us which frequency is the highest and lowest one. This
method will makes us easily to make comparison between the highest and lowest
frequency.

12
iii. Values that cannot be measured
With nominal data, as the name implies, the numbers function as a name or
label and do not have numeric meaning. For instance, tou might create a
variable for gender, which takes the value 1 if the person is a male and 0 if
the person is a female. The 1 and 0 have no numeric meaning but function
simply as labels in the same way that you might record the values as M (
male ) or F ( female ). However, researchers often prefer numeric coding
systems for several reasons. First of all, it can simplify analyzing the data
because some statistical packages will not accept non – numerical values for
use in certain procedures. Hence, any data coded non – numerical would
have to be recoded before analysis. Secondly, coding with number bypasses
some issues in data entry such as the conflict between upper and lowercase
letter. In a nominal level variable, values are grouped into categories that
have no meaningful order. For example in this assignment, green
knowledge and occupation are nominal level variables. The 30 individuals
are distributed by their green knowledge, occupation and there is no
hierarchy. Typical descriptive statistics associated with nominal data are
frequencies and percentages.

13
4.0 INFERENCES FROM THE ANALYSIS

The conclusion is the field of statistics consist of two branches, descriptive statistics
and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics involve collecting, summarizing, presenting
an analyzing a set of data. While the inferential statistics uses collected data to draw
conclusions, making decisions or making reliable forecasts. A variable is observable or
measurable criteria of individuals in a sample and it can be qualitative or quantitative.
Quantitative variables can be of discrete nature ( whose values are integers obtained
through a counting process ) and it can also be continuous ( whose values are numbers with
decimals obtained through a measuring process ). Meanwhile, qualitative variable can be
classified into nominal and ordinal. On the other hand, a qualitative variable consists of
categorical data which is non – numerical in nature. For example, the teachers have the
highest frequency in Green Knowledge. In research, qualitative data will be represented
by defined code numbers which cannot be used in an arithmetical operation.

The frequency distribution table and relative frequency distribution are tabular
presentations of the original raw data in a form for a more meaningful interpretation. The
tabular presentation is also very useful when it is needed to have a graphical presentation
later on.

Qualitative data such as nominal and ordinal can be represented in graphs by using
the bar charts or pie chart. While the quantitative data whether they are continuous or
discrete data are more appropriately represented graphically using the histograms and
polygons.

( 2542 words )

14