Information and Data Handling - Coursework Example

Information and data handling The Scenario Your family has just moved to London and they need to rent a three bed roomed house. During your Information and Data Handling course, you have learnt how to collect data and analyse it in order to make sound decisions. Consequently, you have decided that you are going to investigate which of the two areas, Ealing or Slough has accommodation that is best suited for your family. Your family has a budget of £1,500 per month. You also have siblings who will need to attend Primary and Secondary school and your dad will need to catch the train/tube to go to work in to London. Of course, you need to travel to University as well! An ideal house therefore, would need to consider the travel need of everyone in the family. Task 1 A. State what your hypothesis is during this investigation. (50 words: 3 marks) The hypothesis behind the data handling with effectively based on the budget that my family have in regards to the needs that my family need to curb for the purpose of better life (Floridi, pp. 63-70). The decision towards the area my family prefer to live in London will therefore, depend on the general life expectations such as education to all my siblings, the efficiency of transport towards my university, my father work place as well as my siblings too. B. Discuss how you plan to go about doing your project. (250 words: 12 marks) This project needs proper data as well as information collection strategies. First and for most, these two areas in London needs to be accessed in regards to the family tight budget, which should meet the entire family needs. These needs include; Transport and affordability that should meet my family needs without altering the tight budget that prevails. My work however, which includes accessing the better place my family is going to live in London will be availed in relation to the budget and the affordability of time both for me and my siblings attending schools and my father who need to catch up the train in time while going to work (Ladley, pp.45). However, choice of different methods for collecting data in regards to which place my family will live, either in Ealing or Slough, will be influenced by the strategies, variable, accuracy point and skills behind the data collection that I will avail. This however, will include the use of questionnaires, interviews, direct observation and reports that will give me direct measurements towards the acquisition of the better area my family is going to live (Hall, pp. 87-93). Questionnaires can be done online by the use of the school database system. I will engage and post questionnaires within my school account to reach my fellow students who leave either in Ealing or Slough to give verdict on how much renting a three bedroom house cost, the cost of transport to school, effectives in regards to time and general the cost of life in this two areas (Wheelan, pp. 14-25). In addition, direct observation can be of more help since travelling to these areas will give me a clue on how much it cost in transportation and living standards. This however, triggers the use of direct measurements and interviews aspect. Task 2 Collect data on the renting cost of 20 three bed roomed houses in Slough and Ealing. You will need to use Estate Agents Websites. These should be presented as evidence of data collection. (4 marks) In Ealing estate, London city, the cost of a three bed room house has been generally 600 starling pounds per month. These pricing however, is common by the Thrigills, Foxtons, Hamptons, Winkworth house agents. The list pricing is however, 350 starling provided by JACStrattons agent. However, in Slough estate in London, the housing cost for a three bedroom house is generally 1,100 starlings per month evident in Hunt and Nash, Your move agents among others. The list pricing is however, 650 starling pounds that I believe the living standards here is too high as according to my family tight budget Present this data in a table. (8 marks) Agent Name Slough Ealing Thorgills 1200 900 Winkworth 1100 350 Castle 900 850 Foxtons 800 350 Townends 1000 750 Madely 1300 900 Northelds 1200 350 GV 1100 650 Adams 900 550 Freigt G 1350 900 Gannas 1250 350 TF strators 750 650 GG estates 800 350 Lond establish 900 650 Haart 900 800 Martinsco 1000 950 Glenn Flegg 1200 550 Frost 1100 800 Roger platt 1000 750 Sherriff 1300 800 Total 22000 12000 Work out the mean, mode, median and range of the data you have collected. (8 marks) Mean for Slough = 22000/20 =1100 Mean for Ealing = 12000/20 = 600 Mode: for Slough = 900 Mode for Ealing = 350 Median for Slough = (1000+100)/2 = 1000 Median for Ealing = (750+650)/2 = 50 Write a short summary of your findings. Where should your family rent a three bed roomed house? What reasons do you have to come to this conclusion? (200 words: 7 marks) From the above observation, the cost of live in these two areas in London varies from one estate to another. The cost of family rent in Ealing is averagely 900 starlings pound per month as compared to the one in Slough which goes up to a mean range of 1200 starling pounds. In regards to the family tight budget of 1,500 starling pound Ealing region is the place that my family will prefer due to the enough access to transport which is affordable and available. Also the house rent is more cheaply compared to the one in slough and this is a prevailing issue that triggers my observation as well as conclusion as to why I prefer my family to stay in Ealing due to the prevailing house rent cost. This area also is accessible to train transport that will make my father travel to work effectively. In relation to the access to my university and where my siblings needs to go for the study, Ealing is a preferably place for its accessibility in the prevailing areas. However, the area also is prone to availability of security and the place is also accessible as from any time of the day. Task 3 Choose an Estate Agent in Ealing (or any other region of your choice) to look at the range of properties offered for sale in the area. You will need to find an Estate Agent that has currently about 20 houses for sale from their website or a local newspaper. You will need to compile this data collection evidence into a folder and hand it in for marking. (4 marks) Present this data in a table as follows; Cost Number of Bed Type of house 900000 7 Detached 250000 3 Terraced 550000 3 Terraced 750000 4 Semi detached 250000 3 Terraced 100000 8 Detached (4 marks) Answer the following questions 1. What percentage of houses are detached houses? (3 marks) The detached houses prevails a 15% in Ealing estate 2. What percentage of the houses is semi-detached? (3 marks) Semi-detached houses prevails 45% as in regards to the data collected in this Ealing area 3. What percentage of the houses are terraced houses? (3 marks) The remaining 40% is for the terraced houses in Ealing estate. Present your findings for each type of dwelling (detached, semi-detached and terraced houses) in a pie chart. (6 marks) For each type of dwelling (detached, semi-detached and terraced houses) presented in your table, work out the mean cost. (6 marks) The mean cost = 2800000/6 = 466600 Present the mean cost of each of the dwelling in a graph. (4 marks) Write a short summary of your findings. (200 words: 7 marks) From the prevailing data, the number of detached houses is less and hence this diminishes its percentage value. The number of semi-detached is however high and this however followed by the terraced house with 40 % in general percentage. Semi detached houses in Ealing is most preferably houses since they are cheap, durably and affordable to every working class. This is a cost that meets each and every individual within the state of Ealing and preferably gestures a reaction towards the middle class of people. Life style in this area is easily availed Task 4 Stamp duty (a type of a government tax) is 1% for the dwelling under £250,000, 3% for the dwellings between £250,000 and £499,000 and 4% for dwellings over £500,000. Select 1 dwelling from the properties you have listed in Task 3 and complete the tasks below: 1. A deposit of 5% is required on the property you have chosen. How much is this? (4marks). It is = (5/100)*499000 = 24950 2. Calculate the total cost of the property after a deposit of 5%, stamp duty, legal fee of £400 and valuation fee of £250. (4 marks). The total cost = 24950+149700+400+250+499000 = 674,300 References Floridi, Luciano. Information: A Very Short Introduction [Paperback. USA: Oxford University Press. 2010. Hall, Brent. Open Source Approaches in Spatial Data Handling (Advances in Geographic Information Science) [Hardcover]. United Kingdom: Springer. 2008. Ladley, John. Data Governance: How to Design, Deploy and Sustain an Effective Data Governance Program [Paperback]. USA: Morgan Kaufmann. 2012. Wheelan, Charles. Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data [Hardcover]. New Jersey: W. W. Norton & Company. 2013. Read More