IT 243 – Quantitative Methods

Lesson 1: Introduction
 What is Research
 ICT Research
 What is a scientific method?
 Difference between qualitative and quantitative methods
 Purpose of statistics

What is Research
 The word Research is derived from the root word search, which means to try to
find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly; to
examine something thoroughly; to look into or over something carefully – to look
for information.
 Therefore, Research can be said to mean to search again; to try to find
something by looking further; to seek again more carefully and thoroughly; to
examine further – to look for further information.
 Research is a sign of intelligence
o Intelligence can be defined as the adaptation of an environment to suit
needs, which is why humans can be acknowledged as the most
'intelligent' of species.
o Humans observe, identify, plan and then effect change. Humans have
social gain through information as well as resource sharing.
o As apart from any other species, humans have complex language
structures and the written word to share information from one person to
another. Literate societies with well structured, permanent means of
communicating information have immense evolutionary advantage.
 We research everyday
o Humans are 'intuitive' scientists ....always asking questions and testing
theories about themselves, others, events, the environment and the world
around them.
o Research is asking a question and finding out the answer….. It is looking
into something. It is looking for something. It is comparing and contrasting
things. It is finding out more information…it is counting things …making
enquiries…being curious…finding out what people think…finding out what
people do….finding out what works.... finding out what doesn’t
work…finding out what people want…
o We do this in making decisions everyday..
 o We all engage in or do social research as we act on the basis and results
of our own research and theorising, therefore, what we think affects the
way we behave….
 What do we research?
o We research people and their behaviour, opinions, attitudes, trends and
patterns, also politics, animals, health and illness. Research can be
conducted either informally for our own benefit, through asking questions,
watching, counting or reading and formally, for medical or academic
purposes, as a marketing strategy, to inform and influence politics and
policy.
o Research may be carried out in our own lives, through the media, in our
place of work, with our friends and family or through reading past
research.
o Our views – personal, social, community and worldwide and our own
identities are socially constructed through our own theorising.
 What does research tell us?
o Research gives us information about:
 Thoughts and opinions
 Attitudes
 Habits
 Culture
 Norms
 Scientific facts
 Medical information
o What do we do with research?
 Have it as interesting fact
 Use it to make decisions
 Use it to persuade influence others
 Use it to affect change
 Use it to change behaviour
 Use it to better use…medical …improve customer care...write
better funding applications....monitor and evaluate our provision....
o We research in order to understand society and social processes, as well
as to test and or create theories in order that we are better able to inform
about social action and potentially ‘improve’ social conditions.
 Research can be carried in virtually every field of endeavour including: Science,
Engineering and Technology, Information and Communication Technology,
Humanities, Art, Economics, Sociology, Business, Marketing, etc.

 ICT Research
o Now information and communication technology, ICT, is an amalgamation
of two terms: information technology and communication technology. The
term is generally accepted to mean all devices, networking components,
 applications and systems that when combined allow people, systems, and
organizations (i.e., businesses, nonprofit agencies, governments and
criminal enterprises) to interact in the digital world. It underpins innovation
and competitiveness across private and public sectors and enables
scientific progress in all disciplines.
o ICT provides the core enabling technologies for harnessing all other
subject area, including science, engineering, technology, and even arts. It
also provides the tools to organize vast amounts of data that are obtained
experimentally and empirically, as well as enables the generation, through
simulations, of massive amounts of data that drive a deeper insight into
the behavior of systems that exist theoretically or are entirely abstract.
o So it is clear that ICT is a discipline where all of the other disciplines meet
for techniques and expertise requirements that they hold in common.
Modern society not only depends upon ICT for its survival, ICT has proven
to be the pivot for research in all disciplines, since they increasingly turns
to it for their livelihood, convenience and pleasure.
o ICT Research can therefore be said to be the systematic investigation into
and study of materials and sources in all sector of human endeavour using
the instruments of information and communication technology in order to
establish facts, reach new conclusions and produce new products.

o Application of ICT Research

 ICT Research is organized in three broad specializations:
1. mobile communication systems;
2. system development and security; and
3. multimedia.

 However, ICTs is known to permeate all areas of endeavour and

used as a powerful driver of innovation, growth and productivity
globally.
 New knowledge and applications created in continual ICT research
and development (R&D) activities are critical factors in meeting all
the challenges and risks connected with eBusiness implementation
and information society development.
 As ICT Research moves from Basic Research until it finally enters
market uptake, it passes through series of stages. The stages of
ICT Research include:
1. Basic Research
2. Technology R&D
3. Demonstration
4. Prototyping
5. Large scale validation
6. Pilots
 7. Market Uptake.
 However, as a generic technology, ICT‘s influence in research can
be categorized into three broad ICT-driven areas of endeavor:
1. Excellent Science: Future and emerging technologies;
research infrastructure
2. Industrial leadership: Leadership in enabling & industrial
technologies; Innovation in SMEs
3. Societal Challenges: • Health, demographic change &
wellbeing; Food security, sustainable agriculture & the bio-
based economy; Secure, clean & efficient energy; Smart,
green & integrated transport; Climate action, resource
efficiency, & raw materials; Inclusive, innovative & reflective
societies; Secure societies

What is a Scientific Method?

 Scientifically, Research is a methodical investigation into a subject in order to
discover/establish more facts or information. It is the systematic investigation into
and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new
conclusions.
 The pursuit of knowledge or a way of inquiry;
 The scientific method has two stages: the first consists of formulating
hypotheses, and the second consists of testing them.
 Examples:
o Methods for initially forming or discovering hypotheses; methods for
extracting hypothesis out of data; methods for testing hypotheses;
methods for making calculations.

Difference Between Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

 Quantitative Method
o As the name suggests, is concerned with trying to quantify things; it asks
questions such as ‘how long’, ‘how many’ or ‘the degree to which’.
o Quantitative research methods focus on gathering numerical data and
generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a particular
phenomenon.
o It is used to answer questions on relationships within measurable
variables with an intention to explain, predict and control a phenomena
(Leedy 1993).
 o A research methods dealing with numbers and anything that is
measurable in a systematic way of investigation of phenomena and their
relationships as seen in figure 1.

Figure 1: Description of Quantitative Method

 Qualitative Method
o Concerned with a quality of information, qualitative methods attempt to
gain an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations for
actions and establish how people interpret their experiences and the world
around them.
o Qualitative methods provide insights into the setting of a problem,
generating ideas and/or hypotheses.
o Qualitative method is used to collect the in-depth details on a particular
topic. This approach assumes a single person represents the group
feelings and emotions of a person are equally important to interpret which
are ignored by the quantitative method. This approach is usually used by
the interpretive.
o Authors like Tashakkori and Creswell have explained that this approach is
used when researcher wants to observe or interpret an environment with
the intention to develop a theory.

The table below provides a breakdown of the key features of each method.
Purpose of Statistics
 “Statistics is the grammar of science” – Karl Pearson
 “If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment”
– Ernest Rutherford

 Statistical analysis is a mathematical method of interrogating data. This is done

by looking for relationships between different sets of data. Statistical analysis can
be complex

 There are two types of statistics:

o Descriptive statistics: numerical summaries of samples (what was
observed);
o Inferential statistics: from samples of populations (what could have been
or will be observed).

 The general idea of statistical analysis is to summarise and analyse data so

that it is useful and can inform decision-making.

 Statistical analysis should only be used where there is a clear understanding of

the reasons for doing so. The use of statistical tests will provide you with valuable
 findings if you know how to interpret the results and use them to inform your
research.

 Importance of Statistics in Scientific Research and Development

o Statistics play a vital role in researches. For example, statistics can be
used in data collection, analysis, interpretation, explanation and
presentation. Use of statistics will guide researchers in research for
proper characterization, summarization, presentation and interpretation of
the result of research.
o Statistics provide a platform for research as to; how to go about your
research, either to consider a sample or the whole population, the
techniques to use in data collection and observation, how to go about the
data description (using measure of central tendency)
o Statistical methods and analyses are often used to communicate research
findings and to support hypotheses and give credibility to research
methodology and conclusions.
o It is important for researchers and also consumers of research to
understand statistics so that they can be informed, evaluate the credibility
and usefulness of information and make appropriate decisions
o Statistics is very important when it comes to the conclusion of the
research. In this aspect the major purposes of statistics are to help us
understand and describe phenomena in our word and to help us draw
reliable conclusions about the phenomena.
 Figure 2: Importance of Statistics in Different Field

o Statistics is an interdisciplinary study. It seek for improvements, develop

new concepts and need a way to answer or see how these ideas come to
life.
o Data-driven-statistical- research forms a fundamental piece of the puzzle
when innovating, creating or attempting to progress forward – be it in
medicine, academia, business, Information Technology, medicine,
economics, or construction.
o For example, a biostatistician may be involved in researching the rate of
HIV spread and invasion throughout sub-saharan Africa to help identify
the countries that will be hit the hardest. In medicine, statistical research
may take the form of equivalence testing to compare, improve and
examine the effectiveness of new drugs to aid depression. Astronomers
may utilize statistical models to support research on the expansion of the
 universe, while an actuary may look for statistical models to predict risk of
financial investments or business expansion. Mechanics and automotive
industrialists can apply statistics to constantly improve the quality of their
product by constantly minimizing the level of errors in the performance of
their product. Perhaps a more familiar example is the collation of
government statistics. For years, governments have gathered a wealth of
enormous datasets and utilized the power of statistics to inform decisions
and research improvements on housing, income, unemployment,
minimum wage, healthcare, and education services.

o Figure 3 shows how statistics in Scientific R&D

Figure 3: Using Statistics in Scientific Research & Development