Statistical Tools in Research - Essay Example

Sub-samples were taken from the population-based on different parameters to further show the distribution of the responses, expressed as percentages, that were obtained from the respondents, such as age, ethnic group, and gender.

The most common tool used for the comparison of the data collected was the percentage, which is a ratio of the categorical responses of the participants over the total number of respondents. The margin of error in the method at a 95% confidence level was also quantified, both for the total sampling population and the stratified sub-samples in the survey. The calculation of the bias in the study implies that the spread of the results, expressed as the standard deviation with respect to the mean, was also used (fao.org).

Conclusion

The author's statistical tools such as percentage, mean, standard deviation, bias, and confidence interval because these parameters provide the best quantification of the observations and results obtained in the survey that was conducted. I will follow the same approach that the authors did because they did not only quantify the results from the survey but the error or bias that was involved in the conduct of the study were also quantified. By doing so, the trueness of the values that were obtained in the study is more reliable.

Additional statistical tools may be used if the research was conducted using two different sampling methods, on the same population, to be able to compare which provides less margin of error. The precision of the two sampling techniques can be evaluated and the results of the surveys may be compared using the student’s t-test or F-test to determine whether both sampling techniques are similar or not (fao.org). Read More