Consumers Preferred Content Sources For News
People view statistics in very negative ways going to the extent of referring to it as a ‘Dirty Game. ’ This is a very strong and baseless statement since Statistics is very useful in our lives since it assist us in setting out a clear and uniform picture of the raw data collected during surveys. For instance many of us have done surveys which contain questions that have variables relevant to one’s hypotheses. This can only be achieved if systematic method is used to analyze and collect the data.
Synthesis of the research A recent Pew Center poll of Americans’ news habits shows the stark electoral split in the country has filtered into the habits of news consumers. A look at the polls’ numbers and how news consumers’ choices differ and why they choose certain news sources over others. There are numerous ways to present data and many statistical procedures that can be utilized. This however depends upon the researcher’s purpose which could be generalizability; co-relation or descriptive.
Presentation of data in a clear, concise and useful manner relies on the use of descriptive statistics which involves the use of graphs, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersal or variability and cross tabulation. All these functionalities can be performed using Excel (spreadsheets) program to create a relationship with the integration of statistical analysis. For my research a sample survey was the best method to get the information I required. Also, a survey can be conducted in numerous ways hence does not have limited options.
Information can be obtained through mail, telephone or in person. This allows gathering of information from only a portion of a population of interest-the size of the sample depending on the purpose of study. Statement of the problem The main issue of study is to determine the mostly preferred and reliable source of news on current and major affairs of the country such as politics, health information and business. Purpose of this study The main purpose of this study was to: a) Find the sources people use to get news on the current affairs of their country from their homes.
b) Establish the most preferred source of information about the current affairs of the country from their homes. The Hypothesis From this research, there were several hypotheses and they are: I. To identify the various sources of information on the current state of the country’s affairs available and easily accessed by population from their homes. II. To identify the most preferred and reliable source of information on the country’s affairs Research and design methods Study Sample For this research, a study sample survey of 400 respondents is carried out and an analysis is to be done to extract useful information.
The first step in this research was to review all the variables considered prior to carrying out the survey which becomes the category for recording data. Proper questions were formulated and a budget was made to cater for the survey’s requirements. Data collection was done by clearly recording and categorizing the obtained results from the questions answered by each respondent. A scale in this case was used to rate the questions asked for easier presentation of the results. Questions pertaining to nominal level measures such as sex, marital status, religion and denomination are used and a number is assigned to each category.
This makes the data entry process easy and also allows finding of the frequent occurring value, which is referred to as the mode. Procedure A reconnaissance was carried out and 400 respondents were randomly selected within the area of study. They were asked to participate in the activity voluntarily on a specific date and were promised tokens in return if they agreed to participate. Respondents unwilling to volunteer were left out, however in this case all the approached respondents agreed to participate. They were asked questions which they managed to answer satisfactorily.
All the 400 surveys were later accepted for analysis since they were all complete. The survey contained both nominal and ordinal level variables. Methods Used a) Measures of Central Tendency This enables the summarization of large amounts of information to make the results be sensual. It also allows one to determine the shape of a distribution or a set of scores. Statistics in this case enables studying of variations of data as it allows provision of the mean (average) or the median of the various preferred information sources.
This reduces on the number of values to be presented using a frequency distribution table. b) Measures of Dispersal of Variability This allows one to calculate the following: 1) Range-This gives an indication of the total spread of the distribution by simply subtracting the lowest score from the highest within a distribution. 2) Variance-This gives one the average squared deviation of each case from the mean therefore amount by which each case differs from the mean. 3) Standard deviation-This reflects the amount of spread that preferences exhibit around a central tendency measure such as the mean.
Sample Essay of AssignmentExpert.com