BFN399 FACTS AND FIGURES

FOR DR AREWA
CONCEPT OF RESEARCH
- Research can be defined as a systematic, synthesized and integrated process of making an enquiry into a phenomenon that is
creating a puzzle in a particular field of study or society.
- Enquiry means investigating a particular field of study.
- There are two types of research which are the Basic research and Applied research.
- Basic research is a process of exploring into an area that have never exist before. It has to do with solving practical problems.
- Applied research involves applying the solutions that have already been established in solving problems.
- Research topic is a title of your investigation that enclose the problem you want to address.
- Characteristic of a research topic are:
1. Must be precise and not too bogus.
2. Must show a problem to investigate.
3. Must be focus and be specific in addressing a current and ongoing problem.
4. Must be attractive and researchable.
5. Must show a relationship between two or more variable of interest.
6. Must fall in line with your discipline.
- Choosing a research topic,
1. High level of inspiration.
2. Can be source from the literature.
3. Can be coined out from existing topics.
4. Through friends and mentors in your discipline.
- The purpose of research are:
1. Extend existing knowledge.
2. Provide solutions to problem.
3. Increase the scope of study by providing suggestions for further study.
5. Creates development and innovation.

DATA AND VARIABLES

- Variables are characteristics that take different value at different times e.g. humans, conditions, elements, properties etc.
- There are two types of variables which is the Qualitative variables and Quantitative variables.
- Qualitative variables can also be called Categorical or Discreet variables, whereas, Quantitative variables can also be called
Continuous variables.
- Qualitative variables can be subdivided into three types which are:
1. Nominal Variables: Can be classified into more than two groups but does not follow an intrinsic order e.g. property agents.
2. Dichotomous Variables: Can only be classified into two forms e.g. gender.
3. Ordinal Variables: Can be classified into two or more groups and must follow an intrinsic order i.e. it must be ranked e.g. policy
of government.
- Quantitative variables is said to have Numeric Values and under this we have two variables which are:
1. Interval Variables: Their center characteristics can be observed within a range e.g. performance of student in a class.
2. Ratio Variables: This have streams that can take value to infinity, variables that can be round up to decimal places e.g. the distance
of a road.
- Variables can be differentiated by their position in a Model.
- A Model have the left and right side variable using an equilibrium model that have the sign of equals to (=).
- The left hand side variables are called Dependent variable, while the right hand side are called the Independent variable.
- Dependent variable can also be called Response or Explain variable, while the independent variable can also be called
Explanatory, Predictor and Included variable.
- Data is referred to a piece of information.
- The value of a variable is referred to a data.
- Data is the information gathered on a variable, variables takes the value of the data.
- Data can be classified into two forms which is Source and Time.
1. Classification by Sources: Data collected from a published source are called Secondary data e.g. GDP of a country, while data
collected from an unpublished source are called Primary data e.g. data manufactured by a researcher.

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2. Classification by Time: Under this we have three types which are:
A. Time-series Data: Data collected on a variables or set of variables over time.
- Time could be hours, day, week, month, annum, per annum, decade and century.
- The frequency or occurrence of the data is Time. If it occurs frequently, it is called Higher Frequency Data, but if it does not occur
frequently, they are called Low Frequency Data e.g. data collected on yearly or decade basis.
- Data point for a time-series observations should not be less than 30 observations, whether on a low or high frequency data.
B. Cross Sectional Data: Data collected on a variable or set of variables at a point in time and across unit e.g. individual, religion,
village etc.
C. Panel or Longitudinal Data: Data collected on variables across units and over time. It has the characteristics of both time-series
and cross sectional data.
- There are two types of panel data which is the Micro and Macro panel data.
- Micro Panel Data: Time dimension is smaller than the unit dimension.
- Macro Panel Data: Time dimension is larger than the unit dimension.
- There are two types of Analysis which are Descriptive and Inferential analysis.
1. Descriptive Analysis: Used to describe the data, it could be visual or statistic.
2. Inferential Analysis: Estimate the relationship and produce result on the cost and effect analysis.

APA STYLE OF REFERENCING

- One of the universal accepted writing style is the American Psychological Association (APA).
- Author citation can be done using the Inside Text or Outside Text.
- When citing a single author inside text, the name if the author and the year must show e.g. Phillip (2020).
- To reference outside text for a single author, follow this steps below:
1. Write the surname first with coma.
2. The initials (first name) of the author comes next.
3. Full stop.
4. Bracket open and close with the year e.g. (2020).
5. Full stop.
6. The title of the work published by the author in small letters except the first letter of the first word or proper noun.
7. Full stop.
8. The title of the journal, where each key word starts with a capital letter and must be italic or underlined.
9. Semicolon.
10. Volume, issue number and page.
- A common noun is a noun common to units, while a proper noun is specific to an entity.

FOR DR EKE
RESEARCH
- Research is a habit of questioning about what you do, and empirically examine to find answers with a view to instituting
appropriate changes to a problem.
- A problem is an uncomfortable situation or phenomenon.
- Landmark define research as a structured enquiry that utilizes acceptable scientific methodology to solve problems and create
new knowledge that is generally acceptable.
- Burns define research as a systematic investigation to find answers to a problem.
- Sociologist define research as a commitment to establishing systematic, reliable and valid knowledge about the social world.
- Characteristics of research are:
1. Must be controlled.
2. Must be rigorous.
3. Must be systematic.
4. Must be reliable.
5. Must have valid knowledge about the social world.
- Every research problem must have either Independent or Dependent Variable.